instantly begs another, for which, however, he must pay; then a
    second, a third, and so on.  Still, however, he has had his spirits
    unadulterated; but the moment he begins to be intoxicated, instead of
    pure spirits, they give it him mixed with water; and in order that the
    deception may be carried on with the more security, the merchants have
    the vessels, destined for the spirits, called fliaega, divided into
    two parts; in the smaller one of which they carry their unmixed
    spirits, and in the other the mixed.  The merchant now continues to ply
    the Kamtschadale with the weaker liquor, until he becomes perfectly
    senseless, and then takes possession of his whole stock of sables and
    other furs, alleging, that they are to pay for the quantity of spirits
    which he has drank.  Thus, in an unfortunate moment, the Kamtschadale
    loses the reward of many months labour and cost; and, instead of
    providing himself with powder and shot, and other necessary and
    indispensable articles, such as would have contributed to his own and
    his family’s comfort, he has exhausted all his wealth for one debauch,
    which only weakens him, and renders him more helpless and destitute
    for the future.  This wretchedness is accompanied by a depression of
    spirits, which must have a pernicious influence on his body, already
    weakened by disease, and which, at length, from the total want of
    substantial food, and of medical assistance, becomes unable to resist
    such frequent attacks upon it.  This appears to me the cause of their
    annual decrease, assisted by epidemical disorders, which sweep them
    off in great numbers.”  But another cause has been assigned in addition
    to this very deplorable one, and this it may now be necessary to
    specify a little more particularly.  Let the words of the same writer
    be 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