tte
greeting us with "Hail Columbia" out of compliment to our nationality.
We carried the American flag at the quarter and the Russian naval
ensign at the fore as a courtesy to the ship that awaited us. As we
cast anchor just outside the little inner harbor, the Russian band
continued playing Hail Columbia, but our engineer played the mischief
with the music by letting off steam. As soon as we were at rest a boat
from the corvette touched our side, and a subordinate officer
announced that his captain would speedily visit us. Very soon came the
Captain of The Port or Collector of Customs, and after him the
American merchants residing in the town. Our gangway which we closed
at San Francisco was now opened, and we once more communicated with
the world.

Petropavlovsk (Port of Saints Peter and Paul) is situated in lat. 53 deg.
1' North, long. 158 deg. 43' East, and is the principal place in
Kamchatka. It stands on the side of a hill sloping into the northern
shore of Avatcha Bay, or rather into a little harbor opening into the
bay. Fronting this harbor is a long peninsula that hides the town from
all parts of the bay except those near the sea. The harbor is well
sheltered from winds and furnishes excellent anchorage. It is divided
into an inner and an outer harbor by means of a sand spit that extends
from the main land toward the peninsula, leaving an opening about
three hundred yards in width. The inner harbor is a neat little basin
about a thousand yards in diameter and nearly circular in shape.

Some of the mountains that serve as landmarks to the approaching
mariner, are visible from the town, and others can be seen by climbing
the hills in the vicinity. Wuluchinski is to the southward and not
volcanic, while Avatcha and Korianski, to the north and east, were
smoking with a dignified air, like a pair of Turks after a champagne
supper. Eruptions of these volcanoes occur every few years, and during
the most violent ones ashes and stones are thrown to a considerable
distance. Captain King witnessed an eruption of Avatcha in 1779, and
says that stones fell at Petropavlovsk, twenty-five miles away, and
the ashes covered the deck of his ship. Mr. Pierce, an old resident of
Kamchatka, gave me a graphic description of an eruption in 1861. It
was preceded by an earthquake, which overturned crockery on the
tables, and demolished several ovens. For a week or more earthquakes
of a less violent character occurred hourly.

Besid