Account of the Journal Hiftorique Du Voyage de M. de Leffeps, &c. lately
Publifhed in France.

tions of gravitation in feverel parts of the globe; on the difference it may have in the two hemifpheres, and on the exact figure of the earth. For this purpose Mr Dagelet carried with him the invariable pendulum of M. de la Condamine, which had been before used in America, Africa, and Lapland.

After making fome observations at Teneriffe, M- de la Peyroufe purfued his voyage, about the end of Auguft, and proceeded thence to Brazil, the coaft of Chili, the Eafter and Sandwich ifles, California, &c. and arrived at China in the beginning of the' year 1787. After this he proceeded to the Manillas, and the harbour of St Peter and St Paul in Kamtschatka, where M. de Leffeps quitted the vessels in order to return to Europe.

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fallen the veffels, or that they are equal diftances, and of the height of Joft. If this be the cafe, fcience will..twelve or thirteen feet. This ruftic undoubtedly fuffer by the mifcarriage colonnade fupports a platform, comof an enterprise undertaken by muni- pofed of beams covered with clay, ficence, fupported by liberality, and and the platform ferves as a floor to entrusted to the management of men the whole edifice, which confifts of every way qualified, by their talents a ridge of conical form, covered with and experience, to bring it to a hap- a kind of thatch, or dried grafs, laid py conclufion. But no human pra- over long poles that meet at the top. dence can guard against the dangers This ridge forms the whole apartment; of the ocean, the confpiring elements, that is to fay, a single room, with a or deftructive rocks; and unforeseen hole in the roof to give paffage to the accidents often render the best con- fmoke, when the fire is lighted to certed voyages abortive. drefs their victuals. Their kitchenis in the middle of their chamber, where they eat and fleep all together, without the leaft appearance of difguft or fcruple. In thefe apartments there is no fuch thing as a window; nothing, in fhort, but a door, fo low and narrow as hardly to afford entrance to the daylight. The staircase is worthy of the houfe; it is a beam,. or rather a tree, very rudely notched, one end of which refts upon the ground, and the other is raised to the height of the floor. This tree preferves its original round form, though it is cut on one fide into what I cannot well call fteps, as they are fo inconvenient that I have been feveral times very near breaking my neck in walking up them. And indeed whenever this curfed faircafe happens to turn under the feet of thofe who are not accustomed to it, it is impoffible for them to preferve their equilibrium. They. muft come to the ground, and run more or lefs rifk in proportion to the height. When they wish to give notice that nobody is at home, they only turn the staircase with the fteps downward.

M. de Leffeps being charged by the Comte de la Peyroufe to carry his difpatches over land to France, bade farewell to the illuftrious navigators of the Bouffole and Aftrolabe in the port of St Peter and St Paul, at the fouthern extremity of the peninfula of Kamtfchatka, on the 29th of September, 1787. The preparations for his departure occafioning fome delay, he employs the mean time in a defcription of the harbour and environs, and in the mention of a project to convert the few houfes on the fea-fide to a confiderable fortified town. On the 7th of October he fets off for Okatzk, in company with M. Kafloff, commandant of that place, with feveral other Ruffian officers, and feveral attendants, and takes advantage of a fhort stay at Paratounka, on the oppofite fide of the bay, to defcribe the balagans and ifbas, the miferable places of abode of the Kamtfchatkadales.

"The Kamtfchatkadales refide in the fummer in the former, and in the winter retire to the latter. As the government wishes to bring them, by infenfible degrees, to conform to the manner of the Ruffian peafantry, and to lodge in a more wholefome manners, it is forbid in the fouthern part of Kamschatka to conftruct in future any yourts, or fubterraneous dwellings.

"The balagans are raised above the ground on feveral posts fixed at

"Reafons of convenience may perhaps have furnished the idea of conftructing thefe curious dwellingplaces; they are neceffary and fuitable to their kind of life. Their principal food being dried fish, which is alfo that of their dogs, they have occafion for a fhade, where the wind enters on every fide to dry it, as well

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as their other provifions for the winter. The ruftic colonnade or portito that compofes the lower part of their balazans anfwers this purpofe; there they hang up their fish at a fufficient height to keep it out of the way of the dogs, which are conftantly half-ftarved that they may be in the better order for running. Thefe dogs draw the carriages of the Kamtfchatkadales. The beft, that is to fay, the fierceft, have no other kennel than the kind of portico I have juft mentioned, and are tied to the columns or pofts that fupport the building.

"Their ifbas, or winter abodes, if larger, would perfectly refemble the houfes of the Ruffian peafants, which have been many times defcribed. In the larger room there is fometimes a miferable couch, made of planks and covered with bear's-skin it is the bed of the mafter of the family; and happy are the women, who in thefe favage countries are the flaves of their hufbands, and do the moft laborious work, when they can take a little repofe upon it."

After a few words concerning the police of the Kamtfchatkadales, and a defcription of the environs of Parataounka, our traveller proceeds on his journey, and ftops at Natchikin, at no great diflance, to notice a hot fpring that iffues boiling out of the fide of a hill. After an exact analyfs he finds this water to contain a fmall quantity of fulphur, a greater abundance of vitriolic acid, and ftill more calcareous earth, joined to fome particles of a nitrous falt.

In the continuation of his journey we fhall not follow M. de Leffeps in the defcription of many circumstances of no great moment: the hills he afcends, the hills he defcends, the Atreams he croffes, the villages of which he makes mention, &c. because not worthy of mention. M. de Leffeps apologises for thefe minute details by a promife he had made to his reader of fcrupulous exactnefs, for which

promife we are candid enough to believe he had fome good reason; but as we have not made a fimilar one, we. fhall only add that he arived fafe at Bolcheretzk, where he had an oy portunity of obferving how much the fimplicity of the Kamtíchatkada'es is impofed upon by the Coffacks and Ruffians, and by the paflion for fpirituous liquors, which feems even more irrefiftable in them than in the other northern nations.

A ftay of three months at Bolcheretzk enables our traveller to acquire a confiderable knowledge of the character and manners of the Aborigenes. Their drefs, their mufic, their dancing, their manner of hunting and fishing, their difeafes and remedies, language, government and climate, every thing, in fhort, by turns engages his attention, and furnishes details, both curious and interefting; fome short extracts from which will not, we fancy, be difagrecable to our reader.

"The principal nourishment of thefe people confifts, as I have alrea dy faid, of dried fifh. The men themfelves make their provifion of this aliment, while the women attend to heufchold affairs, and employ themfelves in gathering the fruits and vegetables, which, after fish, are the favourite nourishment ef the Kamtfchatkadales, and of the Ruffians of this country. The days when they go abroad to collect their stock for winter confumption, are fo many feltivals; they celebrate them. with tranf ports of the moft noify and licentious mirth, which gives occafion to curious fcenes, that not unfrequently are very indecent alfe. They wander in bands about the country finging, and giving a loofe to all the follies their imaginarion can fuggeft; all fear and fhame is banished; nor can I better defcribe their extravagant phrenzy than by comparing it to that of the female Bacchanalians of paganifm. Woe to the man whom accident brings in their way! However determined or 3 B 2

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active he may be, it is impoffible for Notwithstanding this indolence, and him to avoid the fate that threatens their other natural defects, one cannot him; and he very feldom can escape help regretting that their number is from the combat without a fevere whip- not more confiderable; for after all ping. I have feen, and the teftimony of feveral other perfons, it is certain that to be fure of meeting with fentiments of honour and humanity in this country, it is neceffary to feek them among the true Kamtfchatkadales: they have not yet bartered their homely virtues for the polished vices brought them by the Europeans, with an intention to promote their civilization.

"The true Kamt chatkadales are in general below the middle fize, their faces are broad and round, their eyes fmall and funk in their heads, their cheek-bones high, their nofes flat, and their hair black; they have fcarcely any beard, and a complexion rather of a tawny hue. That of moft of their women, and their features are nearly the fame; confequently they are not very charming objects.

In their dances they are particu larly fond of imitating the animals they "The difpofition of the Kamtfchat- bunt, efpecially the bear; they reprekadales is mild and hofpitable; they fent its heavy, awkward gait, and all are neither knaves nor robbers; they its different fenfations or fituations; have indeed fo little cunning, that no- that is to fay, the actions of the young thing is more eafy than to impofe up- ones about their mother, the amoon them, efpecially, as has been faid rous fport of the males with the before, by taking advantage of their females, and their agitation when defire for drink. They live in the they happen to be difturbed. They greatest amity among themselves; it muft, no doubt, have a most perfeems as if they were more affectionate fect knowledge of this animal; they to one another pn account of their have indeed frequent opportunities of fmall number: this union induces obferving it, and no doubt make it a them to affift each other in their la particular study, for they imitate all bours, which is no fmall proof of its motions as well I believe as is poftheir inclination to obige, when we fible, I afked the Ruffians, who are confider their exceffive difpofition to better judges than I, because in their idleness. They would find an active hunts they fee more of thefe animals, life infupportable. Supreme happiness, whether thefe pantomime ballets were in their opinion, after that of drinking well executed. They all affured me to intoxication, confifts in having no- it was difficult to find more kilful thing to do, and in leading a life of dancers in the country, and that the indolence. This defire is fo great gait, and all the attitudes of the bear, among these people, that it makes were fo well imitated as to deceive the them neglect the means of providing eye. I muft, however, obferve, with for the first neceffities of life; fo that the permiffion of the amateurs, that whole families have been frequently thefe dances are as tirefome to the feen in the winter reduced to extreme fpectator as fariguing to the actor. want, because they have not chofen One cannot help fuffering at fecing in the fummer to lay in a stock of them difiocate their members, and fifh, though with them it is the fift break their wind, and all to exprefs and most neceffary article of food. If the exceffive pleafure they feel in these they thus overlook the very means of grotefque dances, which resemble the existence, it is natural to fuppofe that ridiculous diverfions of favages: in. they are still more negligent in regard many refpects, indeed, the Kamtto cleanlinefs, which is neither re- fchatkadales may be placed in this markable in their perfons nor abode. rank."

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At length, when the fnow ftorms which they ftruck in cadence with their began to abate, M. de Leffeps fut off pretended spells, or to announce their from Bolcheretzk in company with coming; in a word, they have abanM.Kafloff, with a caravan of thirty-five doned all their magical inftrufleds, drawn by about three hundred ments. The ceremonies in their dogs. The neceffity of taking pro- affemblies, which, though held fevifions for both men and dogs on a cretly, are not lefs frequented, are long journey through this frozen, fa- now confined with narrower limits. mifhed country, was the principal Let the reader figure to himself a circaule of their being fo numerous. cle of fpectators ftupidly attentive and Thefe dogs are much of the kind of ranged around the forcerer or forceour fhepherd's dog, are wonderfully refs; for the women are alfo intiatfleet, and fo full of fpirit, that they ed in the mysteries of the Chamans. frequently attack each other to obtain On a fudden the Chaman begins to the honour of precedency, and over- fing, or rather to utter fhrill founds, turn the fleds, which are fometimes without either measure or fignification; broken to pieces in the fury of the the docile affembly answer in the fame conflict. This is the more remarka- tone, which forms the most difcorble as they only make one meal a-day, dant and most infupportable concert. confifting of a dried falmon. After By degrees the Chaman acquires pating through a great number of greater animation, and begins to towns and villages, whence the au- dance to the confused founds of the thor takes occafion to defcant ftill company, who exhauft their breath more largely on the miferable dwel- and their voices in the excefs of their lings and filth of the Kamtfchatka- fervour and admiration; the dance dales, and after meeting at Milkoff a grows quicker as the minister of the colony of Ruffian peafants, whofe in- god Koutka feels the infpiration of duftry and the comfortable way of the prophetic fpirit. Like the priestlife that is its confequence, form a efs of Apollo upon the tripod, he complete contraft with the indolence rolls his haggard and furious eyes; and mifery of the Aborigines, he ar, all his motions are convulfive; his rives at Machoure, a village almoft mouth is distorted, and all his mementirely inhabited by Chamans, a fpe- bers grow ftiff: in a word, there is cies of pretended magicians. no kind of grimace or distortion which he does not exhibit to the great aftonifhment of his fpectators. After having performed his pantomime for fome time, he fuddenly ftops, and his delirium becomes as calm as it was before agitated he no longer fhews either fury or tranfport, but the facred recollection of a man full of infpiration, who is going to fpeak by his mouth, The trembling affembly becomes immediately filent, and waits the wonders about to be revealed. At length the incoherent accents fall from the lips of the impoftor, who thus utters every thing that enters his imagination, which is always attributed to the infpiration of the god Koutka, The orator generally accompanies

"The veneration the inhabitants of this village have for thefe forcerers is inconceiveable; it approaches to madnefs, and excites compaffion; for the extravagance with which the latter keep up the credulity of their countrymen is fo strange and fo ridiculous, that we are not more excited to laughter than provoked to indignation, In these latter times, it is true, they do not profefs their art openly, or make fo great a difplay of their incantations; their drefs is no longer ornamented with mysterious rings, or a variety of fymbolical piates of metal jingling together upon the fmalleft motion of their bodies; they have alfo relinquished a kind of kettle