PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
529 
to Ochotsk for sale. For a description of this amusement, and other CHAP, 
recreations of the Kamschatdales, I must refer the reader to Cook’s 
Voyage, to Captain Cochrane’s Pedestrian Journey, and to the en- juiy, 
tertaining Travels of Mr. Dobell, who quitted Kamschatka a short time 
before we arrived. 
At present the only trade carried on in Petrapaulski is in furs, 
which are exchanged for goods brought annually from Okotsk. Every 
thing is excessively dear, even the necessary article salt, which is in 
great demand, and produces a very high price. 
The Bay of Awatska and the harbours which open into it leave 
nothing to be desired in the way of a port. Awatska has many square 
miles of ground which may be appropriated to secure anchorage, and 
Tareinski is the beau ideal of a harbour. Petrapaulski, though small, 
has a sufficient depth of water for a first-rate in every part of it. The 
ground is good, and the smoothness of the water is never affected by 
any weather upon the coast. As Awatska is nearly surrounded by 
high land, gusts of wind are of frequent occurrence, particularly op- 
posite Kakovya harbour : on this account it is advisable to moor or ride 
with a long scope of cable. The entrance to the port is narrow and 
about four miles in length, and as the wind almost always blows up 
or down the channel, ships frequently have to beat in and out, and 
experience great difficulty in so doing, from the confined space to 
which they are limited, and the eddy currents, which in the spring-time 
in particular must be carefully guarded against. There are but two 
shoals in the harbour which it is necessary to notice ; one off Kakovya, 
upon which there is a buoy ; and the other off the signal station on the 
west side of the entrance of Awatska Bay. 
Much has been said of the neglected condition of the settlement, 
and volumes have been written on the government, inhabitants, pro- 
ductions, and on the actual and prospective state of the country*; still 
there have been no exertions on the part of the government materially 
to improve or provide for either one or the other. Its neglected state 
is probably of very little consequence at present; but should the North 
* Cook’s Third Voyage, vol. iii. ; Perouse’s Voyage; Krusenstern’s Embassy to Japan; 
LangsdorfF’s Travels ; Cochrane’s Journey ; Dobell’s Travels, &c. 
3 Y 
