taken in evidence, and we may say we have very little reason indeed
to give ourselves any concern about the condition of the people in
this distant settlement.--"The prospect of any increase of the
inhabitants of Kamtschatka was very much diminished, not only by the
smallness of the number of the remaining Russians and Kamtschadales,
but by that of the women bearing no kind of proportion to the men. At
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, where the number of inhabitants, including
the military, amounts to one hundred and fifty, or one hundred and
eighty persons, there are not five-and-twenty females. It frequently
happens, that the company's ships and transports winter here, and the
number of men is often increased to five hundred; while, on the other
hand, that of the women remains always the same. The consequences of
this pernicious disproportion are unproductive marriages, and a total
decline of all morals. I do not remember to have seen more than five
or six children at Kamtschatka, and these partly belonged to the
officers, and partly to such of the inhabitants as had distinguished
themselves by their exemplary conduct. All the marriages, with the
exception of three or four, were entirely unproductive." It is almost
needless to remark, that if the suggestions which Krusenstern has
given, have not been adopted and acted on, the superiority of the
diminishing agents will have wrought such an effect since his visit,
as may render it problematical whether or not this country ought to be
reckoned amongst the inhabited regions of the earth.--E.

[81] The Tayon, or Toyon, according to Krusenstern, is a person chosen from
amongst the inhabitants, and has a character somewhat similar to that
of _starost_, or elder, in the Russian villages. He has an officer
under him, who bears the title of _jessaul_, the corporal of the tent,
who, properly speaking, holds the executive authority of the ostrog,
as the tayon seldom does more than deliver orders to him. When the
tayon is absent, the jessaul assumes his place, and is supported by
the eldest Kamtschadale in the ostrog, who, for the time being,
becomes his substitute as jessaul. The power of the tayon is said to
be considerable, extending to the infliction of corporal punishment,
not, however, exceeding twenty lashes; and his duty, in addition to
the internal