Chapter V: Part 5

To divert our attention, it was proposed to us to try the abilities of a celebrated female dancer, who was a Kamtschadale, and lived in this ostrog. The encomiums bestowed upon her excited our curiosity, and we sent for her; but either from caprice or ill humour she refused to dance, and paid no regard to our invitation. It was in vain they represented that her refusal was disrespectful to the governor general; no consideration could induce her to comply. Fortunately we had some brandy by us, and a bumper or two seemed to effect a change in her inclinations. At the same time Kamtschadale, at our request, began to dance before her, challenging her by his voice and gestures. Gradually her eyes sparkled, her countenance became convulsive, and her whole frame shook upon the bench where she sat. To the enticements and shrill song of the dancer, she answered in similar accents, beating time with her head, which turned in every direction. The movements became at last so rapid, that, no longer able to contain herself, she darted from her seat, and in turn defied her man by cries and distortions still more extravagant. It is not easy to express the absurdity of the dance. All her limbs seemed to be disjointed; she moved them with equal strength and agility; she tore her cloaths, and fixed her hands to her bosom with a kind of rage as if she would tear it also. These singular transports were accompanied with still more singular postures; and in short, it was no longer a woman, but a fury. In her blind frenzy she would have rushed into the fire that was kindled in the middle of the room, if her husband had not taken the precaution of placing a bench before it to prevent her: during the whole dance indeed he took care to keep himself close to her. When he saw that her head was perfectly gone, that she staggered on all sides, and could no longer support herself without laying hold of her fellow dancer, he took her in his arms and placed her upon a bench, where she fell, like an inanimate clod, without consciousness, and out of breath. She continued five minutes in this situation. Meanwhile the Kamtschadale, proud of his triumph, continued to dance and to sing. Recovering from her swoon, the woman heard him, and suddenly, in spite of her weakness, she raised herself up, uttered some inarticulate sounds, and would have begun again this laborious contest. Her husband kept her back and interceded for her; but the conqueror, believing himself to be indefatigable, continued his jeers and bantering, and we were obliged to exert our authority to quiet him. In spite of the praises that were lavished upon the talents of these actors, the scene, I confess, afforded me no amusement, but on the contrary, considerable disgust.

All the inhabitants of this place, women as well as men, smoke and chew tobacco. By a refinement that I cannot account for, they mix ashes with the tobacco to make it stronger. We gave them some snuff, and they applied it not to their nose, but to their mouth. I examined their pipes: they are of the same shape as those of the Chinese, made of bone, and very small. When they make use of them, they do not emit the smoke from their mouth, but swallow it with great gratification.

All the toyons of the different ostrogs we had passed in coming from Ozernoi, out of respect to M. Kasloff, had escorted us as far as Karagui. The second day after our arrival, they had taken their leave of us to return to their respective habitations. Their adieux were affectionate. After making new apologies for not having been able to give him a better reception in the course of his journey, they showed the utmost regret at leaving him, as if he had been surrounded by the most imminent dangers, and offered him whatever they possessed, ignorant of any other way of testifying their attachment. They addressed themselves in like manner to me, and solicited me with earnestness to receive something from them. It was useless to make objections; my refusals only rendered them the more urgent, and to satisfy them I was obliged to accept their presents.

Let me be permitted in this place to perform a duty which I owe to the Kamtschadales in general, for the civility with which they treated me. I have already mentioned their mild and hospitable character, but I have not been sufficiently minute respecting the instances of regard which these good people gave me, and I recall with pleasure the remembrance of their kind reception. There was not, I believe, an individual chief of any ostrog, that did not make me some trifling present. Sometimes it was a sable or fox skin, and sometimes fruit or fish, and such other objects as they conceived would be most agreeable to me. One would have supposed that they had resolved, by their attentions to me, to repair the injustice which they had so long committed against the French name. They often thanked me for having undeceived them upon the subject; and sometimes again were tempted to regret it, when they considered that they should see me no more, and that it seldom happened that any of my countrymen visited their peninsula.

We left Karagui at one o'clock in the morning of 2 March. The weather was tolerably calm, and continued so during the whole day. The only inconvenience we met with, was the not being able to cross, as we had hoped to do, a bay which the tempest of the preceding evening had cleared of its ice: we were obliged to go round it. This bay has considerable depth, is eight or ten wersts wide, and appeared to run in the direction of north-east and south-west. The ice was only broken up as far as the mouth, where it became solid again, and extended into the sea. With the circuit which we were obliged to make, we travelled this day about fifty wersts.

Upon the approach of night, we stopped in the open country and erected our tents. Under the largest, belonging to M. Kasloff, were placed his vezock and mine, the door of the one against the door of the other, so that by letting down the windows, we were able to converse together. The other sledges were ranged two abreast round our tents, and the spaces between, being covered with linen or skins, served our guides and our suite as places where they might shelter themselves, and prepare their beds. Such was the disposition of our halt.

As soon as our kettle boiled we took tea, and then prepared for our supper, which was our only meal every day. A corporal presided as _maitre d'hotel_ and as cook. The meats which were prepared by him were neither numerous nor delicate, but his quickness and our appetites rendered us indulgent. He commonly served us up a kind of soup made of a biscuit of black bread, and mixed with rice or oatmeal. It was prepared in half an hour, and in the following manner. He took a piece of beef, or flesh of rein deer, and put it into boiling water, having first cut it into very thin slices, which were ready in an instant.

The evening previous to our departure from Karagui, we had killed and begun upon our second deer. We regaled ourselves with the marrow: raw or dressed, I thought it excellent. We had the tongue also boiled, and I conceived that I had never eaten any thing more delicious.

We pursued our journey early in the morning, but it was impossible to travel more than thirty-five wersts. The wind had changed to the west and south-west; it blew with extreme violence, and beat the snow in our faces. Our guides suffered extremely, less however than our dogs, some of whom, exhausted with fatigue, died on the road, and others were incapable of drawing us for want of nourishment. We could only give them a fourth part of their common allowance, and had scarcely enough left to last two days.

In this extremity we dispatched a soldier to the ostrog of Kaminoi, to procure us succour, and to send the escort to meet us that was to have waited there till M. Kasloff arrived. It was a guard of forty men, sent from Ingiga upon the first intelligence of the revolt of the Koriacs.

We were only fifteen wersts from the village or hamlet of Gavenki, where we hoped to find a supply of fish for our dogs; and our confidence was so great that we ventured to give them a double portion, that they might be the better able to convey us thither. Having passed the night in the same manner as the preceding, we pursued our journey at three o'clock in the morning. We quitted not the sea coast till we came to Gavenki, which was about ten o'clock. The name of the village is derived from the word _gavna_, which signifies excrement; and it is so called on account of its deformity and wretched state. There are in reality but two isbas falling to ruin, and six balagans very ill constructed of bad and crooked wood, which the sea leaves sometimes upon the shore; for there is not a tree in the whole neighbourhood, and nothing to be seen but a few paltry shrubs scattered here and there at a considerable distance from one another. I was not astonished to learn, that not along ago, more than twenty of the inhabitants voluntarily abandoned their country to seek out a better abode. At present the population of this hamlet does not exceed five families, including that of the toyon, and two Kamtschadales from the island of Karagui, who are settled there. No reason was assigned for this removal, and I doubt whether they have gained by the change.

We had not been an hour at Gavenki, when a dispute arose between a sergeant of our company, and two peasants of the village, to whom he had applied for wood. They answered bluntly that they would not give him any. From one thing to another the quarrel became violent. The Kamtschadales, little intimidated by the threats of the sergeant, drew their knives[81] and fell upon him; but they were immediately disarmed by two of our soldiers. As soon as M. Kasloff was informed of this violence, he ordered that the guilty should be punished as an example. They were brought before the yourt in which we were, and in order to awe the rest of the inhabitants, M. Kasloff went out himself to hasten the punishment. I was left with the toyon, who began to complain to me of the rigour with which his two countrymen were treated. The family surrounded me and murmured still louder. I was alone; meanwhile I was endeavouring to pacify them, when I perceived that the governor had left his arms behind him. I hastily caught up our sabres, upon a motion which the toyon made to go out, and followed him. He had already joined M. Kasloff, and stirring up all his neighbours, he demanded in a high tone that the delinquents should be released. He was himself, he said, their sole judge, and it belonged to him only to punish them. To these seditious clamours M. Kasloff answered only by a stern look, which disconcerted the effrontery both of the peasants and their chiefs. The toyon still muttered some words, but he was seized and forced to assist in the chastisement that he had been so desirous of preventing. One of the culprits was a young man about eighteen years of age, and the other from twenty eight to thirty. They were stripped and laid prostrate on the ground; two soldiers held their hands and their feet, while four others bestowed upon their shoulders a copious distribution of lashes. They were whipped in this manner one after another with rods of dried fir, till their bodies were covered with blood. At the entreaties of the women, whom the weakness of the sex renders every where compassionate, the intended punishment was lessened, and the young man given up to them. They immediately gave him a fine lecture on the folly of his conduct, which they might as well have spared, as he was scarcely in a situation to attend to it, and still less to think of repeating his crime.

The severity which M. Kasloff observed upon this occasion, was so much the more necessary, as we began to perceive in this village some symptoms of the contagious turbulent disposition of the Koriacs. Contrasted with the Kamtschadales whom we had just quitted, the manners of the inhabitants of Gavenki led us to doubt whether it were really the same people. We had as much reason to complain of the moroseness and deceit of the latter, as we had to boast of the zeal and kindness of the former. In spite of all our importunities we could get no provision for our dogs. They coldly informed us that they had none; but their equivocal answers betrayed them, and our people soon satisfied themselves of its falsehood. By means of our dogs, whose nose and hunger were infallible guides, they quickly discovered the subterraneous reservoirs, where the inhabitants had, upon our approach, buried their provisions, though the utmost care had been taken to conceal all vestiges of them, by artfully covering them with earth and snow. At the sight of these caves, and the fish that were drawn from them, these peasants began to alledge the most paltry reasons to justify their conduct, and which only tended to increase our indignation. We had some sentiments of humanity, or we should have taken their whole stock; we contented ourselves with a small part. From the nature of the provisions it appeared that these coasts afforded them salmon, herring, cod, morse and other amphibious animals.

There is neither spring nor river of any sort in the neighbourhood, but merely a lake that supplies the inhabitants with water. In winter they break the ice that covers it, and carry home large pieces of it, which they place in a trough suspended in the yourt about five or six feet high. The heat is sufficient to dissolve the ice, and to this trough they have recourse when they are thirsty.

Near this village is a mountain or kind of Kamtschadale entrenchment, which formerly served them as a place of refuge when they revolted.

We staid at Gavenki only twelve or thirteen hours. We set off in the night for Poustaretsk, which is at the distance of more than two hundred wersts from it. We were five days in travelling it, and no journey had ever been so painful. We had no reason to complain of the weather during the first day; but the next we were extremely harassed by the snow and gales of wind, which succeeded without interruption, and with such impetuosity that our conductors were blinded. They could distinguish no object four paces from them, and could not even see the sledge that immediately followed them.

To increase our misfortune, our Gavenki guide was old and short sighted, and frequently therefore went out of the road. We were then obliged to stop while he went on before to find the vestiges of the road; but how was it possible to find them in so extensive a plain, covered with snow, and where we could perceive neither tree, nor mountain, nor river? The experience of our guide was continually at fault from the badness of the weather, notwithstanding the incredible knowledge he had of these roads. The smallest rising, the least shrub, was sufficient to set him right; meanwhile we calculated that the deviations he occasioned us amounted each day to twenty wersts.

At the end of the second day's journey, my dogs were reduced to a single fish, which I divided between them. The want of food soon exhausted their strength, so as to make them unable to proceed. Some fell under the blows of our conductors, others refused to draw, and many from inanition died on the spot. Of the thirty-seven dogs that were harnessed to my vezock upon leaving Bolcheretsk, only twenty-three remained, and these were reduced to the utmost poverty. M. Kasloff had in like manner lost a considerable number of his.

The famine became at last so great, that we were apprehensive of being starved to death in this desert. Not having a morsel of fish left for our dogs, we were obliged to feed them with part of our own provisions; but their share was very moderate, prudence requiring us to observe the most rigid oeconomy.

In this woeful conjuncture, we left our equipage in the midst of the way, under guard of some of our conductors, and having chosen the most tolerable of the dogs to supply the place of those which we had lost, we went on.

Our pain and anxiety continued. We were in want of water. The only little brook that we found was entirely frozen up, and we were obliged to quench our thirst with the snow. The want of wood was another difficulty. Not a tree had we seen during the whole journey, and we frequently went a werst out of our way, perhaps for a paltry shrub not a foot long. We gathered all that we saw, for fear of finding none as we proceeded farther; but they were so small and so few as not to enable us to cook our victuals. To warm ourselves was out of the question. In the mean time the cold was extremely rigorous, and from the slow pace that we travelled, we were nearly frozen. Almost at every instant we were also under the necessity of stopping to unharness the dogs, that expired one after another.

I cannot describe what my feelings were in this situation. My mind suffered still more than my body. The inconveniences that were common to us, I patiently shared with my companions; their example and my youth gave me courage to support them. But when I thought of my dispatches, my constancy forsook me. They were continually in my hands, and I never touched them without shuddering. My anxiety to execute my trust, the view of the many obstacles I had to surmount, the uncertainty of succeeding, all these ideas united to torment me. I endeavoured to dispel them; a moment after some new obstacle brought them to my mind with additional force.

Upon leaving Gavenki, we had quitted the eastern coast, and the western presented itself to our view two wersts from Pousteretsk. We had crossed therefore the whole width of this part of Kamtschatka, which is not less than two hundred wersts, or fifty leagues. We travelled this extent of country more on foot than in our sledges. Our dogs were so weak, that we were willing to fatigue ourselves in order to relieve them, but they were seldom the more alert on this account. Our conductors could not make them go on without harnessing themselves in like manner to the sledge, and thus assist them to draw us along; we encouraged them also by throwing them a handkerchief folded up in the shape of a fish. They followed this bait, which disappeared the moment they approached near enough to lay hold of it.

It was by these contrivances that we were able to pass the mountain that leads to Poustaretsk. From the civil manner in which the women received us, I considered myself as safe the moment I set foot in this hamlet. Six of them came to meet us, exhibiting the most absurd demonstrations of joy. We understood, from some words they spoke, that their husbands were gone to the ostrog of Potkagornoï in pursuit of whales. They conducted us to their habitations, singing and skipping about us like so many maniacs. One of them took off her parque, made of the skin of a young deer, and put it upon M. Kasloff; the rest by loud bursts of laughter expressed their satisfaction at our arrival, which they said was unexpected. This was scarcely probable, but we pretended to believe them, in hopes of meeting with the better fare.

We entered Poustaretsk 9 March, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Our first precaution was to visit all the reservoirs of fish. How great was our mortification to find them empty! We immediately suspected that the inhabitants had acted in the same manner as those of Gavenki; and we questioned the women, and ransacked every probable place, persuaded that they had concealed their provisions. The more they denied it, the farther we pursued our researches. They were however fruitless, and we could find nothing.

During this interval our dogs had been unharnessed in order to be tied up in troops as usual. They were no sooner fastened to the posts, than they fell upon their strings and their harnesses, and devoured them in a moment. It was in vain that we attempted to retain them; the majority escaped into the country, and wandered about consuming whatever their teeth could penetrate. Some died, and became immediately the prey of the rest. They rushed with eagerness upon the dead carcasses, and tore them to pieces. Every limb that any individual seized upon, was contested by a troop of competitors, who attacked it with equal avidity: if he fell under their numbers, he became in turn the object of a new combat[82]. To the horror of seeing them devour one another, succeeded the melancholy spectacle of those that beset our yourt. The leanness of these poor beasts was truly affecting: they could scarcely stand upon their legs. By their plaintive and incessant cries, they seemed to address themselves to our companion, and to reproach our incapacity to relieve them. Many of them, who suffered as much from cold as from hunger, laid themselves down by the opening made in the roof of the yourt to let out the smoke. The more they felt the benefit of the heat, the nearer they approached; and at last, either from faintness, or inability to preserve an equilibrium, they fell into the fire before our eyes.

Shortly after our arrival the guide returned, who had accompanied the soldier sent out six days before to Kaminoi to procure us succour. He informed us that our messenger was reduced to the last extremity, and considered himself as fortunate in having found, twelve wersts to the north of Pousteretsk, a miserable deserted yourt, where he had sheltered himself from the tempests, which had misled him no less than ten times. The provision we had given him for himself and his dogs was all consumed, and he waited impatiently till he should be relieved from his embarassment, without which it was impossible for him to come out of his asylum, either for the purpose of executing his commission, or of returning back to us.

M. Kasloff, far from being cast down by this new disappointment, animated our courage by communicating to us the last expedients he had resolved to employ. He had already, upon the intelligence of a whale being driven on shore near Potkagornoï, dispatched an express to that village. The utmost expedition was recommended, and he was to bring as much of the flesh and fat of the whale as he could. This resource however being uncertain, M. Kasloff proposed that we should sacrifice the small quantity of provision which each of us had intended to reserve for the support of his own dogs. This contribution was for sergeant Kabechoff, who had offered to go to Kaminoi. In the distress in which we were, the most feeble ray of hope was sufficient to induce us to risk our all. We embraced therefore the proposal with transport, confiding in the zeal and ability of this sergeant.

He departed at 10, minutely instructed upon the subject of his journey, and carrying with him the whole of our provisions. In his way he was to take up our poor soldier, and from thence proceed to fulfil the commission in which he had failed. Having taken all these precautions, we exhorted one another to patience, and endeavoured to divert our anxiety by waiting till it should please providence to deliver us. I shall employ this time in giving an account of the observations I made at Poustaretsk.

This hamlet is situated upon the declivity of a mountain washed by the sea; for we cannot call a river[83], what is nothing more than a very narrow gulf, which reaches as far as the foot of this mountain. The water is salt, and not drinkable; we were obliged therefore to have recourse to melted snow, which was the only fresh water we could procure. Two yourts, inhabited by about fifteen persons, make up the whole hamlet. I mean to include a few balagans that are occupied in summer, and situated farther from the shore.

They spend the whole summer in fishing, and preparing their stock of winter provisions. If we may judge from the food that we saw them dress and eat, this part of the country does not much abound with fish. Their aliment during our residence among them consisted only in the flesh and fat of the whale, the bark of trees in its natural state, and in buds steeped in the oil of the whale, or the sea wolf, or in the fat of any other animal. They informed us that they frequently caught small cod in the open sea; I know not whether they had any concealed store of this article, but we had searched so thoroughly, and we saw them fare so wretchedly, that we believed them to be really as poor as they appeared to be.

Their mode of catching rein deer, which are very plentiful in these cantons, is equally sure and easy. They surround a certain extent of land with palisades, leaving here and there an opening, where they spread their nets or snares. They then disperse, in order to drive the deer into them. These animals, by attempting to save themselves, run through the openings, and are caught either by the neck or their horns. A considerable number always escape by tearing the nets or leaping the palisades; meanwhile twenty or thirty men will frequently take at a time upwards of sixty deer.

Independently of their domestic occupations, the women are employed in preparing, staining, and sewing the skins of various animals, particularly deer skins. They first scrape them with a sharp stone fixed in a stick. Having taken off the fat, they still continue to scrape them to make them thinner and more supple. The only colour they stain them is a deep red, which is extracted from the bark of a tree called in Russia _olkhovaïa-dereva_, and known to us by the name of _alder_. They boil the bark, and then rub the skin with it till it has imbibed the die. The knives which they afterwards make use of to cut these skins, are crooked, and the invention probably of the country.

The sinews of the rein deer stripped very slender, and prepared in like manner by the women, serves them instead of thread, They sew perfectly well. Their needles, which have nothing singular, are brought from Okotsk, and their thimbles are like those used by our tailors, and are always worn upon the fore-finger.

I have already given an account of their manner of smoking, but I must resume the subject in order to relate the fatal consequences that attend it. Their pipes[84] will scarcely contain more than a pinch of tobacco, which they renew till they have satiated themselves; and this is effected in the following manner. By swallowing the smoak, instead of blowing it out, they gradually become so intoxicated that they would, if they were near it, fall into the fire. Experience has happily taught them to attend to the progress of this species of trance, and they have the precaution to sit down or to lay hold of the first object within their reach. The fit lasts them at least for a quarter of an hour, during which time their situation is the most painful that can be conceived. Their bodies are covered with a cold perspiration, the saliva distils from their lips, their breathing is short, and attended with a constant inclination to cough. It is only when they have brought themselves into this situation, that they conceive themselves to have enjoyed the true pleasure of smoking.

Neither the men nor the women wear chemises[85]; their common garment has nearly the same form, but it is shorter, and made of deer skin. When they go out, they put on a warmer one over it. In winter the women wear fur breeches instead of petticoats.

The 12, M. Schmaleff joined us. His return gave us the greater pleasure, as we had been very uneasy on his account. He had been absent from us six weeks, and almost a month had elapsed since the time fixed for his meeting us. He had very little provision left, but his dogs were not in so bad a condition as ours, and we embraced the opportunity of fetching our equipage which we had left in the road, and of which we had not since received any news.

The south-west wind, which had so much incommoded us in our journey, continued to blow with equal violence for several days; it afterwards changed to the north-east, but the weather only became the more terrible.

It seemed as if nature in anger conspired also against us to increase our difficulties and prolong our misery. I appeal to every man who has found himself in a similar situation. He only can tell how cruel it is to be thus chained down by obstacles that are incessantly springing up. We may strive to divert our thoughts, to arm ourselves with patience; our strength will at last fail, and reason lose its power over us. Nothing renders a calamity more insupportable, than the not being able to foresee when it will terminate.

We had too painful an experience of this upon the receipt of the letters that were brought us from Kaminoi. We had no succour to expect from that quarter, Kabechoff informed us. The detachment from Ingiga were unable to come to us. They had been two months at Kaminoi, and had consumed not only their own flock of provision, but also the supply that had been destined for us. Their dogs, like ours, devoured one another, and the forty men were reduced to the last extremity. Our sergeant added, that he had sent immediately to Ingiga as our only resource, and that he expected an answer in a few days; but he feared that it would not be very satisfactory, as the town must be badly stocked with dogs and provisions, after the considerable supply which it had furnished.

This melancholy news deprived us of all hope, and we gave ourselves up for lost. Our grief and despondence were so extreme, that M. Kasloff was at first insensible to the news of his promotion, which he had received by the same messenger. A letter from Irkoutsk informed him, that, out of gratitude for his services, the empress had advanced him from the government of Okotsk to that of Yakoutsk. In any other situation this news would have afforded him the utmost pleasure. A more extensive field was open for the display of his zeal, and a better opportunity for exercising his talents in the art of government. But his thoughts were very differently employed than in calculating the advantages of this new post, Every other sentiment yielded to that of our danger, in which he was wholly absorbed.

In a moment thus critical, I can only ascribe to the inspiration of heaven, the idea that suddenly occurred to me of separating myself from M. Kasloff. In reflecting upon it, I perceived every thing there was in it disobliging to him, and mortifying to me. I endeavoured to drive the idea from my mind, but it was in vain. It returned, it fixed itself there in spite of me. I thought of my country, of my family, of my duty. Their power over me was invincible, and I disclosed myself to the governor. Upon the first view it appeared to him to be a wild project, and he failed not to oppose it. The desire of executing it, furnished me with a ready answer to all his objections. I proved to him, that by continuing together, we deprived each other of the means of pursuing his journey. We could not set off together without a strong reinforcement of dogs. We had scarcely more than twenty-seven that were at all tolerable, the rest having died or being unfit for service[86]. By giving up these twenty-seven dogs, one of us would be able to proceed, and his departure would relieve the other from the difficulty of maintaining this small number of famished steeds. But, said M. Kasloff, you must still have provision for them, and what means are there of procuring it?

I was at a loss how to reply, when we were informed that our express from Potkagornoï was arrived. More fortunate than the rest, he had brought us a large quantity of the flesh and fat of the whale. My joy at the sight of it was extreme, every difficulty was now removed, and I conceived myself already to be out of Poustaretsk. I returned instantly to my argument, and M. Kasloff having no longer any thing to oppose, and applauding in reality my zeal, complied with my solicitations. It was fixed that I should depart the 18 at latest. From this moment we were employed in the necessary arrangements for executing my project with the greatest safety.

Every thing flattered me with the hope of success. With the melancholy news we had received from Kaminoi, there were some consoling circumstances. For instance, we were assured that no obstruction was to be apprehended from the Koriacs. A perfect calm was reestablished among them; and, to convince us of it, they had been desirous that some of their countrymen should accompany the soldier charged with the dispatches to M. Kasloff. Even the son of the chief of the rebels, called _Eitel_, was one of the escort. The Koriacs, he told us, had long waited with impatience the arrival of the governor, and his father meant to show his respect M. Kasloff by coming to meet him.

Charmed with the idea that we had no longer any thing to fear, at least on this side, we were eager to express our satisfaction to these Koriacs for their good will to us. We made them all the presents that our situation would permit, such as tobacco, stuffs, and various articles which I had purchased during my sea voyage, as well as others that had been left me by count de la Perouse. We gave them something also for their relations. But our principal care was to make them as drunk as possible, that they might give a favourable report of their reception. It was necessary to consult their taste; and to intoxicate them completely, they considered as the very essence of politeness.

I proposed to these Koriacs to take charge of two of my portmanteaus. They expressed at first some unwillingness, on account of the distance, which was as far as Ingiga. By means, however, of entreaties and my purse, I at last prevailed upon them to take them into their sledges. Eased in this manner of my baggage, I had nothing to think of but my dispatches. The effects which I had intrusted to the Koriacs gave me little or no concern, as the soldier sent from Ingiga would return with them, and had promised to see that the trust was faithfully executed.

To the last moment of my stay M. Kasloff had been laboriously[87] employed in preparing his letters, which I was to have the care of. With these he delivered to me a _podarojenei_, or passport, that was to serve me as far as Irkoutsk. This passport was also an order to all Russian officers and other inhabitants, subjects of the empress, whom I should meet in my way to that place, to assist me with the means of proceeding on my journey with safety and expedition. The foresight of the governor omitted nothing that was necessary for me. Had I been the brother of his heart, his attentions could not have been greater.

I must pause; for I cannot suppress the emotion I feel at the thought that I am upon the point of quitting this estimable man, rendered for ever dear to me, still more by the virtues of his heart than the accomplishments of his understanding. The generous sacrifice he made is at this moment a weight upon me, and I cannot avoid reproaching myself for having wished it. What do I not suffer upon leaving him in these frightful deserts, without knowing whether he will ever be able to come out of them! The image of his melancholy situation haunts and agitates my mind. Ah! I repeat it; it must have been the conviction that there was no other way of executing the trust reposed in me, which impelled me, in spite of the prohibition of count de la Perouse, to take this resolution. But for this motive, but for my dispatches, I could never justify to my own heart my eagerness to leave him. May the testimony which my gratitude will ever render for his goodness to me, and his zeal for the service of his mistress, contribute in some measure to his advancement and his happiness; mine will be complete, if I have ever the pleasure of seeing him again, and embracing him in my arms.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] If my pen were equal to the subject, what admirable things might I relate of these celebrated men, formed to conduct a grand enterprise with the utmost harmony? But their exploits, and the public esteem, have long placed them above my praises.

[2] Called by the Russians Petropavlosskaia-gaven.

[3] After loading with civilities every individual engaged in the expedition, he was farther desirous of supplying the frigates with provisions. Notwithstanding the difficulty of procuring oxen in this country, he furnished seven at his own expence, and could be prevailed upon by no entreaties to accept any equivalent, but regretted that he was not able to procure a greater number.

[4] The navigation is sufficiently safe in summer, and is the only mode of travelling that is adopted.

[5] According to the accounts of the earliest navigators, it is the most commodious port in this part of Asia, and ought to be the general depôt for the commerce of the country. This would be so much the more advantageous, as the vessels which frequent the other ports, commonly consider themselves as fortunate if they escape shipwreck; and for this reason the Empress has expressly prohibited all navigation after the 26th of September.

I learned a circumstance at the same time, which confirms what I have said, and seems to have occasioned the first idea of these improvements.

An English ship, belonging to M. Lanz, a merchant of Macao, came to anchor in the port of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in the year 1786. Captain Peters, who commanded the vessel, made proposals of commerce to the Russians, of which the following are the particulars. By a treaty which he had entered into with a Russian merchant, named Schelikhoff, he engaged to carry on a commerce with this part of the states of the Empress, and demanded goods to the amount of eighty thousand roubles. These goods would probably have consisted of furs, which the English expected to find a market for in China, from whence they would have brought back in exchange stuffs and other articles useful to the Russians. Schelikhoff repaired immediately to Saint Petersburg, to solicit the consent of his sovereign, which he obtained; but while was endeavouring to fulfil the conditions of his engagement, he learned that the English vessel had been lost upon the coast of Copper Island (_Ile de Cuivre_) in its return to Kamtschatka from the north-west part of America, where it was probable it had sailed, in order to begin its cargo, which it expected to complete at the port of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Two only of the crew were known to have been saved, a Portuguese and a Bengal negro, who passed the winter at Copper Island, from whence a Russian vessel conveyed them to Nijenei-Kamtschatka. We joined them at Bolcheretsk, and it was M. Kasloff's intention to send them next season to Petersburg.

[6] The word _ostrog_ properly signifies a construction surrounded with pallisadoes. Its etymology may be derived, I imagine, from the entrenchments hastily constructed by the Russians to protect them from the incursions of the natives, who, doubtless, did not passively suffer their country to be invaded. The appellation of ostrog is now given to almost all the villages in this country.

[7] His name was Khabaroff, and he had the rank of a _préporchik_, or ensign.

[8] At a little distance from this spot was buried, at the foot of a tree, the body of captain Clerke. The inscription which the English placed upon his tomb, was on wood, and liable to be effaced. Count de la Perouse, desirous that the name of this navigator should be immortalised, without having any thing to fear from the injuries of the weather, substituted instead of it an inscription on copper.

It is needless to mention, that he enquired at the same time where the famous French astronomer, from the island of Croyere, had been buried. He entreated M. Kasloff to order a tomb to be erected, and an epitaph, which he left engraved on copper, to be placed on it, containing an elogy, and the circumstances of the death of our countryman. I saw his intentions carried into execution after the departure of the French frigates.

[9] There is a volcano about fifteen or twenty wersts from the port, which the naturalists who accompanied count de la Perouse visited, and which will be mentioned in his voyage. The inhabitants informed me that smoak often issued from it, but that an eruption, which used to be frequent, had not happened for many years.

[10] The excessive cold of which the English complain, may not be without example; and I pretend not to contradict them. But as a proof that the rigour of the climate is not so very piercing, the inhabitants, whom they represent as not daring to come out of their subterraneous dwellings, or _yourts_, during the whole winter, for fear of being frozen, no longer construct any of these caves in this southern part of the peninsula, as I shall have occasion to observe elsewhere. I acknowledge, however, that the cold which I experienced during my abode there, and which may be compared to that of the winter of 1779, appeared to me very similar to what is felt at Saint Petersburg. What the English must have had reason to suppose extraordinary, are the dreadful hurricanes, which bring on such thick and heavy storms of snow, that it is not possible either to venture out, or to advance, if we are on a journey. I experienced this more than once, as will be seen in the sequel.

[11] M. Schmaleff is inspector general for the Kamtschadales, or, as it is called in Russia, _capitan-ispravnik_ for the department of Kamtschatka; he is the same person whom the English had so much reason to praise, and the good offices he rendered us intitle him equally to our esteem.

[12] Secretary to the governor; he is employed in civil affairs, and ranks as an officer.

[13] M. Ivaschkin is the unfortunate gentleman mentioned by the English, and who merits in every respect the eulogium bestowed on him. The mere recital of his misfortunes is sufficient to excite the compassion of every reader; but it is necessary to have seen and observed him, to judge of the extreme interest which his unhappy lot is calculated to inspire.

He was not twenty years of age, when the empress Elizabeth made him serjeant of her guard of Preobrajenskoi. He already enjoyed a certain credit at court, and the free access to the sovereign, which his office gave him, opened the most brilliant career to his ambition; when all at once he saw himself not merely disgraced and deprived of all his flattering hopes, but treated as the greatest criminal; he was _knowted_, which is the severest and most degrading punishment practised in Russia, had his nose slit, and was banished for life to Kamtschatka.

The English have told us what he suffered for more than twenty years, from the rigour with which he was treated; he was denied even the first necessaries of life, and must infallibly have perished of hunger and misery, or fallen a prey to despair, if the force of his mind and the strength of his constitution had not supported him. The necessity of providing for his own subsistence, compelled him, not without disgust, to naturalize himself with the Kamtschadales, and to adopt entirely their mode of living; he is clothed like them, and by means of hunting and fishing is enabled to procure, not merely a sufficiency for his wants, but a superfluity, from the sale of which he obtains some little conveniencies that seem to sweeten his miserable existence. He resides at Vercknei-Kamtschatka, or Upper Kamtschatka. The Russians are ignorant of the cause of so severe a punishment; they are disposed to attribute it to a misunderstanding, or some indiscreet words, for they know not how to suppose him capable of a crime. It seems as if a change of sentiment had taken place respecting the pretended enormity of his offence, a proposal having been lately made of changing the place of his banishment, and removing him to Yakoutsk, a town that offers a variety of resources, both for profit and pleasure. But this unfortunate being, who is from sixty to sixty-five years of age, has refused to avail himself of this permission, not wishing, as he said, to make a show of the hideous marks of his dishonour, and to blush a second time at the dreadful punishment he has undergone. He preferred the continuing to live with the Kamtschadales, having but one desire left, that of passing the few remaining days of life with those who know his integrity, and of carrying with him to his grave the general friendship and esteem, to which he is so justly intitled.

The accounts given by the English, excited in count de la Perouse a desire to see this unfortunate man, who inspired him from the first moment with the most lively pity. He received him on board his ship, and at his table. The count's humanity was not confined to compassionating his miseries; he sought every means of softening them, by leaving him whatever was calculated to remind him of our abode there, and prove to him that the English are not the only foreigners interested in his sorrowful lot.

[14] _Baidars_ are boats somewhat similar to European ones, except that the sides are made of planks from four to six inches wide, and fastened together with withies or cords, and that they are caulked with moss. The baidars are the only vessels made use of to sail to the Kurilles islands, they are commonly rowed, but will admit of a sail.

[15] His name is _Feodor Vereschaguin_; he succeeded his eldest brother Romanoff Vereschaguin, who shewed so many civilities to captain Clerke, and whom I afterwards found at Bolcheretsk.

[16] His predecessor had informed the English that this parish was to be immediately transferred to the ostrog of St. Peter and St. Paul; but this cannot take place till the projected improvements respecting the port are carried into execution. We cannot help observing, that the English have omitted to mention that there was formerly a church at St. Peter and St. Paul's, and that its situation is known by means of a sort of tomb which formed a part of it.

[17] This river empties itself, as I have already said, into the bay of Avatscha. The shoals, which are commonly dry at low water, render its entrance impracticable; it is even difficult at high water.

[18] As I stood to examine the Kamtschadale houses, I frequently imagined to myself the disdainful surprise that our French Sybarites would express at the sight, some of whom are so proud of their vast hotels, and others so jealous of their little neat and decorated apartments, where the art of arrangement scarcely falls short of the refined luxury of superb furniture. I conceived them to exclaim--How can human beings live in these miserable huts! A Kamtschadale however, is by no means unhappy in these cabins, whose architecture seem to lead us back to the first age of the world; he lives there with his family in tranquillity; he enjoys at least the happiness of knowing few privations, and of having therefore less wants, and has no objects of envious comparison before his eyes.

[19] I met with some afterwards in the northern part, which I took care to examine, and have described in their proper place.

[20] As I shall soon be obliged to adopt this mode of travelling, I shall defer my description of the dogs till that period.

[21] They produce an effect somewhat similar to the oiled paper in the windows of our manufactories.

[22] A werst is exactly ten hundred yards. This seems not accurately to agree with the scale of wersts in the map. We leave it to the reader to follow which authority he pleases. T.

[23] A Russian name which signifies, _large river_.

[24] Formerly they dared not approach these springs, or any volcano, from the idea that they were the abode of evil spirits.

[25] M. Kasloff gave some of this gum to one of the naturalists of our expedition, the abbé Mongés, while the frigates were at Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

[26] M. Kasloff, who presided in this chace, had the politeness to make me a present of this sable, called in this country _sobol_, and promised to add it to another, that I might bring a couple with me to France.

[27] These skins are not only a considerable branch of commerce, but serve as a species of money with the Kamtschadales.

[28] See Cook's Voyage, vol. III. p. 208.

[29] When these galliots are obliged to winter here, they harbour in the mouth of a narrow and deep river, which pours itself into the Bolchaïa-reka, about fifty yards from the hamlet, higher up.

[30] This guard-house is likewise used as a prison, and even as a school for children. The master of the school is a Japanese; he is skilled in many languages, and is paid by government for instructing the children of this country.

[31] Their pay is so inconsiderable, that the receipt of a whole year would not suffice to maintain them for a single month, if they had not the resource of a petty fraudulent commerce, of which I shall presently give an account.

[32] This is well known to be the ruling passion of all the people of the north; but I have had more than one occasion to observe, that the Kamtschadales are inferior in this respect to none of them. The following story, among others, was told me, that I might be able to judge of the rapacity of these vagabond traders, and the stupid prodigality of their dupes.

A Kamtschadale had given a sable for a glass of brandy. Inflamed with a desire of drinking another, he invited the seller into his house. The merchant thanked him, but said he was in a hurry. The Kamtschadale renewed his solicitations, and proposed a second bargain: he prevailed.--"Come, another glass for this sable, it is a finer one than the first.--No; I must keep the rest of my brandy; I have promised to sell it at such a place, and I must be gone.--Stay a moment; here are two sables.--Tis all in vain.--Well, come, I will add another.--Agreed, drink." Meanwhile the three sables are seized, and the hypocrite makes a fresh pretence to come away: his host redoubles his importunities to retain him, and demands a third glass: further refusals and further offers: the higher the chapman raises his price, the more the Kamtschadale is prodigal of his furs. Who would have supposed that it would have ended in the sacrifice of seven most beautiful sables for this last glass! they were all he had.

[33] A Russian measure containing from fifteen to twenty quarts.

[34] Eighteen pounds sterling, estimating the rouble at four shillings and sixpence.

[35] Nine pounds nine shillings.

[36] Articles of apparel made of the skins of rein deer are procured from the Koriacs.

[37] By the name of _lilium flore atro rubente_.

[38] The Cossacs use rye also, which makes a sort of black bread, like that of the Russian peasants. Government allows them a certain quantity of rye flour, but it is insufficient, and they are obliged to procure more at their own expence. Some of them lay it up in store in order to profit by its future sale.