VI.] TFE REACH THE KAMSGHATKA RIVER. 115 



Early in the afternoon we arrived upon its banks, and it was 

 with no little interest that we inspected the river that was to bear 

 us some four or five hundred miles upon its bosom before we 

 reached the sea. It was a little stream barely fifteen yards across, 

 and not more than a foot or eighteen inches in depth. The 

 Bolchaia-reka, which we had just left, had been teeming with fish, 

 but here not one was to be seen, and the disgusting smell of decay- 

 ing salmon that is in Kamschatka the almost invariable sign of 

 the proximity of a river, was conspicuous by its absence. In a 

 small grove of trees close by we found two rough log-cabins, which 

 had doubtless been the winter quarters of some sable-hunters. 

 They were deeply sunk in the ground, and by their dilapidated 

 condition, had evidently been built many years ago. We were not 

 sorry to find them, as it was our intention to camp here and try for 

 bear, and at the same time, if possible, to explore the source of the 

 two rivers. To our great disgust, however, the presence of a kettle 

 hanging on a stick, and the yet warm ashes of a camp-fire, spoke in 

 unmistakeable terms of the ground having been so recently disturbed 

 as to render our chance of sport in the immediate neighbourhood 

 but a poor one. We accordingly pushed on, and after ridmg for a 

 couple of hours, struck the river once more at a most picturesque 

 bend in its course. The ground in the vicinity was covered with 

 fresh bear-tracks, and thinking we could not do better, we once 

 more prepared to camp. At this juncture Vodki appeared, and 

 begged us to try farther on, where the ground was everything that 

 was perfect, and the bears in incalculable multitudes. " Just one 

 verst more, little father." For the first and only time we yielded 

 to his advice, and resumed our march. Verst after verst was passed 

 and still it was " one verst more." Two hours and more elapsed 

 before we began to realise that we had been befooled. To be 

 befooled by Vodki ! — the thought was too galling. Not in the best 

 of tempers, we altered our course for the river at once, debating 

 what form of punishment we should adopt. Our trouble, however, 

 was saved us. Vodki, in no better temper than we at his plans 



