VIII.] THE TCHOAKI. 177 



did not serve in any way to render it less depressing. The village 

 appeared nearly deserted, and as there was nothing to detain us we 

 resumed our journey without loss of time. Before noon we arrived 

 at the Tchoaki (lit. cheeks). These are narrows about seven miles 

 in length where the river passes through a range of hills from two 

 to tliree thousand feet in height. Both entrance and exit are very 

 sharply defined, and the stream, which above and below is about 

 eight or nine hundred yards broad, is here narrowed to between 

 three and four hundred. The scenery is decidedly picturesque after 

 the monotonous miles of willow-lined banks that weary the travel- 

 ler's eye in the lower part of the Kamschatka ; and we were 

 reminded somewhat of the Iron Gates on the Danube, which 

 geographically — -I do not say geologically — the Tchoaki closely 

 resemble. But the former are on a grander scale, and the river 

 here, in spite of its contracted width, exhibits none of the tumultu- 

 ous rush of water which makes the passage of the Iron Gates so 

 difficult to a Danube steamer. 



In the Tchoaki we met two or three canoes coming up from 

 Nischni Kamschatka, and learnt from them that a schooner, painted 

 white, and with a steam launch, was lying at Ust Kamschatka — the 

 settlement at the mouth of the river. This was a piece of informa- 

 tion which astonished us considerably. That there should be a 

 ship of any kind there other than the Marchcsa was most im- 

 probable, for, as they told us, she was the first vessel that had visited 

 the river for three years. More improbable still was it that she 

 should be a stranger when the fact of her being painted white was 

 taken into consideration ; while the existence of a steam launch 

 seemed finally to put the matter beyond a doubt. But on the other 

 hand, the fact that she was said to have arrived many days before 

 was greatly against it, and as the bar was very shallow, it seemed 

 liardly likely that the Maixhcsa, with her draught of fifteen feet, 

 would be able to cross it. The natives could not give us any further 

 information, as they had not seen the vessel, and we were left in a 

 state of doubt which no amount of discussion helped to enlighten. 

 VOL. I. N 



