378 
A VOYAGE TO 
i 779 . fame direction, but inclining fomething more to 
the Weft ward, lies a group of iflands, which the Japanefe 
call Jefo ; a name which they alfo give to the whole chain 
of iflands between Kamtfchatka and Japan. The Southern- 
moft, called Matmai, hath been long fubject to the Japanefe, 
and is fortified and garrifoned on the fide toward the conti- 
, nent. The two iflands to the North Eaft of Matmai, Kuna- 
chir, and Zellany, and likewife the three ftill farther to the 
North Eaft, called the Three Sifters, are perfedtly inde¬ 
pendent. 
A trade of barter is carried on between Matmai and the 
iflands laft mentioned; and between thofe again and the 
Kuriles, to the Northward; in which, for furs, dried fifh, 
and oil, the latter get filk, cotton, iron, and Japanefe arti¬ 
cles of furniture 
The inhabitants of as many of the iflands as are brought 
under the Ruffian dominion, are, at prefent, converted to 
Chriftianity. And probably the time is not very diftant, 
vered a]l over with hair; that they wore a loofe ftriped filk gown,, reaching as low as 
their ankles ; and that fome of them had filver rings pendant from the ears : that, on fpy- 
ing a live cock on deck, they fell on their knees before it; and likewife, before the prefents 
that were brought out to them, clofing and ftretching forth their hands, and bowing their 
heads, at the fame time, down to the ground; that, except the peculiarity of their hairi- 
nefs, they refernbled the other Kurile iflanders in their features and figure, and fpoke the 
fame language. The journal of the fhip Caftricom alfo mentions this circumftance, of 
the inhabitants of the country difcovered by them, and called Jefo, being hairy all over 
the body. 
* This accounts for what KrafcheninikofF fays, that he got from Faramoufir a japanned 
table and vafe, a fcymeter, and a filver ring, which he fent to the cabinet of her Impe¬ 
rial Majefty at Peterfburg. And if what Mr. Steller mentions, on the authority of a 
Kurile, who was interpreter to Spanberg in his voyage to Japan, is to be credited, that 
nearly the fame language is fpoken at Kunafhir and Paramoufir, it cannot be queftioned, 
that fome intercourfe has always fubfifted between the inhabitants of this extenfive chain 
of iflands. 
when 
