158 KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



were not, Hope, action, content, have come to us in place of the 

 profitless regret of the past, and life is once more before us with 

 as fair a promise as it held out in days long since forgotten. I 

 have neither the wish nor the ability to describe the scenery of the 

 Kamschatka Elver and its great volcanoes. In these days of 

 carelessly-used superlatives it is best left alone. But the memory 

 of it will always remain with me, — the memory of scenes far more 

 beautiful than anything I had conceived possible. 



Our observations had hitherto been of a rather disconnected 

 character, but at this period of our journey we commenced a rough 

 chart of the Kamschatka, which we continued for a distance of over 

 two hundred miles to its mouth. As this involved the recording 

 of the exact length and direction of every reach of the river, which, 

 it should be added, was conspicuous for the multiplicity of its 

 windings, it may be imagined that the task was one requiring no 

 little trouble and attention. Soundings of the river were taken 

 from time to time, together with observations of the various peaks 

 and their bearings; and, at the end, we found ourselves in the 

 possession of sufficient data to construct a plan of the Kam- 

 schatka and its neighbouring volcanoes from Kojerevsky village to 

 the sea. 



We paddled on without incident for some hours, when, rounding 

 a corner, we came upon a canoe — the first that we had met since 

 starting on our river journey at Sherowmy. It contained a young 

 man of what, in Kamschatka, might be termed the upper class of 

 society. He was " three days out " from Kluchi, and was bound for 

 Melcova. AVe ranged our raft alongside and exchanged greetings, 

 and we learnt from him that we should be able to reach Kojerevsky 

 that night without difficulty. It was thus evident that our Tolbatchik 

 men had, in plain words, lied to us about the distance, as it was of 

 course impossible for us to go two hundred versts in less than two 

 days. The character of the half-breed Siberians in Kamschatka is 

 more contemptible than that of any other natives with whom I have 

 ever been broudit in contact, and our oft-recurring feuds with them 



