THE BALANCE-SHEET 
269 
present time scores of Japanese craft fit out for 
what they term “ deep-sea fishing.” They are sup¬ 
ported and encouraged by the Government, which 
pays them a yearly subsidy of 10 yen per ton 
registered. They visit the Japan, Okotsk, and 
Bering Seas, sealing, otter-hunting, salmon-fishing, 
and whaling ; and the Mid-Pacific islands for sea¬ 
birds’ feathers, turtle-shell, pearl-shell, coral, phos¬ 
phates, guano, or anything else available. They 
have come into conflict on these expeditions with 
the Russians on the Siberian coasts of the Okotsk 
Sea, in Kamchatka, and at the Commander Islands ; 
with the Americans on the Alaskan coast, at the 
Pribyloff and Aleutian Islands, and at one or two 
small islands in the Mid-Pacific ; with the Koreans 
in the Japan Sea; and with the Chinese in the 
Yellow Sea, and, more recently, at Pratas Island, 
lying midway between the China coast, the Philippine 
Islands, and Formosa. 
The losses, both of vessels and lives, amongst these 
Japanese adventurers have been very large, but 
seldom do any particulars get into the newspapers. 
It is well known amongst those interested that 
dozens of Japanese craft have been lost on the 
Russian coasts of the Okotsk and Bering Seas 
(thirty in about four years, with 300 lives, it is 
said), several on the Alaskan coast and the Aleutian 
Islands, and some on the Kuril Islands. The number 
of lives lost with these has been exceptionally large, 
as they all carry big crews. Quite a number of 
those who have ventured out to visit the small 
islands scattered over the Pacific between 15° and 
35° north latitude have never again been heard of; 
but every now and then some ship, in passing one 
