278 



De Vries's 

 Streight. 



Volcanoes. 



Natives, 



JAPAN. • 



beflowcd on the ftreight which feparates it from Alorkou the 

 name of De Vries's^ in honor of their commander. No places 

 have puzzled geographers io greatly. D'Ajiville gives to Jefo, 

 Jofogajima, as it is fometimes called, the form of a vaft ifland ; 

 and to the Companfs Land and Staten-land a figure poffibly 

 very diffierent from the reality. The editors of CooX-'s Voyage 

 make them only fmall illands. The Ruffians again, in their hif- 

 tory of Kamjchatka^ give them another form ; and Mr. Arrow- 

 Jmith very properly leaves it undecided whether "Jefo is conti- 

 nent or archipelago. This being mentioned, we haften to the 

 conclufion of this volume, and give a brief account of the re- 

 mainder of the Kuril ifles. EtorpUy the nineteenth in order, 

 reckoning from Lopatka-nofs, comes next. Moft of the iflands 

 of this long chain are volcanic. Rafcbotti, the tenth, has in our 

 days been fo rent with an earthquake, as entirely to drive away 

 the numerous flocks of birds that ufed to frequent its cliffs ; but 

 the fea-lions flill keep their flations. On Kounafchir, the twen- 

 tieth, is one volcano ; on Etorpu are two ; on Amakutan ano- 

 ther ; and on the lofty Poromofcbir, the higheft in the chain, 

 remarkable for its vaft peaked mountains, is probably another. 

 1 have treated of thefe iflands fo fully in my introduction to the 

 ArSiic Zoology^ that I fhall not tire my reader with the repeti- 

 tion ; I therefore will only fay here, that many of them have 

 been conquered by the Ruffians^ who, not thinking them worth 

 the expence of colonizing, content themfelves with accepting a 

 fmall tribute. 



The inhabitants refemble thofe of the land of Jefoy and are 

 equally hairy. By the accounts of the Rujfians who vifited thefe 



iflands 



