134 THE SEA. 



' 



where a small valley opens out into a plot of land bordering the bay. Here it was thought 

 desirable to land a body of men. 



Accordingly, 700 marines and sailors were put ashore. The men looked forward to 

 an easy victory, and hurriedly, in detached and straggling style, pressed forward to 

 secure it. Alas ! they had reckoned without their host they were rushing heedlessly 

 into the jaws of death. A number of bushes and small trees existed, and still exist, 

 on the hill-sides surrounding this spot, and behind them were posted Cossack sharp-shooters, 

 who fired into our men, and, either from skill or accident, picked off nearly every officer^ 

 The men, not seeing their enemy, and having lost their leaders, became panic-struck, 

 and fell back in disorder. A retreat was sounded, but the men struggling in the bushes 

 and underbrush (and, in truth, most of them being sailors, were out of their element on 

 land) became much scattered, and it was generally believed that many were killed by the 

 random shots of their companions. A number fled up a hill at the rear of the town ; their 

 foes pursued and pressed upon them, and many were killed by falling over the steep cliff 

 in which the hill terminates. 



The inhabitants, astonished at their own prowess, and knowing that they could not 

 hold the town against a more vigorous attack, were preparing to vacate it, when the fleet 

 weighed anchor and set sail, and no more was seen of them that year ! The sudden death 

 of our admiral is always attributed to the events of that attack, as he was known not to 

 have been killed by a ball from the enemy. * 



The writer has walked over the main battle-field, and saw cannon-balls unearthed 

 when some men were digging gravel, which had laid there since the events of 1854. 

 The last time he passed over it, in 1866, was when proceeding with some Russian and 

 American friends to what might be termed an " international " pic-nic, for there were 

 present European and Asiatic Russians, full and half-breed natives, Americans, including 

 genuine " Yankee " New Englanders, New Yorkers, Southerners, and Californians, English- 

 men, Frenchmen, Germans, and one Italian. Chatting in a babel of tongues, the party 

 climbed a path on the hill-side, leading to a beautiful grassy opening, overlooking the 

 glorious bay below, which extended in all directions a dozen or fifteen miles, and on one 

 side farther than the eye could reach. Several grand snow-covered volcanoes towered above, 

 thirty to fifty miles off; one, of most beautiful outline, that of Vilutchinski, was on 

 the opposite shore of Avatcha Bay. 



The sky was bright and blue, and the water without a ripple ; wild flowers were abundant,, 

 the air was fragrant with them, and, but for the mosquitoes (which are not confined 

 to hot countries, but flourish in the short summer of semi- Arctic climes), it might 

 have been considered an earthly edition of paradise ! But even these pests could not 

 worry the company much, for not merely were nearly all the men smokers, but most 

 of the ladies also ! Here the writer may remark, parenthetically, that many of the 

 Russian ladies smoke cigarettes, and none object to gentlemen smoking at table or else- 

 where. At the many dinners and suppers offered by the hospitable residents, it was 

 customary to draw a few whiffs between the courses ; and when the cloth was removed,. 



* Tide "Nautical Magazine," October, 1855. 



