3 8o AVOYAGETO 



»779- A trade of barter is carried on between Matmai and the 



Oaobcr. 



♦— % ' iflands laft mentioned ; and between thofe again and the 



Kuriles, to the Northward; in which, for furs, dried fifh, and 

 oil, the latter get filk, cotton, iron, and Japanefe articles of 

 furniture *. 



The inhabitants of as many of the iflands as are brought 

 under the Ruffian dominion, are, at prefent, converted to 

 Chriflianity. And probably the time is not very diftant, 

 when a friendly and profitable intercourfe will be brought 

 about between Kamtfchatka and the whole of this chain of 

 iflands ; and which will draw after it a communication with 

 japan itfelf. This may eventually be greatly facilitated by 

 a circumftance related to me by Major Behm, that feveral 

 Ruffians, who had been taught the Japanefe language, by 

 two men belonging to a veffel of that nation, which had 

 been |fhip wrecked on the coaft of Kamtfchatka, had been 

 fent among thofe iflands. 



The 



* This accounts for what KracheninicofF fays, that he got from Paramoufir a 

 japanned table and vafe, a fey meter, and a filverring, which he fent to the cabinet of 

 her Imperial Majefty at Pcterfburg. And if what Mr. Stcller mentions, on the 

 authority of a Kurile, who was interpreter to Spanbcrg in his voyage to Japan, is to 

 be credited, that nearly the fame language is fpoken at Kunalhir and Paramoufir, it 

 cannot be questioned, that foinc intercourfe has always fubfifted between the inha- 

 bitants of this extenfive chain of iflands. 



\ The vefTel here fpoken of was from Satfma, a port in Japan, bound for another 

 Japanefe port, called Azaka, and laden with rice, cotton, and filks. She failed with 

 a favourable wind ; but, before fhe reached her defoliation, was driven out to fea by 

 a violent ftorm, which carried away her mafts and rudder. 



On the ftorm's abating, not one of the crew, which confiftcd of feventccn [having 

 probably never made other than coalling voyages), knew who thev were, or what 

 coitrfe to (leer. After remaining in this fituation fix months, they were driven on 

 fhorc near the promontory Lopatka j and having caft out an anchor, began to carry 

 on (horc fuch articles as were neceflary to their cxilicncc. They next erected a tent, 

 and had remained in it twenty-three days, without feeing a human being ; when chance 



conducted 



