590 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



the islands of Japan and Lieou- 

 Khieou, with another groupe of 

 islands to which I shall return 

 immediately. 



2nd. The particular map of 

 Yeso with the neighbouring part 

 of the continent and the northern 

 point of Japan. This map fur- 

 nishes curious details of all the 

 southern part of Yeso often 

 visited by and since dependent 

 on the Japanese. The north is 

 least charged with names, and 

 there are visible traces of the 

 attempts made by the Japanese 

 geographers to reconcile their 

 own knowledge with the notions 

 borrowed from Europeans of the 

 island Tchoka, the mouth of the 

 Sakhalian-oula, &c. 



3rd. The chart of Korea. It 

 is known that the map com- 

 piled by P. Regis, which D'An- 

 ville has included in his Atlas, is 

 merely founded on the descrip- 

 tions given by the Chinese and 

 Mandchus to this missionary'. 

 Great differences may therefore 

 be expected to be found between 

 the two maps. That of the Ja- 

 panese, is very detailed and ap- 

 parently very exact ; the distinc- 

 tion of capital and secondary 

 cities, of towns, fortresses, en- 

 campments, &c. is carefully 

 marked by appropriate signs, 

 and the distance of the principal 

 cities from the capitals of pro- 

 vinces is expressed in day's jour- 

 neys. Unfortunately the names 

 are only written in Chinese, 

 except the capitals, to which the 

 Japanese name is added ; so that 

 we do not yet possess the verna- 

 cular name, as the Corean pro- 

 nunciation would express them 

 very differently from the others. 



4th. The chart of the Islands 



Lieou-Khieou, Madjikosima, and 

 Thaiwan or Formosa, with those 

 of the south west point of Japan. 

 The number of islands composing 

 these groups is much more con- 

 siderable than in our most recent 

 charts, even in that compiled in 

 1809, from the Journal of the 

 Frederic of Calcutta. The dis- 

 tance between the principal 

 islands and the courses from 

 Japan to the Chinese continent, 

 are marked in Ri or Japanese 

 miles. 



5th. The chart of a small 

 archipelago not named in our 

 charts, or rather which has not 

 yet been inserted in them. The 

 Japanese, who appear very well 

 acquainted with these islands, 

 call them Bo nin Sima, or Mo 

 nin Sima, uninhabited islands; 

 not that they are now actually 

 destitute of inhabitants, but they 

 were known to be so for a long 

 time, and because those they 

 contain now are colonists come 

 at a known time from the south- 

 east point of Ni-fou. As most 

 geographers do not place any 

 islands in this part, and as those 

 who place them there do it from 

 vague and insufficient accounts, 

 I have considered it useful to col- 

 lect what the Japanese have com- 

 municated relative to them. They 

 bear a character of exactness 

 which renders them worthy of 

 some attention. Some errors of 

 detail may have glided in, but it 

 is impossible that the substance 

 should not be generally true. It 

 is for voyagers who visit these 

 seas to teach us how far the 

 Japanese accounts may be de- 

 pended on, and, if I dare say so, 

 to verify the discovery made at 

 Paris, of a new groupe of islands 



in 



