ders that fe ll, and prevented him from proceeding on his
journey.
T he third volcano is on the top o f the mountain o f Kamt-
fchatka, which is mentioned as by far the higheft in the
peninfula. A thick fmoke never ceafes to afcend from
its fummit, and it has frequent eruptions, o f the moft
violent and dreadful kind, fome o f which were much
talked of, and feemed to be frefli in the memories o f the
Kamtfchadales.
The country is likewife faid to contain numerous fprings
o f hot water. The only one that I had an opportunity o f
feeing was at Natchikin ofrag, and hath been already de-
fcribed. Krafcheninieoff makes mention o f feveral others,
and alfo o f two very extraordinary pits or wells, at the bottom
o f w hich the water is feen to boil as in a caldron, with
prodigious force and impetuofity; at the fame time a dreadfu
l noife iflues out o f them, and fo thick a vapour, that a
man cannot be feen through it.
O f the trees which fe ll under our notice, the principal are
the birch, the poplar, the alder (with the bark o f which
they ftain their leather), many fpecies o f the willow, but a ll
fm all; and two forts o f dwarfiih pines or cedars *. One o f
thefe grows upon the coafl, creeping along the ground, and
feldom exceeds two feet in height. It was o f this, fort we
made our eflence fo r beer, and found it excellent for the
purpofe. T he other grows on the mountains, to: a greater
height, and bears a fmall nut hr apple. W e were told by
the old Town at St. Peter and St. Paul, that Beering, during
* KrafchenimcoiFfays,, that the tree here fpoken of,, is a dwarfcedar, for that there-
is not a pine in. the peninfula*.
.* t h e
the time he lay in that harbour, firft taught them the ufe o f
the decodtion o f thefe pines, and that it had proved a moft
excellent remedy for the fc u r v y ; but, whether from the
great fcarcity o f fu ga r, or from what other caufe, we could
not learn, we were forry to find, that it was no longer in ufe
amongft them.
T h e birch was by far the moft common tree we f a w ; and
o f this we remarked three forts. Tw o o f them fit for timber,
and differing only in the texture and colour o f the b a rk ;
the third o f a dwarfiih kind. This tree is applied to a grea t
variety o f ufes b y the inhabitants. T he liquor w hich, on
tapping, it yields in great abundance, th e y drink w ithou t
mixture, or any preparation, as we had frequent opportunities
o f obferving, upon our journ e y to Bolche re tik; and
found it, ourfelves, pleafant and refrefhing, but fome what
purgative. T he bark they convert into veffels, for almoft all
their domeftic and kitchen purpofes; and it is o f the wood o f
this tree the fledges and canoes are alfo made *.
T h e birch, and every other kind o f tree in the neighbourhood
o f the bay, were fmall and Hunted; and they are
obliged to go many miles up into the country, for wood o f
a proper fize to work into canoes, for the principal timbers
o f their balagans, and the lik e ufes.
Befides the trees above mentioned, Krafcheninieoff relates,
that the larch grows on the banks o f the River Kamtfi-
chatka, and o f thofe that fall into it, but nowhere e lfe ; and,
that there are firs in the neighbourhood o f the River Bere-
* Krafcheninieoff fays, that the natives likewife convert the bark into a pleafant
wholefome food, by Gripping it off whilft it is young and green, and cutting it into'
Iono-narrow Gripes* like vermicelli, drying it, and Gewing it afterward along with:
their caviar*
z o w a ;>