MISCELLANIES. 



595 



wood, and many are merely 

 summits of very high rocks. The 

 number of islands called uninha- 

 bited, is eighty-nine, large and 

 small. The Japanese description 

 reckons two large, four of a mo- 

 derate size, and four small. The 

 rest are not particularly desig- 

 nated, merely consisting of shelves 

 and very high rocks, such as our 

 navigators have remarked in all 

 these seas. 



According to the same descrip- 

 tion, in the ten islands of some 

 extent already mentioned, there 

 a^e a great number of trees and 

 plants, and wherever the country 

 is level, there are houses and in- 

 habitants. In the seventy others 

 (seventy-nine should be stated), 

 the earth is too uneven and 

 rugged, the mountains too steep, 

 and vallies too confined for in- 

 habitation; but there are small 

 arms of the sea well supplied with 

 fish, and the inhabitants of the 

 adjacent islands visit them for 

 collecting their productions; that 

 is, to fish there. 



These islands, situated in the 

 twenty-seventh degree, enjoy a 

 mild temperature, which occa- 

 sions the mountains and vallies 

 to produce all kinds of legumes 

 and grain, wheat, rye, small 

 rice, &c. The wood, called black 

 mortar wood by the Chinese, and 

 Nasaki faze by the Japanese, is 

 found there. Wax is also col- 

 lected, and the fisheries and 

 hunting are very abundant, and 

 make large returns. 



The author of the description 

 details the different kinds of trees 

 and animals found on these islands. 

 Among the first is the Kian-mou 

 or hard tree, which he says is the 

 most precious ; another very high 



tree, whose Japanese name I do 

 not know; the Areka, Roycouyer, 

 White Louan, Katsiyasi, Sandal, 

 Camphor, a large tree with leaves 

 shining, asMf varnished, and a 

 number of others. He after- 

 wards describes the principal 

 plants, birds and fishes, Which 

 are very abundant there, but 

 which I deem it unnecessary to 

 notice. 



The Japanese pretend to have 

 known these islands a long time, 

 under the name of Siao li youan,* 

 which was the name of a man 

 who formerly discovered them ; 

 but it appears that they have 

 sometimes confounded them with 

 the Mariannes, particularly when 

 they state that two hundred years 

 ago Megaraniyous (Magellan), 

 an Italian, discovered them at 

 the same time he discovered the 

 new world. They add, that on 

 the Dutch charts they are named 

 Oui sou to Yeirand, that is the 

 great or sterile land, for the Chi' 

 nese name has both these mean- 

 ings. Perhaps Woest Eyland, 

 that is the desert island, in Dutch. 

 But it is to the third year, Yun 

 phao, that is, 167o, as Ka^mpfer 

 states, we must remount for the 

 discovery of these islands, at 

 least for founding the establish- 

 ments that have peopled them. 

 We may suppose that at this ' 

 epoch they began to be well ac- 

 quainted with, and to distinguish 

 them from the other countries 

 situated southward of Japan. It 

 was then that the names they 

 bear still were given, though that 



* I write this name in the Cfii- 

 nese manner, not knowing how the 

 inhabitants pronounce it, for want of 

 a Japanese vocabulary. 

 2 a 2 •£ 



