138 KAMSGHATKA. 



yellow jioxes (VuljKS fulvus), who sat inspecting us curiously as we 

 tioated down, and were none the worse for their temerity. Ac- 

 cording to our hunters, these animals are not nearly as common 

 now as formerly, though from what reason it is difficult to say, as 

 the skin is of no great value, and they are in consequence not 

 much hunted. Ducks of the kinds I have already mentioned 

 were in great numbers, and the ]\Ierganser (31. serrator) also 

 seemed fairly abundant. It was of course impossible for us to 

 reach Werchni Kamschatka before nightfall, so, having made 

 about forty versts, we landed on one of the broad pebbly beaches, 

 where the spring freshets had already collected abundant firewood 

 for us, and pitched our camp. The Sherowmy men had a simple 

 but effective plan of cooking duck that I had never seen before. The 

 bird is plucked with care, so as to leave the skin unbroken, and 

 is not drawn. A stick is forced down the throat, and the other 

 end stuck into the ground close to the fire. The effect produced 

 when a party of a dozen are thus cooking their suppers is not a 

 little absurd : it is as if the camp-fire had burst into a perfect 

 girandole of naked ducks, who fly quacking from it in open- 

 mouthed alarm. 



We had hitherto been favoured with far finer weather than 

 that usually to be expected during late autumn, but the next day 

 dawned threateningly, and before long fulfilled its promise to the 

 utmost. A pall of thick leaden clouds with ragged edges hung 

 over us, and a steady downpour that showed every prospect of 

 continuance soon commenced. Hour after hour we paddled on 

 through the driving rain, and it was not until after mid-day that 

 we stepped ashore, wet and cold, at the hamlet of Werchni Kams- 

 chatka. Like most of these places, it is composed of a bare dozen 

 of huts, with a total population of less than fifty souls ; but it 

 enjoys the distinction of being the only settlement on the Kams- 

 chatka Eiver that is marked on the English chart of the country. 

 In bygone days it may have merited it, for it was one of the first 

 ostrogs established by the Eussians after their conquest of the 



