28 THE LIU-KIU ISLANDS. [chap. 



great plutonic chain that skirts the eastern shores of Asia, and, 

 passing southward through the Philippines and Moluccas, joins the 

 southern and yet more remarkable belt which traverses Sumatra, 

 Java, and the islands to the eastward. Although between three 

 and four hundred miles distant from the mainland, they are 

 separated from it by a somewhat shallow sea. Immediately to the 

 east, however, as is the case in Formosa, soundings of great depth 

 have been obtained, and though at present our knowledge of the 

 fauna and geology of the country is meagre, there is but little 

 doubt that at one tune connection must have existed with the 

 mainland of Asia. Lying so far from the beaten track, it is not 

 surprising that the islands have remamed so imperfectly known, 

 and the disinclination of the inhabitants to permit of the exploration 

 of their country has proved a still further barrier to our knowledge 

 of them. The first detailed account of the group in later times is 

 due to Captain Basil Hall ; H.]\I.S. Alccste and Lyirc having 

 remained at Great Liu-Kiu for a period of about five weeks in the 

 autumn of 1816. Dr. Macleod of the Alccste also described their 

 visit in another volume. In 1849, Mr. Halloran paid a short visit 

 to Napha-kiang, but was apparently not permitted to go beyond 

 the confines of the town,^ and in the following year the Bishop of 

 Victoria spent a week on Okinawa-sima, and \asited Shiuri, the 

 capital. It is, however, to Commodore Perry, in his " Narrative of 

 the Expedition of the American Squadron to the China Seas," that 

 we owe the most complete and detailed account of the archipelago. 

 His experience extended over a period of some months, and ended 

 in July 1854 in a treaty or compact between the two countries, in 

 which the Liu-kiuans agreed to show every courtesy to ships sailing 

 under the American flag. Since that tune little or nothing appears to 

 have been written about the islands, with the exception of two papers 

 published in the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan." 

 Early on the morning of June 28th we sighted Komisang, the 



^ A. L. Halloran. "Eight Mouths' Journal kept during Visits to Loochoo 

 Japan, and Pootoo. '' London, Longman and Co., 1856. 



