IV.] THE SOUTH-EAST COAST. 67 



emerged from the fog much as a train runs out of a tunnel, 

 and found that Kamschatka was in sight. The sharp peak of the 

 Vilutchinska volcano enabled us to make out our position, and we 

 steered north for Avatcha Bay. It was a magnificent morning, 

 and as the yacht rolled heavily over a dark blue sea, on whose 

 surface the waves broke in patches of snowy whiteness, now 

 jDlunging her bows deep into the water with all the sense of pure 

 physical enjoyment of a living creature, now shaking herself free 

 and pouring the seas in bright streams from her scuppers, she 

 formed a picture which might have aroused the admiration of even 

 the most apathetic of landsmen, and one which was provided with 

 a fitting background. Earely have I seen a wilder-looking coast 

 than that of south-eastern Kamschatka. The brilliant sunshine 

 which poured upon rock and headland redeemed it from gloom, 

 but the wildness and desolation of the scene was indescribable. 

 Precipitous cliffs, at the foot of which none but a bird could land ; 

 deep valleys running down to the sea at whose mouths still lay the 

 accumulated masses of last winter's snows ; pimiacle rocks like rows 

 of iron teeth shown to warn off any one rash enough to contemplate 

 a landing, — this was what met our gaze as we anxiously scanned 

 the coast with our glasses. Beyond, the land rose in abrupt humps 

 and uTCgular masses, and appeared to be clothed with a uniform 

 growth of low, but dense underwood, above which the distant 

 cones of snow stood out clear and hard against the sky. It w^as an 

 mipracticable-looking country enough, but we had visited it with 

 the firm intention of going through it, and experience in other lands 

 having taught us how often difficulties disappear upon a closer 

 acquaintance, we did not allow ourselves to feel discouraged. An 

 hour or two later we arrived at the narrow entrance of Avatcha 

 Bay, and shaped our course over a smooth sea for the little harbour 

 of Petropaulovsky. 



Avatcha Bay is one of the finest harbom^s in the world, if not 

 actually the finest. Pdo and Sydney have no mean claims for this 

 position of honour, but those of us who had seen both were 



