in that prophetic eye of wise policy, which at one glance can
ascertain the effects and consequences of one's own assertions and
reasonings. It is not thought advisable to enter upon the
consideration of the subject now adverted to by Captain King, as a
fitter opportunity will in all probability present itself for the
necessary discussion.--E.

[86] Captain Krusenstern, as may have been already perceived, thinks very
highly of the Kamtschadale character. In his judgment, the only
objection to it applies to that superinduced propensity in which the
avaricious merchant has so often found his account, though to the ruin
of the unthinking individuals subjected to his temptations. Their
honesty is greatly extolled; and a cheat is as rare among the
Kamtschadales as a man of property. So great is the confidence placed
in them in this respect, that it is quite usual, we are told, for
travellers, on arriving at an ostrog, to give their whole effects,
even their stock of _brandy_, &c. into the hands of the tayon, and
there is no instance of any one having been robbed to the smallest
extent. "Lieutenant Koscheleff," says K., "with his accustomed
simplicity, told me that he had once been sent by his brother, the
governor, with thirteen thousand roubles to distribute among the
different towns; that every evening he made over his box with the
money to the tayon of the ostrog where he slept, and felt much easier,
having so disposed of it, _than he would perhaps have done in any inn
in St Petersburgh_." No doubt, the superior purity of the country air
would occasion some difference in his feelings! The hospitality of the
Kamtschadales forms another topic of eulogium. With such moral
virtues, then, in alliance with great industry, and considerable
intelligence, it is not to be wondered, that Krusenstern should speak
of the probable extinction of this race as a most alarming calamity.