238 VOYAGE 'J'O THE 



four are of a middling size, four small, and the re- 

 mainder of the group consists of rocks. The two 

 large islands are there said to be inhabited, and in the 

 Japanese chart, published in the Journal des Savans, 

 contain several villages and tc^mples. They are stated 

 to be extremely fertile, to produce leguminous vege- 

 tables and all kinds of grain, besides a great abund- 

 ance of pasturage and sugar-canes, and the plains to 

 afford an agreeable retreat to man ; that there are 

 lofty palm-trees, cocoa nuts, and other fruits ; sandal 

 wood, camphor, and other precious trees. 



Setting aside the geographical inaccuracy of the 

 chart, which the Japanese might not know how to 

 avoid, and the disagreement of distances and propor- 

 tions, their description is so very unlike any thing 

 that we found in these islands, that if the Japanese 

 are at all to be credited they cannot be the same ; and 

 if they are not to be believed, it may be doubted 

 whether Bonin-sima is not an imaginary island. 



The group which we visited had neither villages, 

 temples, nor any remains whatever; and it was quite 

 evident that they had never been resided upon. There 

 were no cocoa-nut trees, no sugar-canes, no legu- 

 minous vegetables, nor any plains for the cultivation 

 of grain, the land being very steep in every part, 

 and overgrown with tall trees. Neither in num- 

 ber, size, or direction w^ill the islands at all coincide ; 

 and under such dissimilarities it may reasonably be 

 inquired whether it is possible for these places to be 

 the same. If we compare the number, size, and shape 

 of the islands, or direction of the group, there is a yet 

 wider discrepancy ; ports are placed in the Japanese 

 map w^here none exist in these ; rocks are marked to 

 the full number, which seem only to create useless 



