three broken chairs. There was neither earthen-ware nor porcelain
table-service; no glasses, decanters, nor any thing else of a similar
nature; two or three tea-cups, one glass, a few broken knives and
forks, and some pewter spoons, constituted the wealth of the good
people (two artillery officers) who were both married. But what most
of all distressed me, was the condition of their windows; they had not
double sashes, which, in a cold climate, are as necessary to health as
to comfort; but such even as they had, were in a very wretched
condition. The panes were of glass, but notwithstanding their extreme
smallness, they were all of them broken, and made of pieces fitted
together. They afforded no protection against the snow and frost; and
I could not, without feelings of commiseration, behold the children,
who, in no part of the world, are brought up so wretchedly as here."
If such were the condition of the best houses, we shall have little
reason, for the sake of any pleasure at least, to make any enquiry as
to those of an inferior kind, belonging to the other inhabitants. It
is perhaps enough then to say in general terms, that they are all ill
built, that they are so low, as to be entirely covered up with snow
during the winter, and that in consequence of this circumstance, they
are throughout that period completely deprived of the fresh air, to
which want, and to the badness of their provisions, it is
unquestionably with perfect truth that K. ascribes the pallid hue of
all the inhabitants, even, as he adds, of the youngest females. The
construction of a house at St Peter and St Paul, we are further told,
is very expensive, as there is no suitable timber in the neighbourhood
of the town, and the people are consequently necessitated to bring it
from the interior. It is in this manner that thirty or forty soldiers
are employed, when any public building is to be erected. They are sent
out under the command of an officer, and for several weeks, during
which time, and at imminent risk, they fell the timber, and float it
down the rivers. Thus says K., "the whole garrison of Kamtschatka had
been occupied during two years in building some barracks for ten or
twelve men, nor were they even then completed; and the church, on
which they had been several years employed, was in the same
predicament!