The jourts, or winter habitations, are constructed in the following manner :-An oblong square of dimensions proportioned to the number of persons for whom it is intended (for it is proper to observe, that several families live together in the same jourt), is dug in the earth to the depth of about six feet. Within this space strong posts, or wooden pillars, are fastened in the ground, at proper distances from each other, on which are extended the beams for the support of the roof, which is formed by joists resting on the ground with one end, and on the beams with the other. The interstices between the joists are filled up with a strong wicker-work, and the whole covered with turf; so that a jourt has externally the appearance of a round squat hillock. A hole is left in the centre, which serves for chimney, window, and entrance, and the inhabitants pass in and out by means of a strong pole (instead of a ladder) notched just deep enough to afford a little holding to the toe. There is kewise another entrance in the side, even with the ground, for the convenience of the women; but if a man makes use of it, he subjects himself to the same disgrace and derision as a sailor would who descends

through lubbers' hole. The jourt consists of one apartment of the form of an oblong square. Along the sides are extended broad platforms made of boards, and raised about six inches from the ground, which they use as seats, and on which they go to rest, after strewing them with mats. and skins. On one side is the fire-place, and the side opposite is entirely set apart for the stowage of provisions and kitchen utensils. At their feasts and ceremonious entertainments, the hotter the jourts are made for the reception of the guests the greater

the compliment. We found them at all times so hot, as to make any length of stay in them to us intolerable. They betake themselves to the jourts the middle of October; and, for the most part, continue in them till the middle of May.

The balagans are raised upon nine posts, fixed into the earth in three rows, at equal distances from one another, and about thirteen feet high from the surface. At the height of between nine and ten feet, rafters are passed from post to post, and firmly secured by strong ropes. On these rafters are laid the joists, and the whole being covered with turf, constitutes the platform or floor of the balagan. On this is raised a roof of a conical figure, by means of tall poles, fastened down to the rafters at one end, and meeting together in a point at the top, and thatched over with strong coarse grass. The balagans have two doors placed opposite each other, and they ascend to them by the same sort of ladders they use in the jourts. The lower part is left entirely open; and within it they dry their fish, roots, vegetables, and other articles of winter consumption. The proportion of jourts to balagans is as one to six; so that six families generally live together in one jourt.

The loghouses (isbas) are raised with long timbers piled horizontally, the ends being let into one another, and the seams caulked with moss. The roof is sloping like that of our common cottage houses, and thatched with coarse grass or rushes. The inside consists of three apartments. At one end is what may be called the entry, which runs the whole width and height of the house, and is the receptacle of their sledges, harness, and other more bulky gears and household stuff. This communicates with the middle and best

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apartment, furnished with broad benches for the purpose, as hath been above mentioned, of both eating and sleeping upon. Out of this is a door into the kitchen, one half of which is taken up by the oven or fire-place, so contrived, by being let into the wall that separates the kitchen and the middle apartment, as to warm both at the same time. Over the middle apartment and kitchen are two lofts, to which they ascend by a ladder placed in the entry. There are two small windows in each apartment made of talc, and, in the houses of the poorer sort, of fish-skin. The beams and boards of the ceiling are dubbed smooth with a hatchet (for they are unacquainted with the plane); and, from the effects of the smoke, are as black and shining as jet.

A town of Kamtschatka is called an ostrog, and consists of several of the three sorts of houses above described; but of which balagans are much the most numerous; and I must observe, that I never met with a house of any kind detached from an ostrog. Saint Peter and Saint Paul consists of seven log-houses, or isbas, nineteen balagans, and three jourts. Paratounca is of about the same size. Karatchin and Natchekin contain fewer log-houses, but full as many jourts and balagans as the former; from whence I conclude, that such is the usual size of the ostrogs.

Having already had occasion to mention the dress of the Kamtschadale women, I shall here confine myself to a description of that of the men. The outermost garment is of the shape of a carter's frock. Those worn in summer are of nankeen; in winter they are made of skins, most commonly of the deer or dog, tanned on one side, the hair being left on the other, which is worn innermost. Under this is a close jacket of nankeen, or other cotton stuffs; and beneath that a shirt of thin Persian silk, of a blue, red, or yellow colour. The remaining part of their dress consists of a pair of tight trowsers, or long breeches, of leather, reaching down to the calf of the leg; of a pair of dog or deer-skin boots, with the hair innermost; and of a fur cap, with two flaps, which are generally tied up close to the head, but in bad weather are let to fall round the shoulders.

The fur dress presented to me by a son of Major Behm (as already mentioned), is one of those worn by the Toions, on ceremonious occasions. The form exactly resembles that of the common exterior garment just described. It is made of small triangular pieces of fur, chequered brown and white, and joined so neatly as to appear to be one skin. A border of six inches breadth, wrought with threads of different coloured leather, and producing a rich effect, surrounds the bottom, to which is suspended a broad edging of the sea-otter skin. The sleeves are turned up with the same materials; and there is likewise an edging of it round the neck, and down the opening at the breast. The lining is of a smooth white skin. A cap, a pair of gloves, and boots, wrought with the utmost degree of neatness, and made of the same materials, constitute the remainder of this suit. The Russians in Kamtschatka wear the European dress; and the uniform of the troops quartered here is of a dark green, faced with red.

As the people situated to the north and south of this country are yet imperfectly known, I shall conclude the account of Kamtschatka with such information concerning the Kurile Islands, and the Koreki and Tschutski, as I have been able to acquire. The chain of islands, running in a south-west direction from the southern promontory of Kamtschatka to Japan, extending from latitude 51° to 45°, are called the Kuriles. They obtained this name from the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Lopatka, who being themselves called Kuriles, gave their own name to these islands, on first becoming acquainted with them. They are, according to Spanberg, twenty-two in number, without reckoning the very small ones. The northernmost, called Shoomska, is not more than three leagues from the promontory Lopatka, and its inhabitants are a mixture of natives and Kamtschadales. The next to the south, called Paramousir, is much larger than Shoomska, and inhabited by the true natives; their ancestors, according to a tradition among them, having come from an island a little farther to the south, called Onecutan. Those two islands were first visited by the Russians in 1713, and at the same time brought under their dominion. The others in order, are at present made tributary down to Ooshesheer inclusive, as I am informed by the worthy pastor of Paratounca, who is their missionary, and visits them once in three years, and speaks of the islanders in terms of the highest commendation, representing them

as a friendly, hospitable, generous, humane race of people, and excelling their Kamtschadale neighbours, not less in the formation of their bodies, than in docility and quickness of understanding. Though Ooshesheer is the southernmost island that the Russians have yet brought under their dominion, yet I understand that they trade to Ooroop, which is the eighteenth; and, according to their accounts, the only one where there is a good harbour for ships of burthen. Beyond this, to the south, lies Nadeegsda, which was represented to us by the Russians as inhabited by a race of men remarkably hairy, and who, like those of Ooroop, live in a state of entire independence *.

In the same direction, but inclining somewhat more to the westward, lie a group of islands, which the Japanese call Jeso; a name which they also give to the whole chain of islands between Kamtschatka and Japan. The southernmost, called Matmai, hath been long subject to the Japanese, and is fortified and garrisoned on the side toward the continent. The two islands to the north-east of Matmai, Kunachir, and Zellany, and likewise the three still farther to the north-east, called the Three Sisters, are perfectly independent. A trade of barter is carried on between Matmai and the islauds last mentioned, and between those again and the Kuriles, to the northward; in which, for furs, dried fish, and oil, the latter get silk, cotton, iron, and Japanese articles of furniture †.

The inhabitants of as many of the islands as are brought under the Russian dominion, are at present converted to Christianity. And probably the time is not very distant, when a friendly and profitable intercourse will be brought about between Kamtschatka and the whole of this chain of islands; and which will draw after it a communication with Japan itself. This may eventually be greatly facilitated by a circumstance related to me by Major Behm, that several Russians, who had been taught the Japanese language by two men belonging to a vessel of that nation, which had been shipwrecked on the coast of Kamt

*Spanberg places the island here spoken of, in 43° 50′ north latitude, and mentions his having watered upon it; and that this watering party brought off eight of the natives, of whom he relates the following circumstances :-That their bodies were covered all over with hair; that they wore a loose striped silk gown, reaching as low as their ankles; and that some of them had silver rings pendant from the ears that, on spying a live cock on deck, they fell on their knees before it ; and likewise before the presents that were brought out to them, closing and stretching forth their hands, and bowing their heads at the same time down to the ground; that, except the peculiarity of their hairiness, they resembled the other Kurile islanders in their features and figure, and spoke the same language. The journal of the ship Castricom also mentions this circumstance of the inhabitants of the country discovered by them, and called Jeso, being hairy all over the body.

[The inhabitants of the island of Jeso, Jesso, or more properly Yezo, which gives the sound of the Japanese letters with which the name is written, more correctly, have been rendered tributary by the Japanese, who possess there several ports on the southern and western coasts; the principal of which is Matsumai, at the southern extremity of the island, being a town of some size, and the residence of the Governor. The inhabitants, who are generally called Aïnos, from a word in their language signifying man, but are called Yezos by the Japanese, appear formerly to have occupied the northern parts of Japan, from whence they have been expelled by their more civilized neighbours, and are now apparently fading away from Yezo, sharing the general fate of perfect savages when in contact with civiliza tion. The account which the Japanese give of them, representing them as but one degree removed from wild beasts, covered with a fur nearly as thick as dogs, bears, or foxes, and even Spanberg, (or Spangenberg's) relation, is greatly exaggerated. Krusenstern, who saw more of them than any other traveller, describes them as of a middling height, nearly black, with bushy beards, black rough large hair, but more regular features than the Kamts

chadales. Their character he represents as mild and inoffensive, and their chief occupation is hunting and fishing. ED.]

This accounts for what Krascheninicoff says, that he got from Paramousir a japanned table and vase, a scimetar, and a silver ring, which he sent to the cabinet of her imperial majesty at Petersburg. And if what M. Steller mentions on the authority of a Kurile, who was interpreter to Spanberg in his voyage to Japan, is to be credited, that nearly the same language is spoken at Kunashir and Paramousir, it cannot be questioned that some intercourse has always subsisted between the inhabitants of this extensive chain of islands.

The vessel here spoken of was from Satsma, a port in Japan, bound for another Japanese port, called Azaka, and laden with rice, cotton, and silks. She sailed with a favourable wind; but, before she reached her destination, was driven out to sea by a violent storm, which carried away her masts and rudder. On the storm's abating, not one of the crew, which consisted of seventeen (having probably never made other than coasting voyages), knew where they were, or what course to steer. After remaining in this situation six months, they were driven on shore near the promontory Lopatka; and having cast out an anchor, began to carry on shore such articles as were necessary to their existence. They next erected a tent, and had remained in it twenty-three days, without seeing a human being, when chance conducted a Cossack officer, called Andrew Chinnicoff, with a few Kamtschadales, to their habitation. The poor unfortunate Japanese, overwhelmed with joy at the sight of fellow-creatures, made the most significant tenders they were able of friendship and affection; and presented their visitors with silks, sabres, and a part of whatever else they had brought from the ship. The treacherous Chinnicoff made reciprocal returns of kindness and good-will; and, after remaining with them long enough to make such observations as suited his designs, withdrew from them in the night. The Japanese, finding that their visitors did not return, knew

schatka, had been sent amongst those islands. The advantages that would accrue to the Russians by an immediate trade to Japan, have been already adverted to, and are too many, and too obvious, to need insisting upon.

The Koreki country includes two distinct nations, called the Wandering and Fixed Koriacs. The former inhabit the northern part of the isthmus of Kamtschatka, and the whole coast of the Eastern Ocean, from thence to the Anadir. The country of the Wandering Koriacs stretches along the north-east of the sea of Okotsk to the river Penskina, and westward toward the river Kovyma. The fixed Koriacs have a strong resemblance to the Kamtschadales, and, like them, depend altogether on fishing for subsistence. Their dress and habitations are of the same kind. They are tributary to the Russians, and under the district of the Ingiga. The Wandering Koriacs occupy themselves entirely in breeding and pasturing deer, of which they are said to possess immense numbers; and that it is no unusual thing for an individual chief to have a herd of four or five thousand. They despise fish, and live entirely on deer. They have no balagans; and their only habitations are like the Kamtschadale jourts, with this difference, that they are covered with raw deer-skins in winter, and tanned ones in summer. Their sledges are drawn by deer, and never by dogs; which, like the latter, are likewise always spayed, in order to be trained to this business. The draft-deer pasture in company with the others; and when they are wanted, the herdsmen make use of a certain cry, which they instantly obey, by coming out of the herd. The priest of Paratounca informed me, that the two nations, of the Koriacs and the Tschutski, speak different dialects of the same language; and that it bears not the smallest resemblance to the Kamtschadale.

The country of the Tschutski is bounded on the south by the Anadir, and extends along the coast to the Tschutskoi Noss. Like the Wandering Koriacs, their attention is principally confined to their deer, of which their country affords great numbers, both tame and wild. They are a stout, well-made, bold, warlike race of people; redoubtable neighbours to both nations of the Koriacs, who often feel the effects of their depredatory incursions. The Russians have, for many years, been using their endeavours to bring them under their dominion; and, after losing a great many men in their different expeditions for this purpose, have not been able to effect it *. I shall here conclude this article; since all we can say of this people, on our own knowledge, hath been laid already before the reader.

not what course to take. In despair they manned their boat, and were rowing along the coast in search of a habitation, when they came up with their vessel which had been driven ashore, and found Chinnicoff and his companions pillaging her, and pulling her in pieces for the sake of the iron. This sight determined them to continue their course, which Chinnicoff perceiving, ordered his men to pursue and massacre them. The unfortunate Japanese, seeing a canoe in pursuit, and which they could not escape, apprehended what was to follow. Some of them leaped into the sea; others, in vain, had recourse to prayer and entreaties. They were all massacred but two, by the very sabres they had presented to their supposed friends a few days before. One of the two was a boy about eleven years old, named Gowga, who had accompanied his father, the ship's pilot, to learn navigation; the other was a middle-aged man, the supercargo, and called Sosa.

Chinnicoff soon met with the punishment due to his

crimes. The two strangers were conducted to Petersburg, where they were sent to the academy, with proper instructors and attendants; and several young men were, at the same time, put about them for the purpose of learning the Japanese language. They were thrown on the coast of Kamtschatka in 1730. The younger survived the absence from his country five, the other six years. Their portraits are to be seen in the cabinet of the empress at Petersburg.-Vid. Krascheninicoff, vol. ii., part 4.FR. ED.

The Tschutski, or Tsheskois, are remarkable as being the only Siberian nation that has not hitherto submitted to the dominion of Russia. The difference of their language, and their superiority, not only in personal, but mental capacity to their neighbours, deserves greater attention than can be given in a note. All the particulars that can be gathered from more rece travellers, will be found in the Appendix.-ED.

PARAMOUSIR.-DRIVEN

CHAPTER VIII.-PLAN OF OUR FUTURE PROCEEDINGS.-COURSE TO THE SOUTHWARd, along THE COAST OF KAMTSCHATKA.-CAPE LOPATKA.-PASS THE ISLANDS SHOOMSKA AND TO THE EASTWARD OF THE KURILES. SINGULAR SITUATION WITH RESPECT TO THE PRETENDED DISCOVERIES OF FORMER NAVIGATORS.-FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE ISLANDS NORTH OF JAPAN.-GEOGRAPHICAL CONCLUSIONS.— VIEW OF THE COAST OF JAPAN.-RUN ALONG THE EAST SIDE.-PASS TWO JAPANESE VESSELS.-DRIVEN OFF THE COAST BY CONTRARY WINDS.-EXTRAORDINARY EFFECT OF CURRENTS.-STEER FOR THE BASHEES.-PASS LARGE QUANTITIES OF PUMICE-STONE.DISCOVER SULPHUR ISLAND.--PASS THE PRATAS.-ISLES OF LEMA, AND LADRON ISLAND. -CHINESE PILOT TAKEN ON BOARD THE RESOLUTION. JOURNALS OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN SECURED.

OUR instructions from the Board of Admiralty having left a discretionary power with the commanding officer of the expedition, in case of failure in the search of a passage from the Pacific into the Atlantic Ocean, to return to England, by whatever route he should think best for the farther improvement of geography, Captain Gore demanded of the principal officers their sentiments, in writing, respecting the manner in which these orders might most effectually be obeyed. The result of our opinions, which he had the satisfaction to find unanimous, and entirely coinciding with his own, was, that the condition of the ships, of the sails and cordage, made it unsafe to attempt, at so advanced a season of the year, to navigate the sea between Japan and Asia, which would otherwise have afforded the largest field for discovery; that it was therefore advisable to keep to the eastward of that island, and in our way thither to run along the Kuriles, and examine more particularly the islands that lie nearest the northern coast of Japan, which are represented as of a considerable size, and independent of the Russian and Japanese governments. Should we be so fortunate as to find in these any safe and commodious harbours, we conceived they might be of importance, either as places of shelter for any future navigators, who may be employed in exploring the seas, or as the means of opening a commercial intercourse among the neighbouring dominions of the two empires. Our next object was to survey the coast of the Japanese Islands, and afterward to make the coast of China, as far to the northward as we were able, and run along it to Macao.

This plan being adopted, I received orders from Captain Gore, in case of separation, to proceed immediately to Macao; and at six o'clock in the evening of the 9th of October, having cleared the entrance of Awatska Bay, we steered to the south-east, with the wind north-west and by west. At midnight, we had a dead calm, which continued till noon of the 10th; the light-house, at this time, bearing north half west, distant five leagues, and Cape Gavareea south by west half west. Being luckily in soundings of sixty and seventy fathoms' water, we employed our time very profitably in catching cod, which were exceedingly fine and plentiful; and at three in the afternoon a breeze sprung up from the west, with which we stood along the coast to the southward. A headland bearing south by west, now opened, with Cape Gavareea, lying about seven leagues beyond it. Between them are two narrow but deep inlets, which may probably unite behind what appears to be a high island. The coast of these inlets is steep and cliffy. The hills break abruptly, and form chasms and deep valleys, which are well wooded. Between Cape Gavareea (which lies in latitude 52° 21′, longitude 158° 38′) and Awatska Bay, there are appearances of several inlets, which at first sight may flatter the mariner with hopes of finding shelter and safe anchorage: but the Russian pilots assured us, that there are none capable of admitting vessels of the smallest size, as the low land fills up the spaces that appear vacant between the high projecting headlands. Toward evening, it again became calm; but at midnight we had a light breeze from the north, which increased gradually to a strong gale; and at noon the next day, we found ourselves in latitude 52° 4′, longitude 158° 31', when Cape Gavareea bore north by west one quarter west; the south extreme south-west half west. We were at this time distant from the nearest shore about three leagues, and saw the whole country inland covered with snow. A point of land to the southward, which we place in latitude 51° 54', formed the north side