May' Years employed in acquiring a partial and imperfedt
—v-~_! kn owled ge * .
Excepting this mark o f confidence, and the fet o f prints
I have already mentioned, we had brought nothing with
us that was in the leaft worth his acceptance; for it fcarce
deferves noticing, that I prevailed on his fon, a yo u n g boy,
to accept o f a filver watch I happened to have about m e ;
and I made his little daughter ve ry happy w ith two pair o f
ear-rings, o f French pafte. Befides thefe trifles, I le ft w ith
Captain Shmaleff the thermometer I had ufed on m y
journey ; and he promifed me, to keep an exadt regifter o f
the temperature o f the air for one year, and to tranfmit it
to Mr. Muller, with whom he had the pleafure o f being
acquainted.
W e dined this day at the Commander’s, who, ftudious on
every occafion to gra tify our curiofity, had, befides a n umber
o f diihes drefled in our own w a y , prepared a great variety
o f others, after the Ruflian and Kamtfchadale manner.
T h e afternoon was employed in tak ing a view o f the town,
and the adjacent country. Bolcheretik is fituated in a low
fwampy plain, that extends to the fea o f Okotik, be in g
about forty miles long, and o f a confiderable breadth. It
* On this occafion, Major Behm permitted us to examine all the maps and charts
that were in his pofleifion. Thofe relating to the peninfula of the Tfchutfki, were made '
in conformity to the information collected by Pleniihner, between the years 1760 and
1770. As the charts of Pleniihner were afterward made ufe of, according to Mr.
Coxe, in the-compilation of the General Map of Ruffia, publilhed by the Academy in
1776, it may be neceflary to obferve, that we found them exceedingly erroneous ;
and that the compilers of the General .Map feem to have Been led into fome miftakes.
on his authority. Thofe, in which the iflands on the coaft of America were laid down,
we found to contain nothing new, and to be much lefs accurate than thofe we faw
at Oonalaihka.
lies
lies on the North fide o f the Bolchoi-reka (or great liver),
between the mouth o f the Gottfofka and the Biftraia, w h ich * —
here empty themfelves into this riv e r ; and the peninfula,
on which it Hands, has been feparated from the continent
b y a large canal, the w ork o f the prefent Commander;
w hich has not only added much to its ftrength as a fortrefs,
but has made it much lefs liable, than it was before, to
inundations. Below the town, the river is from fix to eight
feet deep, and about a quarter o f a mile broad. It empties
it fe lf into the fea o f Okotik, at the diftance o f twen ty-two
m i le s ; where, according to KrafheninicoflF, it is capable o f
admitting veflels o f a confiderable fize. The re is no corn,
o f any fpecies, cultivated in this part o f the co u n try ; and
Major Behm informed me, that his was the only garden that
had yet been planted. T he ground was, for the moft part,
covered with fn o w ; that w hich was free from it appeared
fu ll o f fmall hillocks, o f a black tu r fy nature. I faw about
twenty or thirty c ow s ; and the Major had fix flout horfes.
Thefe, and their dogs, are the only tame animals the y pof-
fefs ; the rteceflity they are under, in the prefent fta teo f the
country, o f k e ep in g great numbers o f the latter, m a k in g it
impoflible to bring up any cattle, that are not in fize and
ftrength a match for them. For, during the fummer fea-
fon, their dogs are entirely let loofe, and le ft to provide
for th em fe lve s ; w h ich makes them fo exceedingly
ravenous, that they w ill fometimes even attack the bullocks.
T h e houfes in Bolcheretflc are all o f one faihion, being
built o f logs, and thatched. That o f the Commander is-
much larger than the reft, confifting o f three rooms o f a
confiderable fize, neatly papered, and which might have
been reckoned handfome,. i f the talc, with which the w in -
» - ' do-w'si