IV.] ENVIRONS OF AVATGHA BAY. 83 



Bicn n'est scwrd liour un sapcur. Eaw hides, boots, and even babies, 

 it is said, occasionally vary his diet ! 



To our ship's crew Petropaulovsky appeared little less than a 

 paradise. The bright sunny weather and clear cold nights were a 

 pleasant change after the heat of the tropics, and the forecastle 

 mess was furnished with many unaccustomed delicacies. The 

 harlDOur and rivers teemed with fish ; periwinkles a discretion were 

 to be had for the picking, and milk and bilberries were abundant. 

 The whiting and herrings were, however, left in comparative peace, 

 owing to the ease with which salmon were to be obtained at the 

 mouths of the Avatcha and Paraminka rivers. On one occasion 

 no less than three hundred of these fish were obtained at one haul 

 of the seine, and the crew occupied themselves in salting, smoking, 

 and otherwise preserving the spoil. Jack was in his element, and 

 doubtless would not have objected to passing the rest of his life m 

 such a fascinating spot. Our shooting excursions to various parts 

 of the bay were much enjoyed by the boats' crews, and the forward 

 part of the ship began ere long to be ornamented with bearskins 

 that the men had obtained by purchase or barter from the natives. 

 JMeanwhile we had been making arrangements with the Ispravnik, 

 and the individual I have before mentioned under the title of the 

 King of Kamschatka, for the ponies that were necessary for the 

 first part of our journey ; but, as there was some delay in getting 

 together the requisite number, a party of us started to visit the hot 

 springs of Kluchi,-^ which lie some few miles from the shore on the 

 other side of the bay. Excepting during strong south-easterly 

 winds, which send a somewhat heavy swell into the entrance, the 

 passage across is generally pleasant enough even in small boats. 

 Though blocked with ice m the wmter, the bay is, we understood, 

 but rarely frozen right across, although the harbour of Petro- 

 paulovsky is, of course, closed for some months. Landing in a bay 

 north-west of the entrance to Tareinska Harbour, we passed through 

 an extensive bu'cli-forest, and emerged at length on the shores of a 



^ Kluclii, I believe, is the Russian word for springs. 



