APPENDIX. 199 



very well suited for ship-building. It is a good place for 

 launching, for starting out, and as a harbor of refuge 

 for these ships. There is, in fact, no better place on 

 this coast. Hence, according to Spangberg^s direc- 

 tions, a house was built on the ''Cat" for the officers, 

 and barracks and huts for the men. For these build- 

 ings our men hauled the clay, made the tiles, brought 

 wood from a distance of three to four miles, and car- 

 ried fresh water from a distance of about two miles ; 

 for although the Koschka is situated at the mouth of 

 the Okhota, the water in the river is very salt on 

 account of the tide-water. Moreover, we have built 

 store-houses and a powder magazine. I enclose three 

 diagrams, showing what has been done in the years 

 1735, 1736, and 1737. My men in Okhotsk are now 

 preparing ship-biscuits for the voyages, and are floating 

 the necessary timber for the boats twenty miles down 

 the river. They burn the charcoal used in forging, and 

 the necessary pitch must be prepared and brought from 

 Kamchatka, as there is no pitch-pine in the vicinity 

 of Okhotsk. 



In addition to this we are obliged to make our own 

 dog-sledges, and on these bring our provisions from 

 Yudomskaya Krest to the Urak landing. There is, 

 too, much other work in Okhotsk that must be done in 

 preference to ship-building, for it is quite impossible 

 to get anything in the way of food except the legal 

 military provisions, consisting of flour and groats. I 

 must state, in this connection, that in the summer some 

 cattle are sent with the transports from Yakutsk. 

 These are obtained at the regular iDrice and are dis- 



