s may be enhanced to the
susceptible mind by the remark, that old and worn out as Iwashkin
appeared to Captain King, he nevertheless survived him at least twenty
years, as the latter died at Nice, in Italy, in 1784.--E.

[38] It may not be ill-timed to mention here, what Captain Krusenstern says
as to the scarcity of gunpowder in Kamtschatka, to which Captain King
alludes in his account of bear-hunting. It is owing to the deficiency
of this article, that the inhabitants are so seldom provided with
certain luxuries of the table, as the wild sheep, or _argalis_, rein-
deer, hares, ducks, and geese, with most or all of which the country
is tolerably well stocked. The conveyance of this most useful material
from the provinces of European Russia, is both difficult and exposed
to different accidents; such as getting wet, or, what is still worse,
taking fire; in consequence of which latter occurrence, it is said,
whole villages have been destroyed. To prevent this mischief, as much
as possible, we are informed, that gunpowder is now forbidden to be
brought for private sale. This prohibition, as is usual in all such
cases, is often evaded, and, by augmenting the price of the article,
of course excites the stronger disposition on the part of the merchant
to introduce it. The Kamtschadale, therefore, purchases powder
secretly, and at a very high price; he uses it sparingly, and that
only for defence against bears; or to kill some animal, whose skin he
knows will repay the cost of getting it. As, in many respects, it is
an article of indispensable necessity, and as therefore the people
must have it in some way or other, Captain Krusenstern recommends,
that, with many other commodities, it should be sent from
Cronstadt.--E.

[39] The reader will probably not dislike to see another instance of the
bear's cunning, in the mode of catching a peculiar sort of fish called
_kachly_, which abounds in Kamtschatka, and of which he is exceedingly
fond. We are told by Krusenstern, that as soon as this animal
perceives the shoals of _kachly_ going up the river, he places himself
in the water, within a short distance of the bank, and in such a
position of his legs, as that the fish, which always goes straight
forward, may have just space enough to pass between them. He then
watches his opportunity, when a good many