twenty-two to seven fathoms.

The mouth of the bay opens in a N.N.W. direction. The land, on the south
side, is of a moderate height; to the northward it rises into a bluff head,
which is the highest part of the coast. In the channel between them, near
the N.E. side, lie three remarkable rocks; and farther in, near the
opposite coast, a single detached rock of a considerable size. On the north
head there is a look-out house, which, when the Russians expect any of
their ships, upon the coast, is used as a light-house. There was a flag-
staff on it, but we saw no sign of any person being there.

Having passed the mouth of the bay, which is about four miles long, we
opened a large circular bason of twenty-five miles in circumference; and,
at half past four, came to an anchor in six fathoms water, being afraid of
running foul on a shoal, or some sunk rocks, which are said by Muller[13]
to lie in the channel of the harbour of St Peter and St Paul. The middle of
the bay was full of loose ice, drifting with the tide; but the shores were
still entirely blocked up with it. Great flocks of wild-fowl were seen of
various species; likewise ravens, eagles, and large flights of Greenland
pigeons. We examined every corner of the bay with our glasses, in search of
the town of St Peter and St Paul; which, according to the accounts given us
at Oonalashka, we had conceived to be a place of some strength and
consideration. At length we discovered on a narrow point of land to the
N.N.E., a few miserable log-houses, and some conical huts, raised on poles,
amounting in all to about thirty; which, from their situation,
notwithstanding all the respect we wished to entertain for a Russian
_ostrog_, we were under the necessity of concluding to be Petropaulowska.
However, in justice to the generous and hospitable treatment we found here,
I shall beg leave to anticipate the reader's curiosity, by assuring him
that our disappointment proved to be more of a laughable than a serious