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VI. 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EACH ISLAND AND THE STRAITS 

 BETWEEN THEM. 



KuNASHiR, the first of the Kurils commencing from the south- 

 western end of the chain, extends far into the wide bay, the shores 

 of which form the eastern coast of the island of Yezo, between Capes 

 ►Sirotoko and Noishaf. Yezo Strait, which separates this island 

 from Yezo, is from 8 to IG miles wide. At its narrowest part, off 

 the south-west end of Kunashir, it is much congested by sand- 

 banks, which are continually shifting. The straits have been 

 fairly well surveyed, but the island of Kunashir has not yet 

 received much attention. 



This island is 64 miles long, and from about 2 to IG miles wide, 

 and has an area of about 444 square miles. 



There is a permanent population of about 1475, which is largely 

 increased during the summer months by fishermen, who resort to 

 it for the capture of herring, salmon trout, and salmon. 



The only settlement of any size is the village of Tomari, at the 

 head of the bay of that name, at the south-west end of the island. 

 There are various fishing-stations along the coast, and some houses 

 at the sulphur-mines of Shishiki, at the foot of Rouse Mountain, 

 towards the middle of the island. These sulphur deposits are now 

 practically exhausted. 



There are no harbours on Kunashir, and the coast on both 

 sides is rocky. The southern point, Cape Keramoi, is a low narrow 

 tongue of land extending some G miles in a southerly direction. 

 Cape Moimoto, the north-eastern point of the island, is terminated 

 by a high square-looking bluff, which at a distance looks like 

 an islet ; it is, however, joined to the main island by a narrow, 

 low sandy neck. A dangerous reef, in some places awash, extends 



