238 LOG BOOK OF THE "ST. PETER" 



appeared, which grass is known in Kamchatka as sweet grass and from which the 

 government there manufactures a kind of wine. It tastes something Hke Russian 

 borshch.^^^ We used this grass as well as other grasses for food. We had no 

 provisions and had to secure our food with great trouble, and such as we found was 

 bad and unfit for human beings. We were obliged to go along the beach 20 and 30 

 versts in the hope of killing a sea otter, sea lion, or hair seal. On seeing them we 

 would steal up behind them as they were on the beach or on the rocks, when the 

 tide was out, and kill them with clubs, and having killed them we tied them on our- 

 selves with a load in front and a load behind. If for some reason we could not hunt 

 these animals we were forced to find and eat dead ones, such as whales and sea cows, 

 which had been cast up by the sea. During the winter we hunted the animals so 

 hard that they became frightened, and by spring they were quite a distance from 

 our camp. Just then large herds of fur seals came to breed on the other side of the 

 island. They were so numerous on the western side that during the breeding season 

 two or three men could barely get by them in safety, for at that period they are 

 quite savage and attack people. Sometimes the men, in order to get to their desti- 

 nations, had to cross over the mountain ridges, for they could not get around the 

 beach on account of these animals. Their flesh was quite distasteful, and the longer 

 we ate it the less we liked it. We then turned to hunting the sea cow and did it in 

 the following manner. This animal does not stay far out at sea but keeps close to 

 shore. Its back is above water, and with the flood tide it moves toward the shore 

 to feed on the sea cabbage. As the tide goes out the sea cow goes along so as not to 

 get stranded, being such a large animal. At the time when it was nearing the shore 

 our men in the longboat would pull up close to it, and one of them, standing in the 

 bow, hurled at it a large iron harpoon with sharp teeth. To the harpoon was made 

 fast a cable from 4 to 5 inches in thickness, which cable was held by 20 men who 

 were ashore. When the harpoon had penetrated the flesh and held, the men on 

 shore pulled with all their might while the men in the boat went up close to the ani- 

 mal, cutting and stabbing with sharp iron weapons in order to weaken it and prevent 

 it from breaking the rope, which sometimes happened. This cow is so powerful that 

 it took all these men to hold her. Counting meat and fat, the sea cow gives about 

 200 poods.132 From the time on when we began hunting the sea cow we were 

 not in want. Of all the animals mentioned above the flesh of the cow is the best 

 tasting. We brought with us to Kamchatka a considerable quantity of it salted. 

 At times the winds on the island are so strong that a person can with difficulty 

 keep on his feet. We concluded that these winds are due to the high mountains 

 and deep valleys . I may say that, owing to these winds, the snow in the air, and the 

 blizzards blowing off the mountains, we seldom saw a beautiful or clear day from 

 December to March. From March on, during the spring and summer, there are 

 heavy and continuous fogs and wet weather so that we seldom saw a pleasant day 

 during this period. This kind of weather greatly interfered with the speed of our 

 shipbuilding. In addition, the men were in such poor condition and so undisciplined 

 that it was not safe to order them around, but everything had to be done by common 

 consent. On this island there are no minerals or metals, for Adjunct Steller was 

 sent purposely around the island without finding anything. There are no land 

 animals on the island aside frcm the blue foxes. There are all kinds of land and 

 sea birds. 



131 A souD usually made out of beet root. 

 i3i 7,200 lbs. 



