228 KAMSCHATKA. [chap. 



who was well acquainted with both the Koriaks and Kamschatdales, 

 that a small number of this race lived in the mountains in the heart 

 of the peninsula. He described them as a fjell people, great 

 hunters of Ovis nivicola, and owning reindeer, which they occasionally 



brought in for sale to 

 Melcova and other places 

 --L^aa^B ontheKamschatkaEiver. 

 ^^ ^-^P^-^:^^^^^^ That the Lamuts, who are 



of Tungus race, should 

 have established them- 

 selves in such an isolated 



7 BOW OF KURILE CANOE. pOSitiOU iS CUriOUS, but 



we had no reason to doubt 

 the accuracy of Afanasi's infuiiuation. De Lesseps in his " Travels 

 in Kamschatka " gives a vocabulary of the Lamut language, but, as 

 he mentions nothing of this people in the peninsula, it is most 

 pi'obable that it was obtained in passing through their country 

 in the neighbourhood of Okhotsk and the Judoma Eiver, on his 

 return to St. Petersburg. 



On the 27th we bade a final adieu to Kamschatka. We had 

 more belief in the cold southerly current than in the continuation 

 northwards of the Kurosiwo, of which we had vainly endeavoured 

 to take advantage in our voyage from Japan ; and we accordingly 

 set our course for that country so as to keep a few miles only to 

 the eastward of the Kurile chain. Had we known what was before 

 us we should probably ha^'e gi^'en the land a wider berth. We had 

 no idea that we were destined to come in for two gales and a 

 typhoon before we reached the welcome shelter of Yedo Bay. 



We steamed on quietly enough against light to moderate 

 southerly winds until the morning of September 29th, when we 

 experienced a gale from the south-east, which increased in force as 

 the day wore on. At 6 p.m. we altered course, and stood in towards 

 Simusir Island until midnight ; a high sea running and the vessel 

 pitcliing heavily. The wind tlien slackening somewhat, and veering 



