The archipelago forms part of the Japanese Empire, having been exchanged by Russia not many years ago for the southern half of Saghalien Island, then belonging to Japan. This group of islands is characterised mainly by the great extent of its volcanic rocks and tertiaries, showing marked evidence that it is only a continuation of the volcanic mountain-range forming the backbone of Yezo, and extending from Yubaridake, in the upper Ishikari province, to Cape Shiretoko; which volcanic region embraces a large portion of the Tokachi, Kitami, and Nemuro provinces. In this chain of islands there are many beautiful volcanic cones, especially in Kunashiri and Etorofu. Iron, copper, and other metal veins are found in small quantities in tuffs and andesites, but more important here, moreover, are the large sulphur accumulations near and in craters, both extinct and active; as on Mount Rahush, in Kunashiri, and the Ichibishinai, in Etorofu, the largest island of the Kuriles. At Pontoo, in Kunashiri, sulphur bubbles out from the bottom of a volcanic lake, which is probably an extinct crater.
Beside being rich in minerals, the larger islands of the Kuriles abound in game; but fishing is the main industry practised by the sparse population of these rugged regions. The origin of the word "Kuriles" is not certain, but in all probability it is from the Russian kuril, smoke, as there are many active volcanoes in the islands. The more poetical Japanese call them Chishima, or the "Thousand Islands," meaning that they are numberless, and the nonchalant Ainu of Yezo profess entire ignorance as to their existence, and only some of the better informed give them the name of Krafto, by which they really mean Sakhalin. The hairy people are emphatically poor geographers, and have but little faculty for locating islands or any other places. In fact, how could they, having no maps, and no idea even of what a map is? The Chishima group and the island of Yezo, with all the smaller islands along and near its coast, when taken collectively, are called by the Japanese "The Hokkaido." The nearest of the Kuriles to Yezo is Kunashiri, and south of it lies the smaller island of Shikotan; then comes Etorofu, the largest of the group; then Urup; after this a number of unhabited islets, reefs, and rocks form a barrier separating the Otkoshk Sea from the Pacific Ocean. Shimushir, at the south-western end of this barrier, and Onekotan, at the north-eastern, are the two largest, Shimushir being about thirty miles in length and four or five wide, and Onekotan about twenty-five miles long and eight wide. Paromushir (a corruption of the Ainu words poro, large, and mushiri, island) is the last island of the group. It has a large reef on its south-east coast, and is divided by a channel six or seven miles wide from Cape Lopatka, the most southern point of the Kamschatkan peninsula. Paromushir is about twice the size of Urup, and is very mountainous, with rugged cliffs of volcanic formation, and high picturesque peaks, bearing the same characteristics as the scenery in Etorofu and Kunashiri, and also of Kamschatka. I have mentioned this last island, as it is of some interest, being the most northern point of the Japanese empire; and also to a certain extent it is interesting from a geological point of view, but, as far as I know, it is not inhabited now, and the few Kurilsky Ainu who formerly lived there migrated further south from one island to another, till Shimushir[32] and Urup[33] afforded them a more hospitable home. However, they were not to live there for long, for the Japanese Government, asserting that subjects of the empire who chose to live so far could not be properly looked after, sent the small ship on which I was now travelling on a mission with orders to bring them all down to the formerly deserted island of Shikotan. The orders had to be obeyed; and reluctantly setting fire to the huts which they were about to abandon and never to see again, ninety souls, all that remained of that nomad tribe of Ainu, were embarked and carried into exile at Shikotan. The quiet life on the Shikotan rocks little suits the roaming disposition of the Kurilsky Ainu; and though even formerly they were rapidly dying out, the rate of mortality has increased since their exile. Having thus verified the fact that of the "Thousand Islands" of the Chishima group only three are inhabited, I shall avoid giving a monotonous description of each bare-looking islet and rock, and I shall land my readers at Shikotan, on a visit to the Kurilsky Ainu, who are important to us in connection with the Ainu of Yezo.
It was early in the morning when I looked out of the porthole, and by a fine moonlight saw that we were close to the coast. Huge cliffs and peaks, ending in a sharp point, some converging towards one another, some standing upright against the whitish cold sky, were reflected in the smooth water under the lee of the island. The moon, surrounded by a yellowish halo, shone bright over the rugged scene, giving delicate bluish tints to all the shadows; while the water, disturbed and cut by the prow of our craft, rose in gentle waves, pursuing one another, as if running for a place of refuge in the mysterious dark shadows of the cliffs. So weird, so enchanted and wild was the scene, that I jumped out of my stuffy bunk and went on deck. There I stood, notwithstanding the cold, gazing at the gigantic overhanging black rocks, at the precipices, crevices, and natural openings through which now and then the radiant moon peeped, covering the dark green water with a long undulating streak of silver dashes. There I stood, listening to the voices of the waves, which rippled on the shingle, contemplating this strange and poetic work of nature. I am certain that if sirens there ever were in this world, their home must have been among the whimsical and bizarre rocks of Shikotan Island. The old "tub" on which I was "ploughing the waves" moved slowly through this heavenly spectacle of ever-increasing beauty. When the sun rose, enchantment was added to enchantment. The cold bluish colour of the rocks became gradually warmer; and, as the light grew stronger, the tops of the cliffs turned into a mass of brilliant colours. Nature was waking slowly from her torpid sleep, and, in the freshness of the morning, a light breeze, caressing the shore, brought with it the smell of land.
The captain, a Japanese, informed me that we should soon enter the harbour of Shikotan, and, pointing to some huge pillars, said that was the entrance. We drew nearer and nearer to it, and the nearer we drew the more I became convinced that the captain was under an hallucination. I could only see rock after rock, huge pillar after huge pillar; but no entrance whatever.
"We are just going in," said the captain, laughing at my astonishment, and he gave orders to the quartermaster at the wheel to steer straight for one of the pillars. We were but a few yards from it when our craft was made to swing rapidly on her starboard side, and we turned round a gigantic shoulder of rock, to find ourselves in a narrow channel. One minute later we were in a pretty circular harbour, surrounded by high peaks—in fact, a kind of "fiord." The access to this harbour is certainly difficult to find, but when you are fairly in, it is seen to afford a well-sheltered anchorage. It has more the appearance of a small mountain lake than that of a sea-harbour; and undoubtedly it is a submerged crater. It is perfectly circular, and very deep, but not of large capacity. Directly opposite the entrance, on the shore, is a small narrow valley, on which is situated the village of the Kurilsky Ainu. Four men rowed me ashore, and I went to the village.
When the Japanese imported these Kurilsky Ainu to Shikotan, they allowed them to build their huts in their own way; but this done, a railing with a gate was erected, closing the entrance of the valley which overlooks the harbour, thus preventing the poor wretches from abandoning the island to resume their migratory habits, and return to their more northern homes. Inside this gate two rows of huts, exactly similar to those of the Yezo Ainu, have been constructed by the exiles. There are sixteen huts altogether, and not a single one of them is built over a pit. In [Chapter IX], I have fully explained the characteristics and mode of living, which leaves no doubt as to these people being proper Ainu, and not pit-dwellers, as some have asserted; though of course their type is slightly modified by external conditions—a common occurrence in all races. Take a Londoner, a provincial, and a seaman, and though they be all three Englishmen, one will have a washed-out look, the other will be healthy and strong, but not so sturdy, wiry, and weather-beaten as the sailor. The same natural process is at work with this tribe of Ainu. They conform their life according to circumstances and places; and though they possess the same general characteristics as the rest of the Ainu, in some small details they cannot but differ from them.
Shikotan was a deserted island previous to these poor wretches being transplanted there by the Japanese Government. It does not abound in game, like Shimushir, Urup, or Poromushir, whence they were taken.
SHIKOTAN AINU.
The story of this tribe of Ainu is a sad one. Hunting, sealing, and fishing were their only aims in life, their only pastimes, the only things they lived for. At Shikotan they have none of these things. There is no big game; the only animal found being a beautiful species of white long-tailed fox. There are no large rivers at Shikotan; there is hardly any vegetation, and the whole island is nothing but a mass of barren rocks.