es the Variag we found in port the Russian brig Poorga and the
Prussian brig Danzig, the latter having an American captain, crew,
hull, masts, and rigging. Two old hulks were rotting in the mud, and
an unseaworthy schooner lay on the beach with one side turned upward
as if in agony. "There be land rats and water rats," according to
Shakspeare. Some of the latter dwelt in this bluff-bowed schooner and
peered curiously from the crevices in her sides.

[Illustration: BREACH OF ETIQUETTE.]

The majority of our visitors made their calls very brief. After their
departure, I went on shore with Mr. Hunter, an American resident of
Petropavlovsk. In every house I visited I was pressed to take
_petnatzet copla_ (fifteen drops,) the universal name there for
something stimulating. The drops might be American whisky, French
brandy, Dutch gin, or Russian vodka. David Crockett said a true
gentleman is one who turns his back while you pour whisky into your
tumbler. The etiquette of Kamchatka does not permit the host to count
the drops taken by his guest.

Take a log village in the backwoods of Michigan or Minnesota, and
transport it to a quiet spot by a well sheltered harbor of
Lilliputian size. Cover the roofs of some buildings with iron,
shingles or boards from other regions. Cover the balance with thatch
of long grass, and erect chimneys that just peer above the ridge
poles. Scatter these buildings on a hillside next the water; arrange
three-fourths of them in a single street, and leave the rest to drop
wherever they like. Of course those in the higgledy-piggledy position
must be of the poorest class, but you can make a few exceptions.
Whitewash the inner walls of half the buildings, and use paper or
cloth to hide the nakedness of the other half.

This will make a fair counterfeit of Petropavlovsk. Inside each house
place a brick stove or oven, four or five feet square and six feet
high. Locate this stove to present a side to each of two or three
rooms. In each side make an aperture two inches square that can be
opened or closed at will. The amount of heat to warm the rooms is
regulated by means of the apertures.

Furnish the houses with plain chairs, tables, and an occasional but
rare piano. Make the doors very low and the entries narrow. Put a
picture of a saint in the principal room of every house, and adorn the
walls with a few engravings. Make a garden near each house, and let a
few miscellaneous gardens cling to the hills