I had the pleasure to find, that he felt this compliment as I hoped he would, and was much struck at seeing, in one view, the whole of that coast, as well on the side of Asia as on that of America, of which his countrymen had been so many years employed in acquiring a partial and imperfect knowledge.[19]

Excepting this mark of confidence, and the set of prints I have already mentioned, we had brought nothing with us that was in the least worth his acceptance; for it scarce deserves noticing, that I prevailed on his son, a young boy, to accept of a silver watch I happened to have about me; and I made his little daughter very happy with two pair of ear-rings of French paste.  Besides these trifles, I left with Captain Shmaleff the thermometer I used on my journey; and he promised me, to keep an exact register of the temperature of the air for one year, and to transmit it to Mr Muller, with whom he had the pleasure of being acquainted.

We dined this day at the commander’s, who, studious on every occasion to gratify our curiosity, had, besides a number of dishes dressed in our own way, prepared a great variety of others, after the Russian and Kamtschadale manner.  The afternoon was employed in taking a view of the town and the adjacent country.  Bolcheretsk is situated in a low swampy plain, that extends to the sea of Okotsk, being about forty miles long, and of a considerable breadth.  It lies on the north side of the Bolchoireka, or great river, between the mouth of the Gottsofka and the Bistraia, which here empty themselves into this river; and the peninsula, on which it stands, has been separated from the continent by a large canal, the work of the present commander; which has not only added much to its strength as a fortress, but has made it much less liable than it was before to inundations.  Below the town the river is from six to eight feet deep, and about a quarter of a mile broad.  It empties itself into the sea of Okotsk, at the distance of twenty-two miles; where, according to Krascheninikoff, it is capable of admitting vessels of a considerable size.  There is not corn, of any species, cultivated in this part of the country; and Major Behm informed me, that his was the only garden that had yet been planted.  The ground was, for the most part, covered with snow; that which was free from it appeared full of small hillocks, of a black turfy nature.  I saw about twenty or thirty cows, And the major had six stout horses.  These and their dogs are the only tame animals they possess; the necessity they are under, in the present state of the country, of keeping great numbers of the latter, making it impossible to bring up any cattle that are not in size and strength a match for them.  For, during the summer season, their dogs are entirely let loose, and left to provide for themselves, which makes them so exceedingly ravenous, that they will sometimes even attack the bullocks.