The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. VII. Being the Third of the Third Voyage

by James King

It was high water, on the full and change of the moon, at thirty-six minutes past four, and the greatest rise was five feet eight inches. The tides were very regular every twelve hours. On the coast, near the bay, the flood came from the south, and the time of high-water was near two hours sooner than in the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

CHAP. VI.

GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KAMTSCHATKA.—GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.—RIVERS.—SOIL.—CLIMATE.—VOLCANOES.—HOT SPRINGS.—PRODUCTIONS.—VEGETABLES.—ANIMALS.—BIRDS.—FISH.

Kamtschatka is the name of a peninsula situated on the eastern coast of Asia, running nearly north and south, from 52° to 61° north latitude; the longitude of its southern extremity being 156° 45ʹ E. The isthmus, which joins it to the continent on the north, lies between the gulf of Olutorsk and the gulf of Penshinsk. Its southern extremity is Cape Lopatka, a word signifying the blade-bone of a man, and is so called from its supposed resemblance to it. The shape of the whole peninsula is not unlike that of a shoe, widening from the toe (which we may suppose to be Cape Lopatka) toward the middle, and narrowing again toward the heel, the neck of land above-mentioned connecting it with the continent. Its greatest breadth is from the mouth of the river Tigil to that of Kamtschatka, and is computed to be two hundred and thirty-six miles, from whence it narrows very gradually toward each extremity.

It is bounded on the north by the country of the Koriacks; to the south and east, by the north Pacific Ocean; and to the west, by the sea of Okotsk. A chain of high mountains stretches the whole length of the country, from north to south, dividing it nearly into two equal parts, from whence a great number of rivers take their rise, and empty themselves, on each side, into the Pacific Ocean and the sea of Okotsk.

There are three rivers of much greater magnitude than the rest; the Bolchoireka, or Great River, so called from bolchoia, which signifies great, and reka, a river; the river Kamtschatka, and the Awatska. The first empties itself into the sea of Okotsk, and is navigable for the Russian galliots upward of five leagues from its mouth, or within nine miles of Bolcheretsk, a town situated at the conflux of the Goltsoffka and the Bistraia, which here lose themselves in the Bolchoireka. The Bistraia itself is no inconsiderable river. It derives its source from the same mountain with the river Kamtschatka, and, by taking a direct contrary course, affords the Kamtschadales the means of transporting their goods by water, in small canoes, almost across the whole peninsula. The river Kamtschatka, after maintaining a course of near three hundred miles from south to north, winds round to the eastward, in which direction it empties itself into the ocean, a little to the southward of Kamtschatkoi Noss. Near the mouth of the Kamtschatka, to the north-west, lies the great lake called Nerpitsch, from nerpi, a Kamtschadale word signifying a seal, with which this lake abounds. About twenty miles up the river, reckoning from the mouth of the lake, is a fort called Nishnei Kamtschatska ostrog, where the Russians have built an hospital and barracks, and which, we were informed, is become the principal mart in this country.

The river Awatska arises from the mountains situated between the Bolchoireka and the Bistraia, and running, from north-west to south-east, a course of one hundred miles, falls into the bay of Awatska. The Tigil is likewise a river of considerable size, rising amidst some very high mountains, which lie under the same parallel with Kamtschatkoi Noss, and, running in an even course from south-east to north-west, falls into the sea of Okotsk. All the other rivers of this peninsula, which are almost infinite in number, are too small to deserve a particular enumeration.

If I may judge of the soil from what I saw of its vegetable productions, I should not hesitate in pronouncing it barren in the extreme. Neither in the neighbourhood of the bay, nor in the country I traversed on my journey to Bolcheretsk, nor in any of our hunting expeditions, did I ever meet with the smallest spot of ground that resembled what in England is called a good green turf, or that seemed as if it could be turned to any advantage, either in the way of pasturage, or other mode of cultivation. The face of the country in general was thinly covered with stunted trees, having a bottom of moss, mixed with low weak heath. The whole bore a more striking resemblance to Newfoundland than to any other part of the world I had ever seen.

It must however be observed, that I saw at Paratounca three or four stacks of sweet and very fine-looking hay; and Major Behm informed me, that many parts of the peninsula, particularly the banks of the river Kamtschatka and the Bistraia, produce grass of great height and strength, which they cut twice in the summer and that the hay is of a succulent quality, and particularly well adapted to the fattening of cattle. Indeed it should appear, from the size and fatness of the thirty-six head that were sent down to us from the Verchnei ostrog, and which we were told were bred and fattened in the neighbourhood, that they must have had the advantage of both good pastures and meadows. For it is worth our notice, that the first supply we received, consisting of twenty, came to us just at the close of the winter, and before the snow was off the ground, and therefore probably had tasted nothing but hay for the seven preceding months. And this agrees with what is related by Krascheninicoff, that there is no part of the country equal in fertility to that which borders on the river Kamtschatka; and that to the north and south it is much inferior, both in point of soil and climate. He relates, that repeated experiments have been made in the culture of oats, barley, and rye, in different quarters near this river, which have generally succeeded; that, in particular, some persons belonging to the convent of Jakutsk, who had settled in that part of the country, had sown barley there, which had yielded an extraordinary increase; and he has no doubt but that wheat, in many parts, particularly near the source of the Bistraia and Kamtschatka, would grow as well as in the generality of countries situated in the same latitude. Perhaps the superior fertility of the country here spoken of may, in a great measure, be accounted for, from its lying in that part of the peninsula which is by much the widest, and consequently farthest removed from the sea, on each side. The moist chilling fogs, and drizzling weather, which prevail almost perpetually along the coast, must necessarily render the parts adjacent very unfit for all the purposes of agriculture.

It is natural to suppose, that the severity of the climate must be in due proportion to the general sterility of the soil, of which it is probably the cause. The first time we saw this country was in the beginning of May, 1779, when the whole face of it was covered with snow, from six to eight feet deep. On the 6th we had snow, with the wind from the north-east. On the 8th of May, at noon, the thermometer stood at 32°; and the same day, some of our men were sent on shore to try to cut wood; but the snow was still so deep on the ground, as to render all their attempts fruitless. Nor was it found practicable to proceed in this necessary business, with all the efforts of a very stout party, till the 12th, at which time the thaw began to advance gradually. The sides of the hills were now in some places free from snow; and by the beginning of June, it was generally melted from the low lands. On the 15th of June, the day we sailed out of the harbour, the thermometer had never risen higher than 58°, nor the barometer than 30° 04ʹ. The winds blew almost invariably from the eastward during our stay, and the south-east was more prevalent than any other.