Travels in Kamtschatka, during the years 1787 and 1788, Volume 2

Set against the frozen wilds of far‑eastern Russia, this mid‑eighteenth‑century travelogue follows a French consul‑turned‑interpreter as he joins a global circumnavigation at the command of the Russian emperor. After an arduous departure from the remote outpost of Poustaretsk, the narrator confronts treacherous rivers, sudden tempests and the physical toll of relentless marching. His journal records not only the perils of the journey but the surprising moments of relief that come from disciplined exercise and the kindness of strangers.

Along the way he meets the Koriacs, Tchouktchis and Yakuts, painting vivid pictures of their villages, dress and fierce independence. He records the cradle‑carrying methods of Koriac mothers, the spirited Yakut songs, and the way they hunt, trade and travel in baidars and reindeer‑pulled sledges across the icy tundra. Set against volcanoes, hot springs and endless river valleys, these observations reveal a world both harsh and richly cultured.