140 KAMSGHATKA. [chap. 



The liead-nian of the village received us on landing — a person 

 of far higher class than any we had hitherto met, and apparently 

 of unmixed Eussian blood. He was the keeper of a small store, 

 and owned a capital little log -built house, whicli we found un- 

 inhabited, and apparently intended for the reception of passing 

 travellers. This he at once placed at our disposal. Tired and 

 wet as we were, the prospect of pitching camp in a sea of mud 

 was not a pleasant one, and breaking through our usual rule, we 

 accepted his offer with pleasure. Before long we were enjoying 

 the unaccustomed luxury of a chair, and were able to skin our birds 

 in tolerable comfort for the first time since leaving Petropaulovsky. 



Melcova owes its origin to an experiment. With the view of 

 encouraging the cultivation of the land and of making something- 

 more of the country than a mere hunting district, where the in- 

 habitants caught enough salmon during the summer to enable 

 them to go after the sables in the winter, a small colony of Eussian 

 peasants were settled here in 1743, who were to devote themselves 

 entirely to agriculture. The result has been to a certain extent 

 successful, for the community is a tolerably flourishing one, 

 and with its population of over two hundred, is the most im- 

 portant settlement in Uj^per Kamschatka. It may, nevertheless, 

 be doubted if the cultivation of the land has contributed to any 

 great extent to its success, for, from the severity and uncertainty 

 of the climate, the prospects of the farmer are as little encouraging 

 here as they are anywhere, and there are probably the full average 

 of sable -hunters in Melcova. But there are small fields and 

 gardens, and a number of cows, which combine to give the place 

 a more home-like and settled aspect than is usual in most Kams- 

 chatkan villages. 



A great portion of our own interest in the place centred, I must 

 confess, in the store. Here, in a space of about twelve feet by 

 eight, we found flour, tea, sugar, candles, axes, and a few odds 

 and ends for sale, but there were no sables or other furs as we 

 had hoped. We had run short both of tea and sugar, and were 



