to eat snow or drink much water at a time, although they were
almost dying with thirst; as they could soon get to an ostrog
that was only about twenty or thirty versts distant. They had
not proceeded far before Spiridon saw the tracks of some
reindeer; he therefore made his companions stop, and, taking
his gun, walked gently round a high bluff on the coast, whither
the deer had gone, and had the good fortune to shoot one of
them. His companions no sooner heard the noise of the gun than
they came to him. They cut the throat of the deer immediately,
and drank his blood while warm. Spiridon said that they felt
their strength revived almost immediately after drinking the
blood. Having given some of the meat to the dogs, they rested
themselves about an hour, and then set off for the ostrog,
where they arrived safely. One of them, who indulged too much
in eating at first, died a short time after; the other two
survived; but Spiridon said he had ever since been afflicted
with a complaint in his breast and shortness of breath."

On the 21st of October the winter set in, and made the travelling much
more difficult and uncomfortable. The cold, however, in Kamtchatka, is
by no means so severe as is generally supposed. About the sea coast, the
thermometer rarely passes 15 deg. to 20 deg. of Reaumur, and in the interior,
seldom exceeds 20 deg. to 25 deg.; and even this but for a short time. The
ordinary cold is about 8 deg. to 10 deg..

After remaining nearly three months at St. Peter and St. Paul, Mr.
Dobell set out on his expedition to Russia. He left the former place on
the 15th of January, with the determination to proceed along the
Aleuters or north-east coast of the peninsula of Kamtchatka, thence
cross over to Kammina at the head of the sea of Ochotsk, and proceed
along the eastern shore of that large bay to the town of Ochotsk itself.
He was accompanied by two Chinese servants, and proceeded in sledges
drawn by dogs. He had frequent occasions to confirm the sentiments he
had previously entertained of the hospitable and honest character of the
inhabitants of the peninsula of Kamtchatka; and he found the climate and
natural resources of the country far superior to what he had been led to
expect. He combats the opinion, long prevalent, that it is a barren and
desolate country, depopulated of the aborigines through the extreme
poverty of its resou