We travelled this day seventy wersts, and came in the evening to Karagui, which is upon an eminence, and affords a view of the sea. It has only three yourts and twelve balagans, at the foot of which the river Karaga passes. This river pours itself into the sea at the distance of a few gun shots from the ostrog, which is the last in the district of Kamtschatka; a hamlet a hundred wersts farther, and containing but few Kamtschadales, not being included within its limits. As we were obliged to wait here for a stock of dried fish, not yet come up, and intended for the nourishment of our dogs in the deserts, which we are now to traverse, I shall embrace this opportunity of transcribing various notes made in this and the preceding villages. They will not be placed in the same order as they were written; it must be supposed that the rapidity with which we travelled, frequently left me no choice in this respect[75]. I shall first speak of the yourts, which I have not yet described, deserving as they are of particular attention. These strange houses are sunk in the earth, as I before observed, and the top, which appears above ground, is like a truncated cone. To form a just idea of them, we must conceive of a large square hole about twelve or fourteen yards in diameter, and eight feet deep; the four sides are lined with joists or boards, and the interstices of these walls are filled up with earth, straw, or dried grass, and stones. In the bottom of this hole various posts are fixed, that support the cross beams upon which the roof rests. The roof begins upon a level with the ground, and rises four feet above it; it is two feet thick, has a very gradual slope, and is made of the same materials as the walls. Towards the top is a square opening, about four feet long and three wide, which serves as a passage for the smoke[76] and an entrance to the yourt, where the women as well as the men go in and out by means of a ladder, or notched beam, that is raised to a level with this opening. There is another very low entrance in one side of the yourt, but it is considered as a kind of disgrace to make use of it. I shall terminate the description of the exterior part of these habitations by adding, that they are surrounded with tolerably high palisades, doubtless as a protection against the gales of wind, or falls of snow; it is said, however, that these enclosures formerly served as ramparts to defend these people against their enemies.