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Most of Kamchatka's roughly 400,000 people live in the capital of Petropavlovsk or in several towns such as this one in the north. In the countryside, Kamchatka averages well under one person per square mile. The two-story apartment block visible in the background is typical of modern housing on the peninsula. Petropavlovsk boasts many cars, but in northern Kamchatka most families' principal means of transport is the bicycle. This man and his child are probably Koryaks. His coat is made of tanned reindeer hide, a chief market export. In years past, many a Soviet commissar was photographed wearing a coat made out of this material, which is thinner and more supple than beef hide.
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