The governors in these various ostrogs are not accountable to one another for their administration, not even inferior officers to their superiors; the authority of each is limited to the inhabitants of his own district; which has doubtless induced the empress to appoint an inspector general, capitan ispravnick, whose business is to visit every year all the Kamtschadale villages, receive their complaints, examine their differences, judge them, and punish such as are guilty; in short to maintain order and peace among them. It is also a duty of his function to encourage commerce, particularly their fishing and hunting, to inspect the regular payment of their tribute, the stock of provisions of each individual for his own support, and that of his family, the repairs of the bridges and roads, which unfortunately are very few, and kept in very bad order. In a word, the inspector general should consider it as incumbent upon him to introduce among these people the manners and customs of Russia. This important office was confided, in 1784, to baron de Steinheil, who fixed his residence at Nijenei. Affairs calling him elsewhere, he was succeeded by M. Schmaleff, who, in accompanying us, was making the tour of his office.
The government is not purely military; there are some tribunals established for hearing and deciding causes and other matters juridically. Such are the tribunals of Tiguil, Ingiga, and Nijenei-Kamtschatka; they are subject to the jurisdiction of the court of Okotsk, in the same manner as in Russia the magistrates of the subordinate towns hold from those of the capital, in whom the final decision rests. There is beside at Bolcheretsk a kind of consular jurisdiction, or vocal tribunal, called in Russia Slovesnoisoud. The judges are merchants; they take cognizance of all disputes relating to commerce, and their decisions are either confirmed or annulled by the court to which they are carried by appeal. The Russian code of laws is the only one that is attended to; it is too well known to require that I should enter into particulars; and I could only repeat what has been already related by various historians and travellers better informed upon the subject than myself.
I ought however to add, that the property of the Kamtschadales devolves, of course, upon their decease, to the next heir, or to whomsoever it is bequeathed. The will of the testator is equally respected, and as literally adhered to, as it could be with those nations of Europe who are most scrupulous on the subject of successions.
Divorces are neither practised or allowed among the Kamtschadales. The Russians seem to court their alliance, though it procures them no particular privilege. Their motive is obvious. By frequent marriages, it is possible that before the end of the present generation, the race of the indigenes may be totally extinct.
The penalty of death, abolished in all the dominions of the empress, is never inflicted in Kamtschatka. In their earliest migrations, the Russians, when accused of harassing the natives, were condemned to the knowt; the Kamtschadales also, for various offences, were liable to this cruel punishment; but it is no longer practiced. When the natives are guilty either of petty or capital offences, the punishment is whipping. It may be questioned whether they have gained by the change. The present mode of punishing them being more simple and expeditious, it is resorted to with less scruple, and is liable to frequent abuse.
The Kamtschadale idiom appeared to me to be uncouth, guttural, and difficult to be pronounced; the words are broken, and the sounds disagreeable. There are as many different dialects and accents as there are ostrogs. For instance, upon leaving Saint Peter and Saint Paul, we are astonished to hear a different jargon at Paratounka: this is the case with villages the nearest to one another. Notwithstanding these variations of idiom, I considered it as incumbent upon me to procure a vocabulary, which will be found at the end of my journal. I shall add to it the Koriac, the Tchouktchi, and the Lamout languages. My attention to the subject was unremitted, and I received very considerable assistance. I shall finish the article of my abode at Bolcheretsk, with some observations that will tend to prove the impossibility of my leaving it sooner.
Towards the end of November the cold became on a sudden so severe, that in a few days the rivers were all frozen, even the Bolchaïa-reka, which seldom happens, because of the extreme rapidity of its current. The next day it got rid of the ice that covered it, and from that time I saw no more stop before Bolcheretsk, lower than the house of the governor. Though frozen in various places, it presents a great number chasms, where the water is seen to flow as usual.
On each shore of the peninsula, there is a sensible difference in the atmosphere. During the fine weather, a drought prevailed at Saint Peter and Saint Paul's, whereas at Bolcheretsk they complained of frequent showers; meanwhile autumn had not proved this year more rainy than common. Very heavy rains are injurious in this country, because they occasion floods, which drive the fish from the rivers; a famine most distressing to the poor Kamtschadales is the result, as it happened last year in all the villages along the western coast of the peninsula. This dreadful calamity occurs so frequently in this quarter, that the inhabitants are obliged to abandon their dwellings, and repair with their families to the borders of the Kamtschatka, where they hope to find better resources, fish being more plentiful in this river. M. Kasloff had intended to proceed along the western coast, having already made his visit through the east; but the news of this famine determined him, contrary to his wishes, to return, rather than be driven to the necessity of stopping half way, or perishing with hunger from the difficulty of procuring dogs and provision.