120 A'.-l MSCHA TKA . [chap. 



difficult to form an estimate. The greater portion no donbt are 

 exported vid Petropaulovsky, this port drainmg the large extent 

 of country in the region of the Kamschatka Eiver, but a good 

 many must find their way to Bolcheresk, and some others to Tigil, a 

 settlement in the northern part of tlie peninsula which has only a 

 difficult communication with the villages on the lower part of the 

 Kamschatka. In Petropaulovsky almost all the skins pass through 

 the hands of the " King of Kamschatka," and the number exported 

 by hun for the season of 1882 was over two thousand. The profit 

 on each skin probably averaged at least forty shillings, and it must 

 be allowed that, however gloomy the outlook in Hudson's Bay and 

 elsewhere may be, there is at least one part of the world where the 

 fur-trade is not " played out," 



We left camp again on the morning of August 30th, and after 

 two hours' travelling came to the little village of Puschina, if 

 village indeed it can be called. It now appeared that Vodki's plan 

 had been to get us on to this place if possible, partly because he 

 preferred a hut to tent life in wet weather, and partly, according to 

 Afanasi, because he was afraid of the bears. Puschina consists of 

 three huts only, with the usual proportion of fish-drying sheds, 

 and boasts of a population of fifteen souls. In 1787, according to 

 Lesseps, it was larger than Gunal. The inhabitants appeared dirty 

 and miserable creatures, and were more of the true Kamschatdale 

 type than any others we had yet come across. One or two of the 

 huts or storehouses were raised above the ground on pillars, and 

 much resembled a Norwegian stahir in appearance, except that 

 there was a complete absence of carving. It is rare to see any 

 settlement in Kamschatka which is not placed actually on the 

 banks of a river, but Puschina, standing two or three hundred 

 yards away, is one of the exceptions, probably owing to the fact 

 that the banks of the stream are here very low, and the rise of the 

 river during the period of the melting of the snows is often very 

 considerable. 



"We rested our horses and obtained a draught of fresh milk 



