Note 10 — Chapter XLVIII · KAMCHATKA.

It is situated on the right shore of the splendid Bay of Avatcha, which may claim with Rio Janeiro and San Francisco to be one of the finest harbours in the world. It is perfectly protected from the winds, and, transplanted to a more favourable position, it might be one of the greatest of markets; but since the fishery of the whale in the surrounding seas has lost its importance, Petropavlovsk has sunk from a place of 1,000 inhabitants to one of 500. Mr. Dobell, who lived in the peninsula five years, says that he found there many dykes and mounds, from the existence of which he argues that the country was once thickly populated.