Captain King witnessed an eruption of Avatcha in 1779, and says that stones fell at Petropavlovsk, twenty-five miles away, and the ashes covered the deck of his ship.

Mr.Pierce, an old resident of Kamchatka, gave me a graphic description of an eruption in 1861.

It was preceded by an earthquake, which overturned crockery on the tables, and demolished several ovens.

For a week or more earthquakes of a less violent character occurred hourly.
Besides the Variag we found in port the Russian brig Poorga and the Prussian brig Danzig, the latter having an American captain, crew, hull, masts, and rigging.

Two old hulks were rotting in the mud, and an unseaworthy schooner lay on the beach with one side turned upward as if in agony.