DASTARDLY ATTACKS 
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English by Gunji himself. Inviting him on board, 
and giving him something to eat, drink, and smoke, 
I informed him of our discovery. He said he knew 
of it, having been over here at the beginning of March, 
when they found the dead body. They had not 
buried it, because Japanese regulations and cus¬ 
toms connected with such matters were very strict. 
The man was a sort of rival of his, an advocate for 
bringing back the Kurilsky Ainu to their old homes, 
and had been endeavouring to find the best locations 
for them while studying the fauna, flora, geology, 
and meteorology, of the islands. Gunji himself was 
opposed to his scheme, and intended settling the 
islands with Japanese. He said they had visited 
the deceased in the autumn, and asked him to spend 
the winter in their settlement, but he had refused, 
preferring to be alone where he was. He was a 
Greek Church Christian, and knew Russian, having 
been educated by priests of the Russian Church in 
Japan. Gunji said a Government steamer was ex¬ 
pected from Nemuro in about a month’s time, on 
board which would be some police officers, who 
would investigate the affair and bury the man. He 
attributed the extraordinary state of preservation 
of the body to the coolness and purity of the air. 
At this time Gunji and his party had been about 
fifteen months on the islands. Whilst his boat was 
alongside, his men were throwing over fishing lines, 
although no fish were to be found there. We had 
a lot of cod and halibut on board, caught just out¬ 
side the strait the day before. Seeing these, Gunji 
asked where we caught them, as he said his people 
were running short of food and could catch no fish. 
This surprised me, as showing a great want of enter- 
