MOSQUITOES 147 



discovered by their pursuers or attacked by others. 

 For the first time our mosquito-nets were produced ; 

 these we carried over our faces, and a considerable 

 relief they were to us, for without them we should 

 probably never have dared to cross the Ganal tundra. 

 We were accompanied all through the woods by a 

 strong- smell of wild garlic, which grows profusely in 

 the country ; tiowers were not numerous as yet — only a 

 few crocuses and anemones scattered here and there. 

 Although the nati\'es had promised a short twenty-verst 

 (thirteen miles) march to Koriak, we lound that the 

 Kamchatkan unit is akin to the Scotch niile, and that 

 we had gone fully eighteen miles betore late in the 

 afternoon we reached the longed-for camping-ground 

 about a quarter of a mile from the village, which we 

 could not as yet perceive. Koriak lies concealed by 

 birch o-roves, on the rio'ht bank of the Avatcha, and 

 consists of a few log-built huts, fish-sheds, and a small 

 wooden church. Opposite rises the lofty cone ot the 

 volcano which bears the same name. The inhabitants 

 — a few families in all — came crowdino- round us and 

 watched us pitching camp with intense curiosity. The 

 same Asiatic type distinguished these men, though it 

 struck me to be less noticeable in the representatives 

 of the weaker sex, who resembled ordinary Russian 

 peasant girls both in features and dress. They all 



