VIII.] HEIGHTS OF THE VOLCANOES. 167 



dulled its purity almost to a grey. The rounded half-dome of 

 Uskovska to the west showed a vast field of unbroken snow, and 

 on the side towards Kluchefskaya appeared to have been completely 

 blown away by some great eruption in past years, leaving a huge 

 open crater, the western walls of which alone were standing. The 

 upper part of these, which was all that we were able to see, seemed 

 to be almost vertical upon the inner face. Between the two 

 mountains was a lesser cone, which, like Uskovska, appeared 

 extinct. To us it was known as Little Kluchi, though whether 

 we obtained this name from the natives or not I do not now 

 remember. 



The opportunity was an excellent one for taking further ob- 

 servations on the heights, the river forming a good base. "We 

 accordingly took advantage of it ; and from the results of this and 

 other work the following may be given as fairly accurate altitudes 

 for the four chief volcanoes lying to the south of the lower part 

 of the Kamschatka Eiver : — 



Kluchefskaya .... 16,988 feet. 



Uskovska 12,508 „ 



Kojerevska ..... 15,400 „ 



Tolbatchinska .... 11,700 „ 



Mount Gordon and Mount Herbert Stewart — the two volcanic 

 cones lying to the south-east, to wdiich I have alluded on a previous 

 page — are probably both about 8000 feet in height. 



It was late when we returned to breakfast, and found a visitor 

 awaiting us. He was a poor old fellow nearly seventy years of 

 age, who had spent three-and-thirty years of his life in this one 

 spot, acting as a sort of doctor. Wliat diplomas, if any, he 

 possessed I do not know, but he seemed to have had sufficient 

 ability at some remote epoch of his existence to have forgotten 

 something. Half in dog-Latin, with a word or two of English, and 

 half through Jacof and Afanasi, he gave us some few scraps of 

 information. It seemed that three years previously — in 1879 — 



