82 KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



the fact is taken into consideration, that for every inhabitant of the 

 peninsuk there are at least five or six of these animals, it will be 

 understood that the effect produced is hardly inferior to that 

 exhibited by the streets of Constantinople. "A dog's life" is a 

 phrase which is here most appropriately realised. Xo comfort- 

 able homes are provided for them to enable them to withstand the 

 rigours of the arctic clunate, and the poor beast, except when 

 actually at work, has in most cases to "find himself." Long 

 experience, and the instinct transmitted to him by his ancestors, 

 has, however, given him all the resources of an old campaigner. 

 Stumbling at night about the uncertain paths of the settlements, 

 the traveller is not unfrequently precipitated mto the huge rabbit- 

 burrows which the animal constructs to avoid the cutting winds. 

 His coat, nearly as thick as that of a bear, is composed of fur rather 

 than hair. As for his manners, they are, like those of the midship- 

 man's savage, almost non-existent. He has thoroughly grasped 

 the fact that self-preservation is the first law of Nature, and does 

 not scruple to act upon it, in its widest meaning, upon every 

 occasion. Wonderfully well-trained, cunning, and enduring, he is 

 at the same time often obstinate and unmanageable to a degree, 

 and is apparently indifferent to the kicks and blows so liberally 

 showered upon him by his master. Excepting in settlements 

 where neighbouring stretches of tundra render the use of sledges 

 possible in summer, he has a long holiday during that season. 

 During this time he wanders over the country at will, sometimes 

 returning at night to his burrow, at others being absent for days 

 together. A good hunter and fisherman, he supports hmiself upon 

 the game and salmon he catches, and it is but rarely that he deserts 

 his master for good. But the inhabitants have to pay a good price for 

 his services. Owing to his rapacity, it is uupossible to keep sheep, 

 goats, or any of the smaller domestic animals, and Kamschatka is 

 one of the few countries in the world in which fowls are unknown.^ 



' In Petropaulovsky this loss is partial!}' made up for by large quantities of sea- 

 birds' eggs brought from Okhotsk, and the islands at the mouth of Avatcha Bay. 



