1779. 
May. 
*iii 1 ~~, 
A VOYAGE TO 
tinnally fhifting. When we had crofted this Ihoal, the 
water again deepened; and here we found a commodi¬ 
ous boat, built and Ihaped like a Norway yawl, ready 
to convey us up the river, together with canoes for our 
baggage. 
The mouth of the Awatlka is about a quarter of a mile 
broad; and as we advanced, it narrowed very gradually. 
After we had proceeded a few miles, we palled feveral 
branches, which, we were told, emptied themfelves into 
other parts of the bay; and that fome of thofe on the left 
hand, flowed into the Paratounca river. Its general direc¬ 
tion from the bay, for the firft ten miles, is to the North, 
after which it turns to the Weft ward: this bend excepted, 
it preferves, for the moft part, a ftraight courfe; and the 
country, through which it flows, to the diftance of near 
thirty miles from the fea, is low *md flat, and fubjecl to 
frequent inundations. We were puflied forward by fix 
men, with long poles, three at each end of the boat; two 
of whom were Coflacks, the others Kamtfchadales; and ad¬ 
vanced againft a ftrong ftream, at the rate, as well as I 
could judge, of about three miles an hour. Our Kamtfcha¬ 
dales bore this fevere labour, with great ftoutnefs, for ten 
hours; during which we flopped only once, and that for a 
fhort time, whilft they took fome little refrefliment. As 
we had been told, at our firft fetting out in the morning, 
that we fhould eafily reach an ojlrog , called Karatchin, the 
fame night, we were much difappointed to find ourfelves, 
at fun-fet, fifteen miles from that place. This we attri¬ 
buted to the delay occafioned in palling the Ihoals we had 
met with, both at the entrance of the river, and in feveral 
other places, as we proceeded up it: for our boat being 
the firft that had palled up the river, the guides were not 
acquainted 
