LIFE IN GAMP. 149 



fairly waned, tlie head of Kluchefskaya stood out a pale greenish 

 white,— a spectral mountain against the fast darkening sky. Come 

 what might, even if we were never again to get a glimpse of them, 

 w^e had seen the great volcanoes, and we felt that the sight was 

 one that we should not easily forget for many years to come. 



Constant practice, together with the " division of labour," had 

 by this time rendered the pitching of our camp an affair of a few 

 minutes only. Pressed as we w^ere for time, we had to continue 

 paddling until it became too dark to see the snags or sunken rocks 

 ahead. The rafts were then run ashore at the nearest beach and 

 the site for the tents selected. In this we had the choice of two 

 evils — the rough ground and rank vegetation of the forest above, 

 and the stony or sandy beach by the water's edge. We always 

 chose the latter, owing to the difficulty of clearing the forest, but it 

 must be confessed that the greater cold and damp of the river- 

 banks almost outweighed their advantages. The cooking of the 

 dinner, which the indefatigable Spiridione had nearly completed 

 on the raft, received its finishing touches at the new fire, and 

 almost before the tents were pitched the usual menu awaited our 

 approval. It was not a varied one certainly, but it was the most 

 luxurious I have ever experienced in camp -life. Soup a la 

 chasseur, boiled salmon, stewed capercailzie or grouse, teal a la 

 Kamschatdale, bilberry jam, and tea or coffee form a very respect- 

 aljle meal for a traveller whose appetite has been sharpened by the 

 keen air of a northern autumn ; and it was but seldom that we 

 failed to do justice to it. And when the journals had been written 

 up and the birds skinned, and we smoked our last pipe at the 

 enormous fire before turning in, we felt that, but for the natives, 

 Kamschatka was as pleasant a country for camping as we had ever 

 experienced. 



We were usually afloat again before six o'clock, but our 

 departure was somewhat delayed on the following morning by the 

 unintentional cold bath of one of the members of our party. It is 

 doubtless something of a surprise to the system to find oneself at 



