CHAPTER VII. 



Views of the Natchiki valley and the Ganal range — Wild sheep sighted 

 — A difficult stalk — Two shot, with fine heads— A festive evening — 

 Accident to a pack-horse — Forest fires — Extraordinary fishing at 

 Paratunka — Hundreds of salmon trapped in a day — Littledale tries 

 for a rise with the spoon-bait — A native of Irkutsk — His pathetic 

 story — Ride to Tareinska inlet, en route for Petropavlovsk — Sable 

 skins bought — On board the Yakut — A ship sighted proved to be 

 the Baikal delayed by fog — Avatcha Bay and the " Three Sisters " 

 rocks— A sugar-loaf mountain among the Kuriles — Crossing the Sea 

 of Okhotsk — Three days' fog— Whales and swordfish — Reach the 

 island of Sakhalin and La Pcrouse Straits— Enter the (iulf of Tar- 

 tary — A magnificent sunrise — \'iew of the coast of Asia — Barracouta 

 lighthouse and the Stanovoi Mountains — Stop in Ue Castries Bay to 

 pick up two pilots — Narrow winding channel between sandbanks to 

 Nikolaievsk — Danger of running aground — Anchor at length off 

 Nikolaievsk — Innumerable fish stores — Millions of salmon and keta 

 {Corregonus ccta) salted and smoked for exportation — Fresh news of 

 the China War — An incjuisitive crowd — On board the Cesarevitch for 

 Blagovestchensk — The village of Malmyjskoie and its "bear-wor- 

 ship" — Gale at Khabarovsk, and numerous wrecks — P\irther war news 

 — At Blagovestchensk in eight days, six hundred miles — Picturesciue- 

 ness of the Amur river-Reach Stretensk and speedily leave by train 

 for Moscow, en route for St. Petersburg and home. 



IT is a saying- with I'^reiich srxjrtsincn. ''a la chasse 

 tout arrive cxcepft' cc que F on at tend F Never was 

 that saying better confirnied tlian on the 30tl"i day of 



July, when the General and I left cani|) at four a.m. 



246 



