A DISAGUEEABLE COMBIXATION. 
305 
La Perousc and rested upon the southern sliore of 
Sagalien. This latter island, which is larger than Cuba 
and smaller than Nipon, is said to be divided between 
the Chinese and tlie Japanese, — the latter holding the 
southern half, while the former claim the northern. Its 
native population are the Kuriles; but, whether' they 
are entirely or partiallj' subject to their double mas- 
ters, I am unable to say. I conversed in lla-ko-da-di 
with an English officer who had lately landed near the 
centre of the west coast of the island, and who spoke 
of them as “wild-looking fellows, very hairy, clothed 
in a coarse sack, and feai'ful of coming out of the bushes, 
from which they peeped at his party like so many wild 
cattle.'' 
As usual, Carnes was landed at Cape Eomanzoff with 
his instruments ; and, while the astronomical observa- 
tions were going on, the ship herself ran down to two 
islands on the western horizon, hoping to sound around 
them both before dark. In this, however, we were 
woefully disappointed, for the sun left us before the first 
circle had been completed, and we had the pleasure 
of feeling our way back through a combination of water, 
fog, and darkness. And here it may be well to caution 
all vessels passing through the Straits of La Perouse to 
give Romanzoff’ a l)erth of at least a mile and a half, as 
tliere is a reef making out to the north-nortliwest from 
that cape, whose length is a mile or more, and of which 
no indication exists on the chart. We anchored some 
time after midnight, and the shivering master, upon his 
return on board, expi'essed himself in empliatic language 
against all such nocturnal excursions. 
20 
