SEA-OTTER HUNTING IN THE KURILS 287 
“ In 1796 thirty Russians, men and women, 
came and settled in Urup, and, having brought nets 
with them, took large numbers of otters, which were 
more abundant round this island than any other of 
the Kurils. Yetorup was the next best hunting- 
ground, and a determined effort was made in 1800 
by the Ainu, led by a Japanese merchant from 
Hiogo, to regain their former footing on it. The 
Ainu were offered higher prices (in rice) for the 
skins, and in a few years they re-established their 
hunting-stations throughout the island, and were 
not again molested by the Russians, who, however, 
did not relax their hold of the neighbouring island 
of Urup, on which, as late as 1866, they settled some 
natives of Alaska as hunters. 
“ During all this time the trade in the skins taken 
by the Ainu was a monopoly in the hands of the 
Daimyo of Matsumaye. Death or exile was the 
punishment for selling to anyone else. The skins 
were forwarded from Matsumaye to Nagasaki, and 
there sold by the Daimyo’s factor to Chinese mer¬ 
chants. The demand for high-class furs in Northern 
China is unfailing. 
“ After 1869, when the feudal system collapsed, 
and the governing power reverted to the hands of 
the Sovereign, the rights and privileges of the Barons 
of Matsumaye passed to the new Government, the 
monopoly of the hunting and fur trade amongst 
them. 
“ In 1869 a Special Colonization Commission 
(Kaitakushi) was established for the purpose of 
settling and developing this outlying dependency, 
and a branch office thereof was established at 
Yetorup for the regulation and management of the 
