68 KAMSGHATKA. [chap. 



unanimous in awarding the palm to their Kamschatkan rival. A 

 nearly circular basin of some nine miles in diameter, and with a 

 narrow entrance opening to the S.S.E., it is roomy enough to 

 accommodate the navies of the world. It is entirely free from 

 dangers, has an even depth of ten or twelve fathoms, and owing to 

 its affording excellent holding ground and being well protected 

 from all winds, it is perfectly safe in all weathers. But the 

 ordinary traveller will be struck not so much with its nautical 

 excellencies, as with the superb scenery with which it is surrounded. 

 To the south rises the Vilutchinska volcano, now quiescent, a 

 graceful cone of about 7000 feet ; and a little farther eastwards a 

 huge flat-topped mass, exceeding it in height by a thousand feet or 

 more, obtrudes itself as a rare exception to the rule of cone-shaped 

 mountains which seems to obtain throughout the country. It is 

 nameless in the charts, for we are in the land of volcanoes, and it 

 is only 8000 feet m height ! On either hand on entering are the 

 two secondary harbours Eakova and Tareinska — the latter nearly 

 five miles in length — and withui them again are others on a still 

 smaller scale. Nature here at least has treated the mariner right 

 royally. The iron-bound coast without may be as bad a lee shore 

 as any skipper need wish to see, and the Pacific Ocean may too 

 often belie its name, but here he can rest quietly, and sleep sur les 

 deux oreiUcs until such tune as he weighs anchor for the homeward 

 voyage. 



But if the southern part of the bay is fine, it is difficult to find 

 words to describe the beauty of its upper portion. We look north, 

 and the scenery on which we have just turned our backs is for- 

 gotten, for there, shoulder to shoulder, their vast fields of snow 

 glittering in the sun, stand a trio of volcanoes such as one rarely 

 sees. From the summit of Avatchinska, the centre peak, a delicate 

 streamer of white vapour floats out horizontally, sharply defined 

 against the blue of the clear northern sky. So closely do these 

 mountains seem to hedge in the bay, that it is hard to realise the 

 fact that they are twenty miles distant. But in Kamschatka the 



