432 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



obligations to the bears for what little advancement they 

 had hitherto made, either in the sciences or polite arts. 

 They confess that they owe to them all their skill, both in 

 physic and surgery ; that, by remarking with what herbs 

 these animals rub the wounds they have received, and what 

 they have recourse to when sick and languid, they have 

 become acquainted with most of the simples in use among 

 them, either in the way of internal medicine or external 

 application ; they acknowledge the bears likewise for their 

 dancing masters. Indeed, the evidence of one's senses puts 

 this out of dispute ; for the bear-dance of the Kamtscha- 

 dales is an exact counterpart of every attitude and gesture 

 peculiar to this animal through its various functions ; and 

 this is the foundation and groundwork of all their other 

 dances, and what they value themselves most upon. 



" No occurrence worth mentioning took place till the 30th 

 when Captain Gore went to Paratounca to put up, in the 

 church there, an escutcheon, prepared by Mr. Webber, with 

 an inscription upon it, setting forth Captain Clerke's age and 

 rank, and the object of the expedition in which he was 

 engaged at the time of his decease. We also affixed to the 

 tree, under which he was buried, a board with an inscription 

 upon it to the same effect. 



" On the 2nd of October both ships warped out of the 

 harbour the day before the cattle arrived from Verchnei ; 

 and that the men might receive the full benefit of this much 

 longed-for supply by consuming it fresh, Captain Gore 

 came to a determination of staying five or six days longer. 



" At four in the afternoon of the 9th we unmoored, and 

 now took our leave of this place. 



" Kamtschatka is the name of a peninsula situated on the 

 east e T a coast of Asia, running nearly north and south. 



" It is bounded on the north by the country of the 

 Koriacks ; to the south and east by the North Pacific Ocean ; 

 and to the west by the Sea of Okotsk. A chain of high 

 mountains stretches the whole length of the country from 

 nortl to south, dividing it nearly into two equal parts, 

 whence a great number of rivers take their rise, and empty 

 themselves on each side into the Pacific Ocean and the Sea 

 of Okotsk. 



" If I may judge of the soil from what I saw of its veget- 

 able productions, I should not hesitate in pronouncing it 

 barren in the extreme. The whole bore a more striking 

 resemblance to Newfoundland than to any other part of the 

 world I had ever seen. 



" It is natural to suppose that the severity of the climate 

 must be in due proportion to the general sterility of the soil, 

 of which it is probably the cause. The first time we saw 



