I40 A SHOOTING TRIP TO KAMCHATKA 



intense, and here for the first tinie we were introduced 

 to Kamchatkan mosquitoes, which are the scourge of 

 the country at that time of year and later on were to 

 embitter our trip. Clouds of them now swarmed round 

 us, gathering from all sides, our faces and calves being 

 the scene of a regular battlefield. Smoke was to be 

 henceforth our only defence, to^'ether with occasional 

 whiffs of wind ; but dead calm to us meant perfect 

 agony. The Admiral tried to console us by saying 

 that this was mere child's play in coniparison with what 

 lay in store for us, especially on the Ganal tundra, 

 or marshy waste, and his forebodings proved correct. 

 Towards evening, half a mile below Khutor, the cur- 

 rent being swifter than ever, we made for the opposite 

 side, where the stream was slower. This unfortunate 

 manoeuvre brought us on a sandbank, where we 

 remained aground for over an hour in lull sight ot our 

 destination. It was only after continued exertions on 

 the part of our men that we were finally towed off the 

 bank, and managed to reach Khutor at seven p.m., 

 having accomplished only ten miles in twelve hours. 

 Khutor cannot even boast of the title of a hamlet, for 

 two lonely huts standing on a sloping lawn and a fish- 

 drying shed by the river were the sole buildings attached 

 to it, the pO})ulation being represented by one family 

 consisting of a fisherman, his wife, and two girls. 



