ds. This conjecture,
however, Mr. Dobell was convinced was incorrect, from repeated
observation.

"Evident marks remain," he observes, "where the earth has been
dug out and thrown up; the holes, which were very deep, are now
ponds, whilst the shallower ones have been filled up with soft
mud, and have a thick surface of turf upon them, resembling
what is called a shaking bog. There is no doubt of their being
the work of man; but when and how it was performed was what I
could not discover. The Kamtchatdales themselves could have had
no inducement to undertake such a laborious task; as, when they
were first known, they had neither horned cattle nor horses.
They were probably made after the conquest of that country by
the Russians, when domestic animals were introduced; as they
are evidently intended to preserve the low lands for hay and
pasture. This has been so well accomplished, that the greater
part of them are still actually in good order."

After passing a few days at Avatcha, and gratifying the inhabitants with
a ball on board of his vessel, Mr. Dobell set out, on the first of
September, for Nijna Kamtchatsk, a town seven hundred and fifty miles
distant, the residence of the governor, whom it was necessary for him to
see, in order to make the commercial arrangements he desired. He
ascended the Avatcha river, the banks of which are for the most part
composed of fine meadow land, or hills thickly covered with birch. Early
on the following day, the party left their boats, and proceeded on
horseback over two or three very steep mountains, and amid clouds of
mosquitoes, which tormented them exceedingly. The houses at which they
stopped, from time to time, were in general black, smoky, and dirty, but
the inhabitants kind and hospitable beyond measure, though poor. The
universal food is fish--men, dogs, bears, wolves, and birds of prey, all
live upon them, and indeed they abound, in quantities fully sufficient
to supply all; they are seen in the streams sporting about by thousands,
and even the shores are covered with dead ones thrown up by the current.

The dwelling of the Kamtchatdales is of two kinds--for the summer and
the winter. The former, which is called a _ballagan,_ is a building of a
conical form, composed of poles fourteen or fifteen feet long, laid up
from the edge of a circle, ten or twelve feet in diameter, the tops
meeting at the centre