THE COAST OF KAMCHATKA. 135 



the ladies, instead of retiring to another room, sat in company with the gentlemen, the 

 larger proportion joining in the social weed. After the enjoyment of a liberal al fresco 

 dinner, songs were in order, and it would be easier to say what were not sung than to 

 give the list of those, in all languages, which were. Then after tKe songs came some 

 games, one of them a .Russian version of "hunt the slipper," and another very like 

 "kiss in the ring." The writer particularly remembers the latter, for he had on that 

 occasion the honour of kissing the Pope's wife ! This needs explanation, although the 

 Pope was his friend. In the Greek Church the priest is "allowed to marry," and his 

 title, in the Russian language, is " Pope." 



And the recollection of that particular "Pope" recalls a well-remembered ceremony 

 that of a double wedding in the old church. During the ceremony it is customary to 

 crown the bride and bridegroom. In this case two considerate male friends held the 

 crowns for three-quarters of an hour over the brides' heads, so as not to spoil the artistic 

 arrangement of their hair and head-gear. It seems also to be the custom, when, as in the 

 present case, the couples were in the humbler walks of life, to ask some wealthy individual 

 to act as master of the ceremonies, who, if he accepts, has to stand all the expenses. 

 In this case M. Phillipeus, a merchant who has many times crossed the frozen steppes 

 of Siberia in search of valuable furs, was the victim, and he accepted the responsibility 

 of entertaining all Petropaulovski, the officers of the splendid Russian corvette, the Variety, 

 and those of the Telegraph Expedition, with cheerfulness and alacrity. 



The coast-line of Kamchatka is extremely grand, and far behind it are magnificent 

 volcanic peaks. The promontory which terminates in the two capes, Kamchatka and 

 Stolbevoy, has the appearance of two islands detached from the mainland, the intervening 

 country being low. This, a circumstance to be constantly observed on all coasts, was, 

 perhaps, specially noticeable on this. The island of St. Lawrence, in Bering Sea, 

 was a very prominent example. It is undeniable that the apparent gradual rise of a 

 coast, seen from the sea as you approach it, affords a far better proof of the rotundity 

 of the earth than the illustrations usually employed, that of a ship, which you are 

 supposed to see by instalments, from the main-royal sail (if not from the ' sky-scraper ' 

 or ' moon-raker ') to the hull. The fact is, that the royal and top-gallant sails of 

 a vessel on the utmost verge of the horizon may be, in certain lights, barely dis- 

 tinguishable, while the dark outline of an irregular and rock-bound coast can be seen by 

 any one. First, maybe, appears a mountain peak towering in solitary grandeur above 

 the coast-line, and often far behind it, then the high lands and hills, then the cliffs 

 and low lands, and, lastly, the flats and beaches. 



It was from the Kamchatka River, which enters Bering Sea near the cape of the 

 same name, that Vitus Bering sailed on his first voyage. That navigator was a persevering 

 and plucky Dane, who had been drawn into the service of Russia through the fame of 

 Peter the Great, and his first expedition was directly planned by that sagacious monarch, 

 although he did not live to carry it out. Miiller, the historian of Bering's career, says : 

 "The Empress Catherine, as she endeavoured in all points to execute most precisely the 

 plans of her deceased husband, in a manner began her reign with an order for the 

 expedition to Kamchatka." Bering had associated with him two active subordinates, 



