First Russian Emlassy to Japan, 333 



his home, which was the case while the Russians lay at 

 Nimuro, he is buried on the spot with great ceremony ; but 

 the hair of his head, his beard, and his favourite pipe are 

 sent to his relations, who inter them with the same cere- 

 monies as they would do the body. 



The neighbourhood of Nimuro produces a great number 

 of trees and plants, which belong to a variety of climates. 

 Along with the pine and larch are seen the vines of the 

 south, the chestnut tree, plum tree, and other tender vege-' 

 tables, such as wild asparagus, which requires warmth. 

 There are also three volcanoes on the island ; one of them 

 has in the middle of its declivity several warm springs, the 

 medicinal quality of which in various diseases is much ex- 

 tolled by the Japanese. 



Respecting the Kurilians, the proper natives of the island, 

 M. Laxman, notwithstanding all the trouble he took, was 

 not able to procure any certain information, because they 

 were narrowly watched by the Japanese, who endeavour to 

 prevent them from having any intercourse with strangers. 

 They are entirely slaves to the Japanese, who employ them 

 for all laborious and mean occupations ; they even would 

 not venture to accept the small presents offered them for 

 the service they had rendered to the Russians by order of 

 the Japanese. Besides the maize and the rice which they 

 receive from Japan, their food consists of fish, mush- 

 rooms, wild roots, and the flesh of a kind of antelope 

 found in the island. They feed also dogs, the flesh of 

 which they eat, and consider it as delicious nourishment. 



The Kurilians supply the Japanese with dried fish of 

 every kind, seal's blubber, walrus and fish oil, beaver, 

 otter, sabk, fox and bear skins, but particularly bears' tails, 

 for which the Japanese pay a very dear price. The princi- 

 pal trading places are the 16th, 17th, 18th, and lath 

 islands, to which a flotilla, consisting of more than 500 

 laidars or Kurilian boats, proceeds every year about the 

 middle of March, and after they have transacted their bu- 

 siness return again about the end of May. v 



The rest of the Japanese trade, as is well known, is exclusively 

 in the hands of the Dutch, who, as one of the principal men 

 among the Japanese told the Russian interpreter in confi- 

 dence, use every possible means to blacken the character of 

 all other nations, and particularly of the, Russians. The go- 

 vernment, however, notwithstanding the continual machi- 

 nations of the Dutch, begin already to see, that a trade to 

 Russia would be much more advantageous than that with 

 the Dutch, who bring them from a great distance those ar- 

 ticles 



