VII.] WE BEGIN THE RIVER JOURNEY. 137 



melting of the snows carry down trees of large size, piling them 

 in enormous masses upon the banks, and depositing the water- 

 logged trunks in the shallower parts of the river, a collision with 

 wdiich would probably result in the sinking of the canoe, from the 

 liability of these craft to split. We progressed with tojerable 

 rapidity, averaging about six versts an hour, rejoicing that 

 stampedes were now things of the past, and that there was at 

 least a possibility of some of our possessions reaching the journey's 

 end unbroken. The river in its earlier course is very winding, 

 and Werchni Kamschatka, the next settlement we expected to 

 reach, although only twelve versts from Sherowmy by land, is 

 more than six times that distance by river. As far as our own 

 feelings were concerned, however, w^e would willingly have pro- 

 longed it yet more, for weather and scenery were alike lovely. The 

 river ran between pebbly banks lined with birches, whose white- 

 barked stems contrasted with the brilliant gold of their foliage. 

 Eeach after reach of still water opened out to us its quiet beauty, 

 and here and there a little gap revealed a Hobbema-like scene of 

 sunny distance, whose clearness was unbroken by the waver of a 

 single leaf. Far away in front rose a range of deep blue hills, 

 jagged and peaky, patched only with snow, for their southern 

 slopes had been thawed by the heat of the summer sun. The 

 calm surface of the water was covered by little packs of duck, 

 which rose in long lines as our rafts approached, and the smoke of 

 our guns formed miniature clouds in our wake which hung motion- 

 less above the stream until the rounding of a corner hid them from 

 our view. We paddled on silently, our natives talking but little. 

 Now and again the warning na ^jravo, na levo (to the right, to the 

 left) told of the neighbourhood of a snag, or a shallow bank 

 necessitated the use of the poles ; but for the most part our progress 

 was one of uninterrupted quiet, and the laziest of Nature's lovers 

 could have asked for nothing better than to sit and be paddled 

 thus for the rest of his natural life. 



AVe saw no four-footed game, with the exception of a couple ol 



