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It is a misnomer to call him the brown bear of Europe, since he is even more common in many parts of Asia especially throughout Asiatic Russia and Kamtschatka. But he is also met with in most European countries, where there are extensive ranges of mountains. In the mountains of Hungary and Transylvania as well as in those of Russia, Sweden, and Norway the brown bear is found.
These accidents, however, seldom occur; for the Kamtschatkans have acquired of necessity great foresight in meteorology, and of course never undertake a journey when they do not consider themselves sure of the weather. The principal reason why the climate of Kamtschatka is inferior to that of other places under the same latitude, is to be found in the configuration of the country.
The people, however, who entered most extensively and effectively in the fur trade of the Pacific, were the Russians. Instead of making casual voyages, in transient ships, they established regular trading houses in the high latitudes, along the northwest coast of America, and upon the chain of the Aleutian Islands between Kamtschatka and the promontory of Alaska.
The great peninsula of Kamtschatka, stretching to the river Anadir on the North, and South to the Kurilian Islands, bathed on the east by the ocean, and on the west by the sea of Ochotsk, is, like many men, better than its reputation.
For, in the first place, ammunition is so dear in Kamtschatka, that the price of a bear will not purchase more of it than is sufficient to load a musket four or five times; and, what is more material, if the bear be not rendered incapable of pursuit by the first shot, the consequences are often fatal.
The whole amount of the value, in specie and goods, that was got for the furs in both ships, did not fall short of two thousand pounds sterling, and it was generally supposed, that at least two-thirds of the quantity originally obtained from the Americans were spoiled or worn out, or had been given away or sold at Kamtschatka.
A hole is soon formed by this motion of the smaller stick; but it has not penetrated far before the larger one takes fire. I have also seen the same effect produced more simply by rubbing one bit of bamboo with a sharp edge across another.* This mode of kindling fire is not peculiar to Sumatra: we read of the same practice in Africa and even in Kamtschatka.
The martens from Northern Asia and the Mountains of Kamtschatka are much superior to the American, though in every pack of American marten skins there are a certain number which are beautifully shaded, and of a dark brown olive color, of great depth and richness. Next these in value, for ornament and utility, are the sea-otter, the mink, and the fiery fox.
I confess I could not help speculating upon the benefit this country would derive from becoming a province of our powerful empire, and how useful it would prove to Russia. An inexhaustible granary for Kamtschatka, Ochotsk, and all the settlements of the American Company; these regions, so often afflicted with a scarcity of corn, would derive new life from a close connection with California.
EMMA. "Bhering's Straits divide the Old from the New Continent, and the water to the south beyond the Gulf of Anadir is called Bhering's or Kamtschatka Sea, and washes the shores of Kamtschatka." MRS. WILTON. "Kamtschatka is a portion of Asia, about the same size as Great Britain.
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