MOLESTED BY FOXES 147 



Even objects made of iron, and other kinds which they could 

 not eat, were nevertheless sniffed at and stolen. It even seemed 

 as if these miserable animals were to plague and chastise us 

 more and more in the future, as actually happened, perhaps in 

 order that we, like the Philistines,^^^ might also be punished by 

 the foxes for our eagerness for the precious Kamchatkan fox 

 skins. It even seemed that the more of them we killed and 

 tortured for revenge most cruelly before the eyes of the others, 

 letting them run away half-skinned, without eyes, ears, tails, 

 half roasted, etc., the more malevolent and audacious became 

 the others, so that they also broke into our habitations and 

 dragged out of them whatever they could get hold of, though 

 occasionally, in spite of our misery, they moved us to laughter 

 by their cunning and funny monkey tricks.334 



November 14.^35 This afternoon, with Mr. Plenisner and Mr. 

 Betge, I went hunting for the first time, or, as we afterwards used 

 to say in the Siberian way, went on the promysl. We clubbed four 

 sea otters, half of which we threw into a creek, which therefrom 

 afterwards retained the name Bobrovaya Ryechka [Sea Otter 

 Creek] and the place where we killed them Bobrovoe Pole 

 [Sea Otter Field], ^^^ but the best meat, together with the skins 



333 xhe allusion is to Judges xv, 4 and 5. 



334 In the MS the whole passage beginning with the words "Every- 

 where on the shore" in the middle of the preceding paragraph, down to 

 this point, ending with "monkey tricks," follows after the words "from 

 Lyesnaya Ryechka (Wood Creek), thus named by us," on page 150 below. 

 What led Pallas to make this transposition, other than a more orderly 

 presentation of topics, is not clear, as it leads him into creating a confu- 

 sion in the sequence of events (see the next footnote) as given in the MS. 



335 xhe MS has no date here, the account continuing as under date of 

 November 13 follow, both in the printed text (see, below, p. 150) and 

 in the preceding footnote. It should be noted that the happenings of 

 November 13 follow, both in the printed text (see, below, p. 150) and 

 in the MS; also that in both November 15 follows the 13th. Hence the 

 sequence in the MS is Nov. 12, 13, 15; in the printed text Nov. 12, 14, 



13. 15. 



336 As Steller does not say whether they went east or west from their 

 camp, it is not possible to locate his Bobrovaya Ryechka and Bobrovoe 

 Pole with certainty. The nearest creek to the east is Chigachiganakh, 



