208
Notices of the Island of Turakai.
JUNE,
The same in the Bay de Langle, thousands of salmons; also herrings and other fish. All they saw of wild animals were skins of bears, martins, and sca-wolves.
Therefore fish and some roots form the only nourishment of the inhabitants. Down below at Cape Crillon, the whales begin to be found i there are many on the east coast, but none on the west coast. Krusenstern found such a quantity in the Bay of Aniwa that the ship was entirely sur- rounded by them, and he could only with great caution reach the shore. In the Bay of Patience he saw perhaps a still greater quantity. We extract only a few observations from Krusenstern, who continued the explorations where La Peyrouse had discontinued them, as generally speaking the character of the country is the same all over. Sea-lions, seals and phoca were couching on the rocks, and the huge lumps of flesh turned their round heads out of the water, and began a terrific roaring.' In the Bay of Aniwa, fish were so abundant that they took them out of the water by buckets, and hence the only nourish- ment again consists of fish. Oysters and crawfish abounded, the game has not yet been disturbed, no trace of cultivation of the ground or training of animals. On the east coast they saw thickly wooded hills, with fine luxuriant green and woody valleys. Whales and seals were playing round the ship. The summer begins very late, as has already been mentioned; on the 21st May they had deep snow, and the thermometer fell to the freezing point; a lit- tle more north (49° 19′), they met even icebergs on the 23th May. On their return from Kamtschatka (18th July), they saw a sandy inhabitable shore with stunted fir and pine trees, alternating with the loveliest valleys full of luxuriant green, and hills with fine impenetrable woods. Particularly on the northern extremity, the most charming scenery with grass and pine forests was met with. Reindeers grazed on the shore. The northwestern parts of Tarakai in general showed many advantages over the southwestern part, There is also some agriculture; the rivers are lined with the most impenetrable bushes and weeds, which again harbor vast quantitics of fish. Fish are the only nourishment of the inhabitants, and dogs their only companions.
The condition of the aborigines of Tarakai seems to be even more degraded than that of the inhabitants on the continent, and their masters, the Manchus and Japanese, do little to elevate them. The notices of the island in the General Statistics of China are very meagre, and add nothing to the preceding; we insert all that relates to it.
"In the seas attached to Sinsing, east of the mouth of the Kwan- tung, is a large island extending for a thousand li. In it there is the Pokpih and fifteen other rivers, with the Toksuto
TH
and three other mountains. The Fiattas dwell in the north,
1. La Peyrouse, pp. 31, 35. 2. La Peyrouse, Vol. III. pp. 87, conf. page 107. 3. Krusenstern, p. 91, Langsdorf, Vol. I. p. 485 and foll.
4. Langsdorf, Vol. I. p. 475.
5. Krusenstern, p. 122, conf. page 130. Langsdorf, Vol. I. p. 483, &c., and 483. Gulownin, Vol. II. p. 7. 6. Krusenstern, p. 195 and foll.