nation was communicated to Mr Port, he dispatched an express to the
commander to inform him of our intentions, and at the same time to clear us
from the suspicions that were entertained with respect to the designation
and purposes of our voyage.

Captain Clerke having thought proper to fix on me for this service, I
received orders, together with Mr Webber, who was to accompany me as
interpreter, to be ready to set out the next day. It proved, however, too
stormy, as did also the 6th, for beginning a journey through so wild and
desolate a country; but on the 7th, the weather appearing more favourable,
we set out early in the morning in the ship's boats, with a view to reach
the entrance of the Awatska at high water, on account of the shoals with
which the mouth of that river abounds; here the country boats were to meet
us, and carry us up the stream.

Captain Gore was now added to our party, and we were attended by Messrs
Port and Fedositsch, with two cossacks, and were provided by our conductors
with warm furred clothing; a precaution which we soon found very necessary,
as it began to snow briskly just after we set out. At eight o'clock, being
stopped by shoal water, about a mile from the mouth of the river, some
small canoes, belonging to the Kamtschadales, took up us and our baggage,
and carried us over a spit of sand, which is thrown up by the rapidity of
the river, and which they told us was continually shifting. When we had
crossed this shoal, the water again deepened, and here we found a
commodious boat, built and shaped like a Norway yawl, ready to convey us up
the river, together with canoes for our baggage.

The mouth of the Awatska is about a quarter of a mile broad, and, as we
advanced, it narrowed very gradually. After we had proceeded a few miles,
we passed several branches, which, we were told, emptied themselves into
other parts of the bay; and that some of those on the left hand flowed into
the Paratounca river. Its general direction from the bay, for the first ten
miles, is to the north, after which it turns to the westward; this bend
excepted, it preserves for the most part a straight course; and the country
through which it flows, to the distance of near thirty miles from the sea,
is low and flat, and subject to frequent inundations. We were pushed
forward by six men, with long poles, three at each end of the boat, two of
whom were cossacks, the others Kamtschadales, and advanced against a strong
str