In return for such singular generosity, we had little to bestow but our admiration and our thanks. Fortunately, however, Captain Clerke had sent by me a set of prints and maps belonging to the last voyage of Captain Cook, which he desired me to present in his name to the commander, who being an enthusiast in every thing relating to discoveries, received it with a satisfaction which showed that, though a trifle, nothing could have been more acceptable. Captain Clerke had likewise entrusted me with a discretionary power of showing him a chart of the discoveries made in the present voyage; and as I judged that a person in his situation and of his turn of mind would be exceedingly gratified by a communication of this sort, though out of delicacy he had forborne to ask more than a few general questions on the subject, I made no scruple to repose in him a confidence of which his whole conduct showed him to be deserving.
I had the pleasure to find that he felt this compliment as I hoped he would, and was much struck at seeing in one view the whole of that coast, as well on the side of Asia as on that of America, of which his countrymen had been so many years employed in acquiring a partial and imperfect knowledge.[[20]]
Excepting this mark of confidence, and the set of prints I have already mentioned, we had brought nothing with us that was in the least worth his acceptance; for it scarce deserves noticing that I prevailed on his son, a young boy, to accept of a silver watch I happened to have about me, and I made his little daughter very happy with two pair of ear-rings, of French paste. Besides these trifles, I left with Captain Shmaleff the thermometer I had used on my journey, and he promised me to keep an exact register of the temperature of the air for one year, and to transmit it to Mr. Muller, with whom he had the pleasure of being acquainted.
We dined this day at the commander’s, who, studious on every occasion to gratify our curiosity, had, besides a number of dishes dressed in our own way, prepared a great variety of others, after the Russian and Kamtschadale manner. The afternoon was employed in taking a view of the town and the adjacent country. Bolcheretsk is situated in a low swampy plain, that extends to the sea of Okotsk, being about forty miles long, and of a considerable breadth. It lies on the north side of the Bolchoi-reka (or great river), between the mouth of the Gottsofka and the Bistraia, which here empty themselves into this river; and the peninsula on which it stands has been separated from the continent by a large canal, the work of the present commander, which has not only added much to its strength as a fortress, but has made it much less liable than it was before to inundations. Below the town the river is from six to eight feet deep, and about a quarter of a mile broad. It empties itself into the sea of Okotsk, at the distance of twenty-two miles, where, according to Krasheninicoff, it is capable of admitting vessels of a considerable size. There is no corn of any species cultivated in this part of the country, and Major Behm informed me, that his was the only garden that had yet been planted. The ground was for the most part covered with snow; that which was free from it appeared full of small hillocks, of a black turfy nature. I saw about twenty or thirty cows, and the major had six stout horses. These and their dogs are the only tame animals they possess; the necessity they are under in the present state of the country of keeping great numbers of the latter, making it impossible to bring up any cattle that are not in size and strength a match for them. For during the summer season their dogs are entirely let loose, and left to provide for themselves, which makes them so exceedingly ravenous that they will sometimes even attack the bullocks.
The houses in Bolcheretsk are all of one fashion, being built of logs and thatched. That of the commander is much larger than the rest, consisting of three rooms of a considerable size, neatly papered, and which might have been reckoned handsome if the talc with which the windows were covered had not given them a poor and disagreeable appearance. The town consists of several rows of low buildings, each consisting of five or six dwellings connected together, with a long common passage running the length of them, on one side of which is the kitchen and store-house, and on the other the dwelling apartments. Besides these are barracks for the Russian soldiers and Cossacks, a well-looking church, and a court-room; and at the end of the town a great number of balagans, belonging to the Kamtschadales. The inhabitants taken altogether amount to between five and six hundred. In the evening the major gave a handsome entertainment, to which the principal people of the town of both sexes were invited.
The next morning we applied privately to the merchant Fedositsch, to purchase some tobacco for the sailors, who had now been upward of a twelvemonth without this favourite commodity. However this, like all our other transactions of the same kind, came immediately to the major’s knowledge, and we were soon after surprised to find in our house four bags of tobacco, weighing upward of a hundred pounds each, which he begged might be presented, in the name of himself and the garrison under his command, to our sailors. At the same time they had sent us twenty loaves of fine sugar, and as many pounds of tea, being articles they understood we were in great want of, which they begged to be indulged in presenting to the officers. Along with these, Madame Behm had also sent a present for Captain Clerke, consisting of fresh butter, honey, figs, rice, and some other little things of the same kind, attended with many wishes that, in his infirm state of health, they might be of service to him. It was in vain we tried to oppose this profusion of bounty, which I was really anxious to restrain, being convinced that they were giving away not a share but almost the whole stock of the garrison. The constant answer the major returned us on those occasions was, that we had suffered a great deal, and that we must needs be in distress. Indeed, the length of time we had been out since we touched at any known port, appeared to them so very incredible, that it required the testimony of our maps, and other corroborating circumstances, to gain their belief. Amongst the latter was a very curious fact which Major Behm related to us this morning, and which he said but for our arrival he should have been totally at a loss to account for.
It is well known, that the Tschutski are the only people of the north of Asia, who have maintained their independence, and resisted all the attempts that have been made by the Russians to reduce them. The last expedition against them was undertaken in the year 1750, and terminated, after various success, in the retreat of the Russian forces, and the loss of the commanding officer. Since that time, the Russians had removed their frontier fortress from the Anadyr to the Ingiga, a river that empties itself into the northern extremity of the sea of Okotsk, and gives its name to a gulf, situated to the west of that of Penshinsk. From this fort, Major Behm had received dispatches the day of our arrival at Bolcheretsk, containing intelligence, that a tribe, or party, of the Tschutski, had arrived at that place with propositions of friendship, and a voluntary offer of tribute; that on enquiring into the cause of this unexpected alteration in their sentiments, they had informed his people, that toward the latter end of the last summer, they had been visited by two very large Russian boats; that they had been treated by the people who were in them with the greatest kindness, and had entered into a league of friendship and amity with them; and that relying on this friendly disposition, they were now come to the Russian fort, in order to settle a treaty, on such terms as might be acceptable to both nations. This extraordinary history had occasioned much speculation, both at Ingiginsk and Bolcheretsk; and had we not furnished them with a key to it, must have remained perfectly unintelligible. We felt no small satisfaction in having, though accidentally, shown the Russians, in this instance, the only true way of collecting tribute, and extending their dominions; and in the hopes that the good understanding which this event hath given rise to, may rescue a brave people from the future invasions of such powerful neighbours.
We dined this day with Captain Shmaleff, and in the afternoon, in order to vary our amusements, he treated us with an exhibition of the Russian and Kamtschadale dancing. No description can convey an adequate idea of this rude and uncouth entertainment. The figure of the Russian dance was much like those of our hornpipes, and was danced either single, or by two or four persons at a time. Their steps were short and quick, with the feet scarce raised from the ground; the arms were fixed close to the sides; the body being all the while kept upright and immoveable, excepting when the parties passed each other, at which time the hand was raised with a quick and awkward motion. But if the Russian dance was at the same time both unmeaning and ridiculous, the Kamtschadale joined to the latter quality the most whimsical idea that ever entered into any people’s heads. It is intended to represent the awkward and clumsy gestures of the bear, which these people have frequent opportunities of observing in a great variety of situations. It will scarcely be expected that I should give a minute description of all the strange postures which were exhibited on these occasions; and I shall therefore only mention, that the body was always bowed, and the knees bent, whilst the arms were used in imitating the tricks and attitudes of that animal.
As our journey to Bolcheretsk had taken up more time than we expected, and we were told that our return might prove still more difficult and tedious, we were under the necessity of acquainting the commander, this evening, with our intention of setting out the next day. It was not without the utmost regret we thought of leaving our new acquaintance; and were therefore most agreeably surprised, when the Major told us, that if we could stay one day longer, he would accompany us. He had, he said, made up his dispatches, and resigned the command of Kamtschatka to his successor Captain Shmaleff, and had prepared every thing for his departure to Okotsk, which was to take place in a few days; but that he should feel great pleasure in putting off his journey a little longer, and returning with us to Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s, that he might himself be a witness of every thing being done for us, that it was in their power to do.
In return for the few trifles I had given to the children of Major Behm, I was next morning, the 15th, presented by his little boy, with a most magnificent Kamtschadale dress, which shall be described in its proper place. It was of the kind worn by the principal Toions of the country, on occasions of great ceremony; and, as I was afterwards told by Fedositsch, could not have been purchased for one hundred and twenty roubles. At the same time, I had a present from his daughter of a handsome sable muff.