for nearly a year before our arrival, though half a
dozen whalers had passed in sight. A steamer goes annually from the
Amoor with a supply of flour and salt on government account. The mail
comes once a year, so that the postmaster has very little to do for
three hundred and sixty-four days. Sometimes the mail misses, and then
people must wait another twelvemonth for their letters. What a nice
residence it would be for a young man whose sweetheart at a distance
writes him every day. He would get three hundred and sixty-five
letters at once, and in the case of a missing mail, seven hundred and
thirty of them.

[Illustration: YEARLY MAIL.]

Bears are quite numerous around Ohotsk, and their dispositions do not
savor of gentleness. Only a few days before our visit a native was
partly devoured within two miles of town.

Many of the dogs are shrewd enough to catch their own fish, but have
not learned how to cure them for winter use. When at Ohotsk I went to
the bank of the river as the tide was coming in, and watched the dogs
at their work. Wading on the sand bars and mud flats till the water
was almost over their backs, they stood like statues for several
minutes. Waiting till a salmon was fairly within reach, a dog would
snap at him with such accuracy of aim that he rarely missed.

I kept my eye on a shaggy brute that stood with little more than his
head out of water. His eyes were in a fixed position, and for twelve
or fifteen minutes he did not move a muscle. Suddenly his head
disappeared, and after a brief struggle he came to shore with a
ten-pound salmon in his jaws. None of the cows are skilled in salmon
catching.

[Illustration: DOGS FISHING.]

Two or three years ago a mail carrier from Ayan to Yakutsk was visited
by a bear during a night halt. The mail bag was lying by a tree a few
steps from the Cossack, and near the bank of a brook. The bear seized
and opened the pouch, regardless of the government seal on the
outside. After turning the letter package several times in his paws,
he tossed it into the brook. The Cossack discharged his pistol to
frighten the bear, and then fished the letters from the water. It is
proper to say the package was addressed to an officer somewhat famous
for his bear-hunting proclivities.

When we left Ohotsk at the close of day, we took Captain Mahood and
the governor to dine with us, and when our guests departed we hoisted
anchor and steamed away. Captain Lund burned a blue light