FIRST DISCOVERY OF BONIN ISLANDS. 199 



The green turtles which abound in the island were probably mistaken for crabs, which may 

 account for the gigantic size attributed by Kajmpfer to these animals. Other accounts give a 

 much earlier date for the discovery by the Japanese than that of 1675, stated by the authority 

 just quoted. At any rate, the English have not a particle of claim to priority of discovery. 

 In illustration of the discovery of the Bonins by the accidental visit of a Japanese junk, it may 

 be stated that the Commodore was informed by Mr. Savory, an American resident, that a 

 Japanese vessel of about forty tons burden came into Port Lloyd thirteen years before, having 

 been driven by stress of weather from the coast of Japan. After remaining during the winter 

 she sailed on her return home in the spring, and, as she had brought with her nothing but a 

 small supply of dried fish, was jsrovided gratuitously by the settlers with provisions. On 

 another occasion, some eight years subsequently, a French ship, cruizing off Stapleton island, 

 discovered a fire ashore, and on sending a boat to the spot found the wreck of a Japanese junk and 

 five of its crew, the only survivors, in a most heljiless plight. They were then taken on board 

 and carried to Port Lloyd^ and thence subsequently removed by the humane Frenchmen with 

 the intention of landing them on one of the Japanese islands. In confirmation of this statement 

 we have the fact that a jjarty of ofiicers from the Susquehanna, on a visit to Stajileton Island, 

 accidentally saw the wreck of this same vessel. The remains of the junk were found in a little 

 bay where they landed, the wreck being still partially kept together by large nails of copper 

 and portions of sheets of this metal. From these materials and other indications;, it was inferred 

 that it was a Japanese junk, and as the edges of the planks were but little rubbed or decayed, 

 it was concluded that the wreck could not be very old. 



Captain Coffin, whose nationality is not mentioned, but who, from his name, was probably an 

 American, and if so, doubtless from Nantucket, visited and gave his name to that part of the group 

 so singularly appropriated and modestly christened by Beechey as the Bailey Islands. They are 

 spoken of by the inhabitants as the southern islands, and were always regarded by them as 

 belonging to the Benin group. They are about twenty miles to the south of Port Lloyd. It was 

 not until 1827 that Captain Beechey, commanding the English surveying vessel, the Blossom, 

 visited the islands, and taking formal possession in the name of the British king, gave English 

 titles to them. The inhabitants j)ractically disown the paternity of the English sovereign, and do 

 not recognize the names given in his self-assumed sponsorship by the English captain. For 

 example, the very dignified appellations of Buckland and Stapleton, with which Beechey has 

 honored two islands of the northern group, are quite ignored by the inhabitants, who speak of these 



seven ri around. These ten islands have flat plateaux which could be made habitable, and where grain would grow very well. 

 The climate is warm and favorable to cultivation, as one might infer from their geographical position. They afford various valu- 

 able productions. The remaining seventy islets are only mere steep rocks, and produce nothing." 



" A colony of condemned criminals has been sent to these islands, there to labor ; they have tilled the earth and planted some 

 patches. They are collected in villages, and have brought together the same things found in other provinces of the empire. 

 One can visit these islands, and bring back its products in the same year. In this way a trade would easily spring up, and the 

 benefit to be drawn from it would be considerable. This must be plain to all." 



" In the reign .\u-Yei (from 1771 to 1780) I was sent on a commission into the province of Fisen, where I became acquainted 

 with a Dutchman named Aarend Werle Veit, who showed me a geography, in which mention was made of some islands Ivin" 

 200 ri to the southeast of Japan, called Woest eiland by the author. The word ]foest means desert, and eiland (or yeirand, as 

 the original reads) island. He remarks, that these islands are not inhabited, but that many sorts of herbs and trees are found 

 there. The Japanese miglit establish a colony on one of these islands on which grain and other productions would thrive. • In 

 spite of the length of the voyage thither, the establishment would be useful to them for these purposes. The Dutch company 

 would derive very little advantage from the possession of these islands, they being too small and too remote for their use." 



" I have thought proper to repeat these words, which deserve to be borne in mind, and withthera 1 bring to a conclusion all 

 that I have to say respecting the Benin Islands." 



