K A M 



painful. Refpiration is (hort and difficult, the flfin bccome$ 

 parched and dry, and the body is confumed by an internal 

 heat. Large draughts of water afford no reUef, nor can 

 any thing reftore perfpiration. Marble, iron, water, though 

 the fun no lonj^cr appears, are hot. The ftreets are deferted, 

 and tile dead fileiicc of night prevails every where. The 

 inhabitauts of towns and villaj^es iliut themfelves up in 

 their houie,-;, and thofc of the defert in their tents, or in pits 

 dug in the earth, waiting the tcnnination of this deftruftive 

 heat. It iifuiiHy lalU three days, but if it exceeds tliat time, 

 it becomes infupportabW. The danger is moll imminent 

 when it blows in fquails, for then the heat is fo much in- 

 treafed, as to canfe fuddeu death by fuffocation. This wind 

 is peculiarly fatal to perfons of a plethoric habit, and to thofe 

 that are exhauiled by fatigue. The corpfe manifefts figns 

 of that putrid fermentation, which takes place in animal bo- 

 dies when the humours become itagnant. Thefe accidents 

 are to be avoided by flopping the nofe and mouth with 

 handkerchiefs ; ami the camels bury their nofes in the fand, 

 and keep them there till the fquall is over. Another quality 

 cf this wind is its extreme aridity ; which is fuch, that water 

 fprinkled on the floor is evaporated in a few minutes : it wi- 

 thers and ilrips all the plants, and exhales too f;;ddenly the 

 emanations from animal bodies, and produces that feverilh 

 heat which refuits from fuppreffed perfpiratioi;. 



Thefe hot winds, are not peculiar to Egypt, they blow 

 likewife in Syria ;'. more frequently, however, near the fea, 

 and in the delert, than in the mountains. M. Niebuhr met 

 with them in Arabia, at Bombay, and in the Diarbekir : 

 tiiey are alfo known in Perlia, and in the call of Africa, and 

 even in Spain, and though their direction m.ay vary, their 

 elfecls are finiilar. In Egypt, the moll violent proi eed from 

 the S.S.W. ; at Mecca, from the E. ; at Siirat, from tlie 

 N. ; at Baffora, from the N.W. ; from the W. at Bagdad ; 

 and in Syria from the S.E- They always proceed, fays 

 Volney, from defert continents; and he adds, it is natural that 

 the air which covers the inimenfe plains of Lybia and Ara- 

 bia, meeting there with neither rivulets nor lakes, nor forcfts, 

 but fcorche^ by the rays of a burning fun, increafed in in- 

 tenfity by the refleclion of the fand, (hould acquire a prodi- 

 gious degree of heat and aridity ; hence he infers that thefe 

 qualijies are owing to the heat of the fun upon the fands. 

 Volney's Travels in' Egypt, &c. vol. i. 



K AMTSCH ATK A, a river of Ruffia, in the peninfula 

 of that name. See below. 



K.'MTSCH ATKA, a peninfula of Rufiia, in the government 

 of Irkuti'k, d'.nvinp its name from the river Kamtfchatka, 

 -.vliich is fijppoicd to have been fo called from fome brave war- 

 ri.>r naiied Konfata. It is hounded on the N. by the pro- 

 vince of Ochotflt, on the E. and S. by the Northern Paci- 

 irc ocean, and on the W. by the fea of Ochotll<, and the 

 Privniinfivoe gulf. On the fouthern promontory, the Ku- 

 nily islands are included in it, ar.d towards the well it iscoii- 

 Tieded with North America by the Aleutan illands. This 

 country confills of a chain of mountains,' forming one train 

 ■MuU tile very mountainous and rocky iflands of Kurilly and 

 .(apan, and thcfeagain feem to be conneiSlcd with the mountains 

 that reach from Thibet through China. All tliefe countries 

 and iilands feem to have arifen by fubtcrrancous fires, which llill 

 .roiitiuuc to a6i, much more lately than Siberia. The penin- 

 J.ulaof Kamtfchatka. according to the account given of it 

 by captain King, who vifitcd it in October 1779, lies on the 

 ♦•aflern coall of Afia, running nearly N. andS from52' 

 to 61 N. lat. : the longitnd* of its fouthern extremity being 

 \0 45'. E. TheilHimus which joins it to the continent on 

 ttie N, lies between the gulf of OlutO'-flv, and the gulf of 

 l?enUiinj]i. its. fouthern c:^U;ejnity^ is ca^e Legaika, a 



K A M 



word fignifying the blade-bone of a man, and fo called from 

 its fuppofed rcfcmblance to it. The (hape of the whole pe- 

 ninfula is not unlike that of a flioe, widening from the toe, 

 tliat is cape Lopatka, towards the middle, and again n:irrow. 

 ir.g towards the heel, tlie neck of land above-mentioned con- 

 nefting it with the contir.ent. Its grciitell breadth is from 

 the mouth of the river Tigil to that of Kamtfchalka, and is 

 compiled to be 2 56 miles, from whence it narrows very 

 gradually towards each extremity. It is bounded on the N. 

 by tlic country of the Koriaks, from which it is Icparattd, 

 according to tl'.e Ruffian geographers, by Olutorfkoi-nofs, 

 which is the fouthern boundary of the Koriaki country. A 

 chain of high mountains ttretches through the whole length 

 of the country from N. to S.; dividing it nearly into tv.'o 

 equal parts, from which a great number of rivers take their 

 rife, and empty themfelves, on each fide, into the Pacific 

 ocean, and the fea of Ochotili. There are tliree rivers of 

 much greater magnitude than the reil ; tlie " Bolchoireka," 

 or great river, the " Kamtfchatka," and the '• Awatfka." 

 The firil difcharges itfelf into the fea of Ochotdc, and is 

 navigable for the Ruffian galliots, upwards of five leagues 

 from its mouth, or within nine miles of Bolcheretlk, a town 

 fituated at the conflux of the Goltfoifka and the Biftraia, 

 which here lofe themfelves in the Bolchoireka. The Billraia, 

 which is no inconfiderable river, has its fource in the fame 

 mountain with the Kamtfchatka, and, by taking a direct 

 contrary courfe, affords the Kamtfchadales the means of 

 tranfporting their goods by water, in fmall canoes, almolt 

 acrofs the whole peninfida. The river Ka.mtfehatka, after 

 purfuing a courfe of nearly 300 miles from S. to N., winds 

 round to the eallward, in which direftion it empties itfelf 

 into the ocL-an, a little to (he fouthward of Kamtfchatkoi- 

 riofs. Near the mouth of tlie KaiPtfchatka, to the N.W. 

 lies the great lake, called Nerpitfch, from " uerpi," a 

 Kamtfchadale word, fignifying a leal, with which this lake 

 abounds. About 20 miles up the river, reckoning from the 

 mouth of the lake, is a fort called Nifhnei Kamtfchatka 

 Ollrog, where the Ruffians have built an hofpital and bar- 

 racks, and which is faid to have become the principal mart 

 in this country. The river Awatfka rifes from the moun- 

 tains fituated between the Bolchoireka and the Biftraia, anj 

 running, from N.W. to S.E., a courfe of 100 miles, falls into 

 the bay of Awatflo. The Tigil is likewife a river of confi- 

 dcrablefize, rifing amidft fome very high mountains, which 

 lie under the fame parallel with Kamtfcliatkoi-nofs, and run- 

 ning in an even courfe from S.E. to N.W. fails icito the fea 

 of Ochot(l<. The foil of this jienir.fula is cxricinely barren, 

 and feems to be incapable of prclltable cultivation, either 

 in the way of pafturage, or in any other mode. 



The face of tlie country, in general, is thinly covered with 

 flunred trees, having a bottom of mofs, ini\ed with low 

 weak heath, and bears a' more llriking refemblance to New-, 

 foundland than to any other part of the world which Capt. 

 King had ever feen. He was informed, however, by major 

 Behm, the late governor, that many parts of the peninfula, 

 particularly the banks of the river Kamtfcliatka and the- 

 Biftraia, produce giafs of great height and ftrength, which 

 they cut twice in tiie fu:nmer ; and that the hay is of a fuc- 

 culcnt quality, and particularly well adapted to the fijtton- 

 ing of cattle. From other accounts it appears that there is 

 no part of the counrry equal in ferti ity to that which bor- 

 ders on the river Kamtlchatka; and that to the N. and 

 S.it is much inferior both in point of foil and cHmate. 

 Repeated experiments have been made in the culture of oats, 

 barley, and rye, in difterent quarters near this river, which 

 have generally fucceeded ; and it is not doubted, that wheat, 

 in many parts, particularly near tiie fource of the Bi'lraia 



and 



