The dogs are fed, during the winter, on the offals of dried and stinking fish; but are always deprived of this miserable food a day before they set out on a journey, and never suffered to eat before they reach the end of it. We were also told, that it was not unusual for them to continue thus fasting two entire days, in which time they would perform a journey of one hundred and twenty miles.[17] These dogs are in shape somewhat like the Pomeranian breed, but considerably larger.
[17] Extraordinary as this may appear, Krascheninikoff, whose account of Kamtschatka, from every thing that I saw, and had an opportunity of comparing it with, seems to me to deserve entire credit, and whose authority I shall, therefore, frequently have recourse to, relates instances of this kind that are much more surprising. "Travelling parties," says he, "are often overtaken with dreadful storms of snow, on the approach of which they drive with the utmost precipitation into the nearest wood, and there are obliged to stay till the tempest, which frequently lasts six or seven days, is over; the dogs remaining all this while quiet and inoffensive; except that sometimes, when prest by hunger, they will devour the reins and the other leathern parts of the harness."--History and Description of Kamtschatka, by Krascheninikof.
As we did not choose to trust to our own skill, we had each of us a man to drive and guide the sledge, which, from the state the roads were now in, proved a very laborious business. For, as the thaw had advanced very considerably in the vallies, through which our road lay, we were under the necessity of keeping along the sides of the hills; and this obliged our guides, who were provided with snow-shoes for that purpose, to support the sledges, on the lower side, with their shoulders, for several miles together. I had a very good-humoured cossack to attend me, who was, however, so very unskilful in his business, that we were overturned almost every minute, to the great entertainment of the rest of the company. Our party consisted in all of ten sledges. That in which Captain Gore was carried, was made of two lashed together, and abundantly provided with furs and bear-skins; it had ten dogs, yoked four a-breast; as had also some of those that were heavy laden with baggage.
When we had proceeded about four miles it began to rain; which, added to the darkness of the night, threw us all into confusion. It was at last agreed, that we should remain where we were till day-light; and accordingly we came to anchor in the snow, (for I cannot better express the manner in which the sledges were secured,) and wrapping ourselves up in our furs, waited patiently for the morning. About three o'clock we were called on to set out, our guides being apprehensive, that if we waited longer we might be stopped by the thaw, and neither be able to proceed nor to return. After encountering many difficulties, which were principally occasioned by the bad condition of the road, at two in the afternoon we got safe to an ostrog, called Natcheekin, situated on the side of a small stream which falls into the Bolchoireka, a little way below the town. The distance between Karatchin and Natcheekin is thirty-eight wersts (or twenty-five miles;) and had the hard frost continued, we should not, by their account, have been more than four hours in performing it; but the snow was so soft, that the dogs, almost at every step, sunk up to their bellies; and I was indeed much surprised at their being at all able to overcome the difficulties of so fatiguing a journey.
Natcheekin is a very inconsiderable ostrog, having only one log-house, the residence of the Toion; five balagans, and one jourt. We were received here with the same formalities, and in the same hospitable manner, as at Karatchin; and in the afternoon we went to visit a remarkable hot- spring, which is near this village. We saw at some distance the steam rising from it as from a boiling cauldron; and as we approached, perceived the air had a strong sulphureous smell. The main spring forms a bason of about three feet in diameter; besides which there are a number of lesser springs, of the same degree of heat, in the adjacent ground; so that the whole spot, to the extent of near an acre, was so hot, that we could not stand two minutes in the same place. The water flowing from these springs is collected in a small bathing pond, and afterwards forms a little rivulet, which, at the distance of about an hundred and fifty yards, falls into the river. The bath, they told us, had wrought great cures in several disorders, such as rheumatisms, swelled and contracted joints, and scorbutic ulcers. In the bathing place the thermometer stood at 100°, or blood heat; but in the spring, after being immersed two minutes, it was 1° above boiling spirits. The thermometer in the air, at this time was 34°; in the river 40°; and in the Toion's house 64°. The ground where these springs break out is on a gentle ascent; behind which there is a green hill of a moderate size. I am sorry I was not sufficiently skilled in botany to examine the plants, which seemed to thrive here with great luxuriance; the wild garlic, indeed, forced itself on our notice, and was at this time springing up very vigorously.
The next morning we embarked on the Bolchoireka in canoes; and having the stream with us, expected to be at our journey's end the day following. The town of Bolcheretsk is about eighty miles from Natcheekin; and we were informed, that, in the summer season, when the river has been full and rapid, from the melting of snow on the mountains, the canoes had often gone down in a single day; but that, in its present state, we should probably be much longer, as the ice had broken up only three days before we arrived; and that ours would be the first boat that had attempted to pass. This intelligence proved but too true. We found ourselves greatly impeded by the shallows; and though the stream in many places ran with great rapidity, yet in every half mile we had ripplings and shoals, over which we had to haul the boats.[18] The country on each side was very romantic, but unvaried; the river running between mountains of the most craggy and barren aspect, where there was nothing to diversify the scene but now and then the sight of a bear, and the flights of wild fowl. So uninteresting a passage leaves me nothing farther to say, than that this, and the following night, we slept on the banks of the river, under our marquée, and suffered very much from the severity of the weather, and the snow, which still remained on the ground.
[18] Captain King does not seem to have heard or inferred any thing as to the danger usually encountered in the summer excursions on the river, from the nature of the vessels employed. This, according to Krusenstern, infinitely more resembles a trough than a boat, being, in fact, the hollow trunk of a tree, and exceedingly apt to be upset by the rapidity of the stream. Thus, he says, scarcely a year passes in which several people are not drowned, both in the Kamtschatka river and the Awatscha; a serious loss any where, no doubt; but in this country, where population is so scanty, and so uncertain, incomparably more important in a political point of view.--E.
At day-light, on the 12th, we found we had got clear of the mountains, and were entering a low extensive plain, covered with shrubby trees. About nine in the forenoon, we arrived at an ostrog, called Opatchin, which is computed to be fifty miles from Natcheekin, and is nearly of the same size as Karatchin. We found here a serjeant, with four Russian soldiers, who had been two days waiting for our arrival, and who immediately dispatched a light boat to Bolcheretsk, with intelligence of our approach. We were now put into the trammels of formality; a canoe, furnished with skins and furs, and equipped in a magnificent manner, was prepared for our reception, in which we were accommodated much at our ease, but to the exclusion of the rest of our fellow-travellers. It was with much regret we found ourselves obliged to separate from our old companion Monsieur Port, whom we had observed to grow every day more shy and distant as we drew nearer the end of our journey. Indeed, he had himself told us, before we set out, that we paid him a respect he had no title to; but as we had found him a very modest and discreet man, we had insisted on his living with us during the whole of our journey. The remainder of our passage was performed with great facility and expedition, the river growing more rapid as we descended, and less obstructed by shoals.
As we approached the capital, we were sorry to observe, from an appearance of much stir and bustle, that we were to be received in form. Decent clothes had been for some time a scarce commodity amongst us; and our travelling dresses were made up of a burlesque mixture of European, Indian, and Kamtschadale fashions. We therefore thought it would be too ridiculous to make a parade in this trim through the metropolis of Kamtschatka; and, as we saw a crowd collected on the banks of the river, and were told the commander would be at the water-side to receive us, we stopped short, at a soldier's house, about a quarter of a mile from the town, from whence we sent Port, with a message to his excellency, acquainting him, that the moment we had put off our travelling dresses, we would pay our respects to him at his own house; and to beg he would not think of waiting to conduct us. Finding, however, that he persisted in his intentions of paying us this compliment, we lost no farther time in attiring ourselves, but made all the haste in our power to join him at the entrance of the town. I observed my companions to be as awkward as I felt myself in making our first salutations; bowing and scraping being marks of good breeding, that we had now, for two years and a half, been totally unaccustomed to. The manner in which we were received by the commander, was the most engaging that could be conceived, and increased my mortification at finding that he had almost entirely forgot the French language; so that the satisfaction of conversing with him was wholly confined to Mr Webber, who spoke the German, his native tongue.
In company with Major Behm was Captain Shmaleff, the second in command, and another officer, with the whole body of the merchants of the place. They conducted us to the commander's house, where we were received by his lady with great civility, and found tea and other refreshments prepared for us. After the first compliments were over, Mr Webber was desired to acquaint the major with the object of our journey, with our want of naval stores, flour, and fresh provisions, and other necessaries for the ship's crews, and at the same time to assure him, that we were sensible, from what we had already seen of the condition of the country about Awatska Bay, we could not expect much assistance from him in that quarter; that the impossibility of sending heavy stores across the peninsula during the present season of the year, was but too apparent, from the difficulties we had met with in our journey; and that, long before any material change could take place, we should be under the necessity of proceeding on our voyage. We were here interrupted by the commander, who observed, that we did not yet know what they were capable of doing; that, at least, it was not his business to think of the difficulties of supplying our wants, but only to learn what were the articles we stood in need of, and the longest time we could allow him for procuring them. After expressing our sense of his obliging disposition, we gave him a list of our naval stores, the number of cattle, and the quantity of flour we were directed to purchase, and told him that we purposed recommencing our voyage about the 5th of June.