North to South, dividing it nearly into two equal parts, from
whence a great number o f rivers take their rife, and empty
themfelves, on each fide, into the Pacific Ocean and the fea
o f Okotik.
The re are three rivers o f much greater magnitude than
the r e ft ; the Bolchoireka, or great river, fo called from bol-
.choia, which fignifies great, and reka, a r iv e r ; the river
Kamtfchatka, and the Awatfka. T h e firft empties itfe lf
into the fea o f Okotik, and is navigable, for the Ruffian g a lliots,
upward o f five leagues from its mouth, or within nine
miles o f Bolcheretfk, a town fituated at the conflux o f the
Goltfoffka and the Biftraia, w hich here lofe themfelves in
the Bolchoireka. T h e Biftraia itfe lf is no inconfiderable
river. It derives its fource from the fame mountain with
the river Kamtfchatka, and, b y tak ing a diredt contrary
courfe, affords the Kamtfchadales the means o f tranfport-
in g their goods by water, in fmall canoes, almoft acrofs the
whole peninfula. T h e river Kamtfchatka, after maintainin
g a courfe o f near three hundred miles from South to
North, winds round to the Eaftward, in w h ich direction it
empties itfelf into the ocean, a little to the Southward o f
Kamtfchatkoi Nofs, Near the mouth o f the Kamtfchatka,
to the North Weft, lies the great lake called Nerpitfch, from
nerpi, a Kamtichadale .word fign ify in g a feal, with which
this lake abounds. About twenty miles up the river,
reckoning from the mouth o f the lake, is a fort called
Niihnei Kamtfchatika ojlrog, where the Ruffians have built
an hafpital and barracks, and which, we were informed, is
become the principal mart in this country.
T h e river Awatika arifes from the mountains fituated between
the Bolchoireka and the Biftraia, and running, from
.a ' North
North Weft to South Eaft, a courfe o f one hundred miles,
falls into the bay o f Awatfka. T he T ig il is likewife a river
o f confiderable fize, rifing amidft fome very high mountains,
which lie under the fame parallel with Kamtfchatkoi
Nofs, and running, in an even courfe from South Eaft to
N orth Weft, falls into the fea o f Okotik. A ll the other
rivers o f this peninfula, w h ich are almoft infinite in number,
are too fmall to deferve a particular enumeration.
I f I may judg e o f the foil, from what I faw o f its vegetable
productions, I fhould not hefitate in pronouncing it
barren, in the extreme. Neither in the neighbourhood o f
the bay, nor in the country I traverfed on my journey to Bolcheretfk,
nor in any o f our hunting expeditions, did I ever
meet with the fmalleft fpot o f ground that refemblèd what
in England is called a good green tu r f ; or that feemed as
i f it could be turned to any advantage, either in the way o f
pafturage, or other mode o f cultivation. The face o f the
country in general was thinly covered with ftunted trees,
ha vin g a bottom o f mofs, mixed with low w ea k heath.
T h e whole bore a more ftriking refemblance to Newfoundland,
than to any other part o f the world I had ever feen.
It muff however be obferved, that I faw at Paratounea
three or four Hacks o f fweet and very fine lo okin g hay
and Major Behm informed me, that many parts o f the peninfula,
particularly the banks o f the river Kamtfchatka and'
the Biftraia, produce grafs o f great height and ftrength,
which they cut twice in the fummer ; and that the hay is o f
a fucculent quality,, and particularly -well adapted to the
fattening o f cattle. Indeed it ihould appear, from the ,fize
and fatnefs o f the thirty-fix head that were fent down to us,
from the Verchnei ojlrog, and which, w e were told, were