254 



THE POLAE WORLD. 



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CHURCH AT PETROPATLOSK. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



KAMCHATKA. 



Climate.— Fertility. — Luxuriant Vegetation. — Fish. — Sea-birds. — Karachatkan Bird-catchers.— The Bay 

 of Avatscha. — Petropaylosk. — The Kamchatkans. — Their physical atid moral Qualities. — The Frl- 

 tillaria Sarrcma. — The Muchamor. — Bears. — Dogs. 



T^HE peninsula of Kamchatka, though numbering no more than 6000 or 7000 

 ■^ inhabitants, on a surface equalling Great Britain in extent, has so many 

 natural resources that it could easily maintain a far greater number. The cli- 

 mate is much more temperate and uniform than that of the interior of Siberia, 

 being neither so excessively cold in winter, nor so intensely hot in summer ; 

 and though the late and early night-frosts, with the frequent fogs and rains, 

 prevent the cultivation of corn, the humid air produces a very luxuriant herba- 

 ceous vegetation. Not only along the banks of the rivers and lakes, but in the 

 forest glades, the grass grows to a height of more than twelve feet, and many 

 of the Compositse and Umbelliferoe attain a size so colossal that the Heraclium 

 dulce and the Senecio cannahifoUus not seldom overtop the rider on horseback. 

 The pasture-grounds are so excellent that the grass can generally be cut thrice 

 during the short summer, and thus a comparatively small extent of land affords 

 the winter supply for all the cattle of a hamlet. Though the cold winds pre- 

 vent the growth of trees along the coast, the more inland mountain slopes and 

 valleys are clothed with woods richly stocked with sables and squirrels. 



