CHAPTER XVn. 
WE KEACH THE PENINSULA OF KAMTSCIIATKA, FOLLOW ITS WEST COAST 
TO THE NORTHWARD, AND DISCOVER A COAL-MINE AND A II ALF-BURIED 
VILLAGE AFTER WHICH WE PROVE A NEW-FASHIONED BOOTJACK, AND 
TAKE A DIP INTO THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY WE FIND THAT SHOWER- 
BATHS ARE NOT ALWAYS CLEANSING. 
We liad not long to wait for our fair wind; and, 
though anxious to locate “dangerous rock” astronomi- 
cally before leaving those unknown shores, we finally 
despaired of the fog clearing away, and called, “All 
hands up anchor!” The location of tliat rock would 
have been a most appropriate winding-up to the vast 
amount of work which we had accomplished since the 
commencement of this portion of the survey at the 
quiet port of Iley-da. 
The end of a half-hour saw us under all sail and no 
steam, with the propeller disconnected, and a fine breeze 
on our quarter, progressing at the promising (?) rate of 
four and a half knots an hour upon our foggy path of over 
six hundred miles. Poor “ old John !” miserable old tub ! 
Months have passed since I and my companions in 
misery left your fated hull to the tender mercies of the 
officials of the San Francisco navy-yard, and thus de- 
prived you of the power of drowning us some fine morn- 
ing; but I saw, by the Philadelphia “Evening Pullotiu” 
of April 80, 1856, that you have been provided with a 
