76 KAMSGHATKA. [chap. 



country has any connection or not with the leprosy prevalent 

 among them, it is difficult to say. Our informant described it as 

 being a common disease, and he must have had considerable 

 opportunities of judging, but it is remarkable that during our 

 journey through the country we met with but one solitary case. 

 Scurvy was, we were told, uncommon, owing no doubt to the 

 abundance of the wild garlic and the sarana — a liliaceous plant 

 whose bulb is stored for the winter, and supplies the place of the 

 potato. This latter vegetable has, however, become much more 

 extensively cultivated of late years. 



It was a matter of great regret to us that our acquaintance 

 with Dr. Dybowski should of necessity have been so limited. He 

 was on the eve of a long journey in search of fossils to the Kuril 

 Lake, which lies in an almost unknown region at the southern 

 extremity of the peninsula. It was by such pursuits alone that 

 he was able to mitigate the loneliness of what was, in reality, 

 an exile. During the winter he travelled over the country to 

 such isolated spots of it as are inhabited, and saw his patients. 

 These he was supposed to supply with such medicine as would 

 suffice for their cure, or last them, should they be incurables, 

 until the time of his visit in the following year ! It is not every 

 parish doctor whose district is spread over the extent of one 

 hundred thousand square miles ! 



During the week that was necessary for the completion of 

 our preparations we had abundant time for the exploration of 

 Petropaulovsky and its surroundings. The numerous harbours and 

 lovely scenery of Avatcha Bay would take a month to become 

 thoroughly acquainted with, and it would be hard to miagine a 

 more charming place for the naturalist and sportsman. Possibly, 

 when the salmon rivers of Norway have reached a prohibitory 

 price, and the game of India and South Africa has disappeared, 

 some adventurous individual will recommend Kamschatka as a 

 new field for sportsmen. At present, it must be confessed, it is 

 not very easy to get there. Every year the port is visited by a 



