DESCBIPTION OF EACH INLAND AND THE STRAITS. 55 



kelp-beds at the north-east extremity of Kunashir, but for some 

 reason he does not venture further to the south-west. Leopard 

 seals are numerous, and the straits and bays are favourite feeding- 

 grounds for whales and porpoises. 



Trout of several kinds are found in all the streams, which are 

 also visited by salmon and salmon-trout at certain seasons. 

 Immense shoals of herrings and iwashi (a kind of sardine), miles in 

 extent, pass along and off the coasts of the island. 



Shikotan, lying to the eastward of the Kunashir, and about 

 40 miles north-east by east from Cape Noyshaf, has a length of 14 

 miles and a breadth of about 6, its area being 70 square miles. 



The coasts of this island are indented with innumerable small 

 bays and coves, several of which form land-locked harbours. The 

 chief of these are Shakotan in the north corner of the island ; 

 Anama, about the middle of the north-west coast ; and Matsugahama, 

 near the southern corner of the south-east coast. In addition to 

 these, there are four, or five others suitable for small craft. The 

 shores are very rocky and in many places bordered with steep 

 cliffs. Most of the bays have sandy beaches inside, the entrances 

 invariably between rocky bluffs. 



The land is very rugged, the whole island being a mass of 

 irregular hills and valleys running in every direction. Its 

 highest part is a roundish-topped hill near its northern corner, 

 which reaches a height of 1357 feet, and there are half a dozen 

 other hills in different parts of the island over 1000 feet high. 



Shikotan is not thickly wooded, though there is no want of 

 timber of fair size. The trees grow principally on the spurs of 

 the hills. The valleys are swampy and covered with coarse grass ; 

 sasa or bamboo grass, like that of Yezo, is found in patches. In 

 every valley there are streams in which trout abound ; salmon and 

 salmon-trout are plentiful in the bays and streams at certain 

 seasons, but the island is not fished by the Japanese. In the bays 

 smelt, flounders, and rock-fish^are found, whilst clams are plentiful 

 in places where the bottom is more or less muddy. 



During the summer a number of Japanese fishermen are sent 

 here for the purpose of gathering seaweed. This is dried by 

 exposure to the sun on the beaches, put up in bundles, and shipped 

 away to China ma Hakodate. 



In Shakotan bay the remnant of the Kurilsky Ainu, numbering 



