knowledge.[19]

Excepting this mark of confidence, and the set of prints I have already
mentioned, we had brought nothing with us that was in the least worth his
acceptance; for it scarce deserves noticing, that I prevailed on his son, a
young boy, to accept of a silver watch I happened to have about me; and I
made his little daughter very happy with two pair of ear-rings of French
paste. Besides these trifles, I left with Captain Shmaleff the thermometer
I used on my journey; and he promised me, to keep an exact register of the
temperature of the air for one year, and to transmit it to Mr Muller, with
whom he had the pleasure of being acquainted.

We dined this day at the commander's, who, studious on every occasion to
gratify our curiosity, had, besides a number of dishes dressed in our own
way, prepared a great variety of others, after the Russian and Kamtschadale
manner. The afternoon was employed in taking a view of the town and the
adjacent country. Bolcheretsk is situated in a low swampy plain, that
extends to the sea of Okotsk, being about forty miles long, and of a
considerable breadth. It lies on the north side of the Bolchoireka, or
great river, between the mouth of the Gottsofka and the Bistraia, which
here empty themselves into this river; and the peninsula, on which it
stands, has been separated from the continent by a large canal, the work of
the present commander; which has not only added much to its strength as a
fortress, but has made it much less liable than it was before to
inundations. Below the town the river is from six to eight feet deep, and
about a quarter of a mile broad. It empties itself into the sea of Okotsk,
at the distance of twenty-two miles; where, according to Krascheninikoff,
it is capable of admitting vessels of a considerable size. There is not
corn, of any species, cultivated in this part of the country; and Major
Behm informed me, that his was the only garden that had yet been planted.