under-jaw-bones their sledges are shod.  They likewise work the bones into knives; and formerly the chains with which their dogs are tied, were made of that material, though at present iron ones are generally used.  The intestines they clean, then blow and dry like bladders and it is in these their oil and grease is stored; and of the nerves and veins, which are both strong and slip readily, they make excellent snares; so that there is no part of the whale which here does not find its use.

From the middle of May, till our departure on the 24th of June, we caught great quantities of excellent flat-fish, trout, and herrings.  Upward of three hundred of the former, besides a number of sea-trout, were dragged out at one haul of the seine, the 15th of May.  These flat-fish are firm, and of a good flavour, studded upon the back with round prickly knobs, like turbot, and streaked with dark-brown lines, running from the head toward the tail.  About the end of May the first herring season begins.  They approach in great shoals, but do not remain long on the coast.  They had entirely left the bay before we sailed out of it the first time, but were beginning to revisit it again in October.  It has been already mentioned, that the herrings were remarkably fine and large, and that we filled a great part of our empty casks with them.  The beginning of June large quantities of excellent cod were taken; a part of which were likewise salted.  We caught too, at different times, numbers of small fish, much resembling a smelt, and once drew out a wolf-fish.

Notwithstanding this abundance of flat-fish, cod, and herring, it is on the salmon-fishery alone that the Kamtschadales depend for their winter provisions.  Of these, it is said by naturalists, there are to be found on this coast all the different species that are known to exist, and which the natives formerly characterized by the different months in which they ascend the rivers.  They say, too, that though the shoals of different sorts are seen to mount the rivers at the same time, yet they never mix with each other; that they always return to the same river in which they were bred, but not till the third summer; that neither the male nor female live to regain the sea; that certain species frequent certain rivers, and are never found in others, though they empty themselves nearly at the same place.

The first shoals of salmon begin to enter the mouth of the Awatska about the middle of May; and this kind, which is called by the Kamtschadales Tchavitsi, is the largest and most valued.  Their length is generally about three feet and a half; they are very deep in proportion, and their average weight is from thirty to forty pounds.  The tail is not forked, but straight.  The back is of a dark blue, spotted with black; in other respects they are much like our common salmon.  They ascend the river with extraordinary velocity, insomuch that the water is sensibly agitated by their motion; and the Kamtschadales, who are always