. Adventures of two youths in the open Polar Sea. oes and earthquakes; three volcanoes, two of them extinct, and thethird only acting sluggishly, are in sight from Petropavlovsk, and thereare others in more distant parts of the peninsula. The underground firesmake the earth warmer than it should be for agricultural purposes, andwhen I landed in Kamchatka, and asked why they did not make theirown flour, they told me the summers were too short for the cultivation ofspring wheat; and as for winter wheat it was invariably killed, because thewarmth of the earth caused it to sprout before the snow m
. Adventures of two youths in the open Polar Sea. oes and earthquakes; three volcanoes, two of them extinct, and thethird only acting sluggishly, are in sight from Petropavlovsk, and thereare others in more distant parts of the peninsula. The underground firesmake the earth warmer than it should be for agricultural purposes, andwhen I landed in Kamchatka, and asked why they did not make theirown flour, they told me the summers were too short for the cultivation ofspring wheat; and as for winter wheat it was invariably killed, because thewarmth of the earth caused it to sprout before the snow melted. They have had no severe earthquakes for a long time, but there areseveral mild shocks every year. When I was there I was invited to dinewith the governor; we were about half through with our dinner whenthere came a shock of an earthquake that threw down the chimney of thehouse, and shook the building so violently that it nearly overturned thetable where we sat. I dont like dining under such circumstances, and we MOUNTAINS OF KAMCHATKA. 59. 60 THE VOYAGE OF THE VIVIAN. didnt finish the meal. The governor apologized, and I tried to laughover the occurrence, but the fact is, I was too scared to do so. The cap-tain of our ship was of the party, and as he lived in San Francisco whennot at sea he was able to take things coolly, and declared that he alwayshad an earthquake for the third or fourth course at dinner. Petropavlovsk is one of the prettiest places, so far as the situation isconcerned, that you ever saw. It is on a great bay, nearly circular andtwenty miles across, with an entrance two miles wide from the bay is surrounded by mountains, and as you enter it the most majesticof them all is directly in front. The mountain gives its name to the bay, orthe bay to the mountain, I dont know which. At all events, the expanseof water is called Avatcha Bay, and the mountain is Avatcha is a magnificent landmark, and can be seen through a clear atmospherenea
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