X.] BETCHEVINSKAYA BAY. 211 



which, according to Jacof IvanoAdtch, were to be found there in 

 abundance. A few years previously he had visited Betchevins- 

 kaya Bay, a deep inlet ten miles to the west of the cape, and had 

 shot several ; and since, according to his account, both anchorage 

 and shelter were to be had — a not iniimportant consideration on 

 such a coast — we again steered southward, and keeping a good 

 offing during the night, ran in to the land and picked up our 

 position off Cape Shipunsky at daybreak. The coast is steep -to, 

 and as we passed close to the fine cliffs and headlands which 

 oppose the by no means tranquil Pacific, there lay the neiges 

 cVantan bewailed of Maistre Francois Villon, — huge patches of last 

 year's snow, choking the gullies do\vn to the water's edge. That 

 they should have remained throughout the hot summer in a south- 

 east aspect was astonishing, and gave some idea of the severity of 

 the climate in these latitudes, but the absence of the usual autumnal 

 rains no doubt in great measure accounted for it. 



Before reaching our anchorage just within the entrance of the 

 bay, we could distinctly make out small herds of the animals of 

 which we were in search on the slopes of the cliffs, which here rose 

 to a height of five or six hundred feet, precipitous in some places, 

 but in others formmg a sort of under-cliff covered with brushwood. 

 We lost no time in settling our plan of action. Judging that the 

 bighorn were confined to the promontory near which we had 

 anchored, we resolved upon surromidmg it, sending four guns to 

 the top of the cliff', whose sea-face extended east and west for a 

 distance of about three miles, and posting two others upon the 

 beach below. The former, ascending in rear from the shores of the 

 l)ay, reached their destinations with some difficulty, the undergrowth 

 Ijeing so dense and strong that, l3ut for the bear-paths with which 

 it was cut up in all dii'ections, it would have been impenetrable. 

 At the edge of the cliff' progression was somewhat easier, and on 

 looking over we found ourselves in close proximity to the game. 

 Owing to the excitability of Jacof, who had got some distance ahead, 

 we began the day in a manner I hardly like to recall. The 



