A PRISONER IN RUSSIAN HANDS 181 
pany, the church included, which was presented by 
the company to the clergy, who, of course, bestowed 
a blessing on the donors. There is but one store in 
the town of any pretensions, where something of 
everything can be obtained. The proprietors also 
trade in furs. I saw lots of sturdy-looking ponies, 
and cattle are fairly plentiful. Good beef, milk, 
and butter, are to be had. The natives, I under¬ 
stand, are allowed to take up and cultivate as much 
land as they please. Many of the houses stand in 
gardens devoted chiefly to the raising of potatoes 
and turnips. Hay for the winter food of the cattle 
is cut in a large valley some two or three miles to 
the north of the town ; haymaking had commenced 
when we left. Berries are plentiful on the hills ; 
several kinds are delicious and make excellent 
preserves. Fish, particularly salmon, abound in 
the rivers and bays; quantities of salmon, herring, 
cod, flounders, and other kinds of fish, were caught 
alongside the vessel as we lay at the wharf. The 
country around is rich in fur-bearing animals. A 
few sea-otters are caught on the south coast; white 
bears and wolves abound in the northern parts ; 
while brown bears, wolves, foxes, sable, ermine, 
land-otter, reindeer, and mountain-sheep, are found 
in most parts of the peninsula. Copper and coal 
exist, and gold also, but it has not been worked, 
owing, it is said, to its being too far away from the 
settlements. 
“ The natives of Petropaulsky appear to be good- 
natured people, taking life very easily, and being, in 
common with all the inhabitants of these parts, 
wonderfully fond of vodki. The women do the 
greater part of the work, except such labour as the 
