The mouth of the Awatska is about a quarter of a mile broad; and as we advanced, it narrowed very gradually. After we had proceeded a few miles, we passed several branches, which we were told emptied themselves into other parts of the bay; and that some of those on the left hand flowed into the Paratounca river. Its general direction from the bay, for the first ten miles, is to the north, after which it turns to the westward: this bend excepted, it preserves, for the most part, a straight course; and the country through which it flows, to the distance of near thirty miles from the sea, is low and flat, and subject to frequent inundations. We were pushed forward by six men, with long poles, three at each end of the boat; two of whom were Cossacks, the others Kamtschadales; and advanced against a strong stream, at the rate, as well as I could judge, of about three miles an hour. Our Kamtschadales bore this severe labour, with great stoutness, for ten hours; during which we stopped only once, and that for a short time, whilst they took some little refreshment. As we had been told, at our first setting out in the morning, that we should easily reach an _ostrog_, called Karatchin, the same night, we were much disappointed to find ourselves, at sun-set, fifteen miles from that place. This we attributed to the delay occasioned in passing the shoals we had met with, both at the entrance of the river, and in several other places, as we proceeded up it; for our boat being the first that had passed up the river, the guides were not acquainted with the situation of the shifting sand-banks, and unfortunately the snow not having yet begun to melt, the shallowness of the river was at its extreme. The fatigue our men had already undergone, and the difficulty of navigating the river, which would have been much increased by the darkness of the night, obliged us to give up all thoughts of continuing our journey that evening. Having therefore found a place tolerably sheltered, and cleared it of the snow, we erected a small _marquée_, which we had brought with us; and, by the assistance of a brisk fire, and some good punch, passed the night not very unpleasantly. The only inconvenience we laboured under was, the being obliged to make the fire at some distance from us. For, although the ground was, to all appearance, dry enough before, yet when the fire was lighted, it soon thawed all the parts round it into an absolute puddle. We admired much the alertness and expedition with which the Kamtschadales erected our _marquée_, and cooked our provisions; but what was most unexpected, we found they had brought with them their tea-kettles, considering it as the greatest of hardships not to drink tea two or three times a day.