256 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



gers, however, who have sailed along the coasts, or made excursions into the in- 

 terior of the country, speak with enthusiasm of the boldness of its rocky prom- 

 ontories, the magnificence of its bays and mountains, and only regret that 

 during the greater part of the year an Arctic winter veils the beauties of the 

 landscape under mists and snow. 



Throughout its whole length Kamchatka is traversed by an Alpine chain 

 rising in some of its peaks to a height of 14,000 or 16,500 feet, and numbering 

 no less than 28 active volcanoes along with many others whose fires are extinct. 

 A land thus undermined with subterranean fires must be possessed of many 

 mineral riches, but as yet no one has ever thought of seeking for them or put- 

 ting them to use. 



Owing to the great humidity of the climate and the quantities of rain at- 

 tracted by the mountains, Kamchatka abounds in springs. In the lowlands 

 they gush forth in such numbers as to render it very difficult to travel any dis- 

 tance on foot or horseback, even in winter, as they prevent the rivers from 

 freezing. No doubt many a mineral spring — cold, tepid, or warm — that would 

 make the fortune of a German spa, here flows unnoticed into the sea. 



Kamchatka has many excellent harbors, and the magnificent Bay of Avatscha 

 would alone be able to afford room to all the navies of the world. Its steep 

 rocky shores are almost everywhere clothed with a species of beech {Betula 

 Ermanni\ intermingled with luxuriant grasses and herbs, and the higher slopes 

 are generally covered with a dense underwood of evergreens and shrubs of de- 

 ciduous foliage, whose changes of color in autumn tinge the landscape with yel- 

 low, red, and brown tints. But the chief beauty of the Bay of Avatscha is the 

 prospect of the distant mountains, forming a splendid panorama of fantastic 

 peaks and volcanic cones, among which the Streloshnaja Soj^ka towers pre-emi- 

 nent to the height of 14,000 feet. Close to this giant, but somewhat nearer to 

 the coast, rises the active volcano of Avatscha, which frequently covers the 

 whole country with ashes. 



The vast Bay of Avatscha forms several minor creeks : among others the ha- 

 ven of St. Peter and Paul, one of the finest natural harbors in the world, where 

 the Russians have established the seat of their government in the small town of 

 Petropavlosk, which hardly numbers 500 inhabitants, but has acquired some 

 celebrity from the unsuccessful attack ot the English and French forces in 1854. 



Mr. Knox thus describes Petropavlosk : " To make a counterfeit Petro- 

 pavlosk, take a log village in the backwoods of a western state in America, 

 and place it near a little harbor, where the ground slopes gently to the water. 

 Arrange most of the houses along a single unpaved street, and drop the rest in 

 a higgledy-piggledy fashion on the sloping hillside. All buildings must be but 

 one story high, and those of the poorer sort thatched with grass. The better 

 class may have iron or board roofs painted for preservation. The houses of the 

 officials and the foreign merchants may be commodious, and built of hewn tim- 

 ber, but the doors of all must be low, and heavily constructed, to exclude the 

 winter cold. Every dwelling must contain a brick stove that presents a side to 

 each of two or three rooms. In winter this stove will maintain a temperature 

 of about 68 degrees in all the rooms it is intended to warm." 



