gentleman told me that a wolf once sprang from the
bushes, seized and dragged away one of his dogs, and did not detain
the team three minutes. The dogs are cowardly in their dispositions,
and will not fight unless they have large odds in their favor. A pack
of them will attack and kill a single strange dog, but would not
disturb a number equaling their own.

Most of the Russian settlers buy their dogs from the natives who breed
them. Dogs trained to harness are worth from ten to forty roubles
(dollars) each, according to their quality. Leaders bring high prices
on account of their superior docility and the labor of training them.
Epidemics are frequent among dogs and carry off great numbers of them.
Hydrophobia is a common occurrence.

The Russian inhabitants of Kamchatka are mostly descended from
Cossacks and exiles. There is a fair but not undue proportion of half
breeds, the natural result of marriage between natives and immigrants.
There are about four hundred Russians at Petropavlovsk, and the same
number at each of two other points. The aboriginal population is about
six thousand, including a few hundred dwellers on the Kurile Islands.

No exiles have been sent to Kamchatka since 1830. One old man who had
been forty years a colonist was living at Avatcha in 1866. He was at
liberty to return to Europe, but preferred remaining.

In 1771 occurred the first voyage from Kamchatka to a foreign port,
and curiously enough, it was performed under the Polish flag. A number
of exiles, headed by a Pole named Benyowski, seized a small vessel and
put to sea. Touching at Japan and Loo Choo to obtain water and
provisions, the party reached the Portuguese colony of Macao in
safety. There were no nautical instruments or charts on the ship, and
the successful result of the voyage was more accidental than
otherwise.

Close by the harbor of Petropavlovsk there is a monument to the memory
of the ill-fated and intrepid navigator, La Perouse. It bears no
inscription, and was evidently built in haste. There is a story that a
French ship once arrived in Avatcha Bay on a voyage of discovery. Her
captain asked the governor if there was anything to commemorate the
visit of La Perouse.

"Certainly," was the reply; "I will show it to you in the morning."

During the night the monument was hastily constructed of wood and
sheet iron, and fixed in the position to which the governor led his
delighted guest.

Captain Clerke, successor to C