KAMTSCH ATKA. 



ir.adi: tliem tributary. Tiiei« bein? tlie immediate r.cigli- 

 bours of the- Kanitichadalcs, and likewife in the )iabit^ of 

 bartering witli them, a knowledge of Kaintfchalka followed 

 of courfe. The honour of the firil difcovery is afcribed to 

 Feodot Alexeieff, u merchant, who is faid to have failed 

 from the river Kovyma, round the peninfulaof the Tfchutflci, 

 in company with fcven other vefiels, about the year 164S. 

 Being feparated from the reil by a ilorm, near the Tfchii- 

 kotflcoi-nofs, he was driven upon the coad of Kamtfchatka, 

 where he wintered ; and in the fummer following coaftcd 

 round the promontory of Lopatka, into the fea ofOchotIk, 

 and entered the mouth of the Tigil ; but he and his com- 

 panions were cut off by the Kodaks, in endeavouring to pafs 

 by land from thence to the Anadirik. But as thefc dif- 

 coverers did not live to report what they had done, Volo- 

 dimir AtlalToff, a CofTack, is reputed the firil difcoverer of 

 Kamtfchatka. This perfon, under the quality of com- 

 midary, penetrated, in t' 99, with about 60 Rufiian foldiers, 

 and the fame number of Coflacks, into the heart of the 

 peninfula, gained the Tigil, and levying a tribute of furs, 

 proceeded to crofs over to the river Kamtfchatka, on which 

 he built the higher Kamtfchatka Ollrog, called Verchnei, 

 where he left a garrifon of Coflacks, and returned to 

 Jakutflc in 1 700, with an immenfe quantity of rare and 

 valuable trfoutary furs. Upon his arrival at Alofcow, he was 

 appointed commander of the fort of Jakutlk, with farther 

 orders to repair again to Kamtfchatka. But as he advanced 

 tfvwards the Anadirllc, he fell in with a bark on the river 

 Tungu<l<a, laden with Chinefe merchandize, which he pil- 

 laged ; but in confequence of a remonftrsnce from the 

 fuifcrers to the Ruffian court, he was feized at Jakutfk, and 

 thrown into prifon. During the difgrace and trial of 

 Atlaflbff, feveral fucceffive commilTaries were fent into 

 Kamtfchatka ; but at length AilafToft" v.-as reinftated in his 

 command, and appointed to conduct a fecond expedition 

 into Kamtfchatka ; however, in this fervice he was guilty of 

 oppreffion and cruelty, wliich occafioned a mutiny among 

 the Coflacks, and they fucceeded in getting him difplaccd, 

 and feized upon his elfetls. Accuftomed to plunder, they 

 were reduced to military difcipline and fubjection with great 

 difficulty. The hillory of this country, from that period 

 till the grand revolt of the Kamtfchadales in 1 73 1, prefents 

 one unvaried detail of maffdcres, revolts, and favage fau- 

 guinary rencounters between I'mall parties, from one end of 

 the peninfula to another. When peace was ellabhihed, the 

 couiitrj' remained tranquil till the year 1740, when a few 

 Ruffians loll their lives in atiinuilt ; and except an infurrec- 

 tion which occurred at Bolcheretik in 1770, there has been 

 no diilurbance lince. 



After the rt-bcllion of 17^1 was quelled, the country 

 recovered itfelf, and became more populous than ever ; 

 when, in the year 1767, the Imall-pox, brought by a foldier 

 from Ocho'ik, threatened the total extirpation of its inhabit- 

 ants. It has been computed that near 20,oco died of this 

 diforder in Kamtfchatka, the Koreki country, and the 

 Kurile iilands. The inhabitants of whole villages were fwept 

 away, and their habitations left defolate. In the diminillied 

 ftate of the natives, with frcfli fupplies of Ruffians and Cof- 

 facks perpetually pouring into the country, and intermixing 

 with them by marriage, it is probable, that in Icfs than half a 

 century there will be very few of them left. According to 

 Major Bchm's account, there were not, in 1779, mote than 

 3C00 who paid tribute, tiie Kurile itlanders included. Capt. 

 King underftood that in the year above-mentioned, there 

 were in the five forts of Nichnel, Verchnei, Tigil, Bulthc- 

 r--t(k, and St. Peter and St. Paul, about 400 Ruffians and 

 Coflacks, and near the fame number at. lng.iga, which, 



though to the N. of ilie peninfula, was then under the con:, 

 mander of Kamtfclialka ; to thefe may be added the Ruifian 

 traders and emigrants, whofo number is not very coiilider- 

 able. 



The Ruffian government, eftablithed over this country, 

 though military, is in a high degree mild and equitable. 

 The natives are permitted to clioofe their own magillratci 

 among thenifeKes, in the way and with the fame powers 

 to which they had ever been accullomed. One of thefe, 

 under the title of " Toion," prefidcs over each " ollrog," 

 who refers merely cafes of diiBculty, or crimes of peculiar 

 malignity, to the decifion of the governor of Kamtfchatka. 

 The Toion has likewife the appointment of a civil officer, 

 called a corporal, who afitlls liiin in the execution of his 

 office, and in his abfence ads as his deputy. By an edift 

 of the late emprefs, no crime whatever can be punifticd 

 with death ; but it is faid, that, in cafes of murder, the 

 punifliment of the " knout" is adminiflcred with fuch fe- 

 verity, that the offender generally dies under it. The only 

 tribute exaded, as an acknowledgment of the Ruffian do- 

 minion, conlills, in fome dillrifts, of a fox's Il;in, in otliers 

 of a fable's, and in the Kurile ifies of a fea-ottcr"s. The 

 tributes are colletled by the Toioiis in their feveral diflriifts. 

 The Ruffians, it is faid, have taken great pains in converting. 

 the Kamtfchadales to Chriftiaruty, and they have fo far 

 fucceeded, that there remain few idolaters among them. 

 The religion taught and profeffed is, of courfe, that of the 

 Greek church. Schools are likewife ellablilhed in' many of 

 the ollrogs, where the children of both the natives^and the 

 Coflacks are gratuitoiifly inllrutted in the Ruffian language.. 



The commerce of this country, as far as concerns tlie ex- 

 ports, is entirely confined to furs, and carried on principally 

 by a company of merchants, inftituted by the late emprefs. 

 Befides thefe, there are many inferior traders (particularly 

 of the Coffacks) fcatlered through the country. The prin- 

 cipal merchants, during their Hay in the country, relide at 

 Bolclierefli, or the Nilhnei ollrog, in which two places the- 

 trade almoll wholly centres. I'he articles of importation 

 are principally European, but not rellricled to Ruffian 

 manufaclures ; many are Englifh and Dutch ; feveral like- 

 wife come from Siberia, Bucharia, the Kalmucks, and China. 

 They confift of coarfe woollen and linen clothes, yarn 

 ftockings, bonnets, and gloves ; thin Perfian filks ; cottons, 

 and pieces of nankeen, filk and cotton handkerchiefs ; brafs 

 coppers and pans, iron iloves, files, guns, powder, and Ibot j 

 hardware, fuch as hatchets, bills, knives, fcillors, needles, 

 looking-glaffes ; flour, fugar ; tanned hides, boots, &c. It. 

 has been obferved, that thefe articles in general are fold for 

 treble the price they might have been purchafed for in Eng- 

 land ; and though the merchants have fo large a protit 

 upon thefe imported goods, they have a itill larger upon 

 the furs at Kiachta, upon the frontiers of Cliina, which is 

 the great market for them. The beil fea-otter fiiins felL 

 generally in Kamtfchatka for about 30 roubles a-piece ; at 

 Kiachta the Chinefe merchant buys them at double that 

 price, and fells them again at Pekin at a conl;der;;ble ad- 

 vance, where a profitable trade is made with fome of them to 

 Japan. All furs exported from Kamtfchatka acrofs the 

 fea of Ochotfl<, pay a duty of 10 /rr cent, and fables a duty 

 of 12 ; and all forts of merchandize imported from Ochotfk 

 pay half a rouble for every pood (-^6 pounds Englifh). The 

 duty on exports and imports is paid at Ochotik ; and the 

 tribute, which amounted, in 1779, to 10,000 roubles annually, 

 is collefted at Bolchcretfl<. Six vcflcls, from 40 to 50 toiia 

 burtiien, were employed by the late emprefs between- 

 Ochotfkand Bolcheretik; five for the tranfportalion of ilores 

 and provilious from the former to the latter place, at.d one. 



