n the autumn of 1880, the book is entitled
_Kau-kai-i-fun_, "Narrative of a remarkable voyage on distant seas."
The manuscript, in four volumes, was written in 1830. In the
introduction it is stated that when some Japanese, on the 21st
November, 1793 (?), were proceeding with a cargo of rice to Yesso,
they were thrown out of their course by a storm, and were driven far
away on the sea, till in the beginning of the following June they
came to some of the Aleutian islands, which had recently been taken
by the Russians. They remained there ten months, and next year in
the end of June they came to Ochotsk. The following year in autumn
they were carried to Irkutsk, where they remained eight years, well
treated by the Russians. They were then taken to St. Petersburg,
where they had an audience of the Czar, and got furs and splendid
food. Finally they were sent back by sea round Cape Horn to Japan in
one of Captain von Krusenstern's vessels. They were handed over to
the Japanese authorities in the spring of 1805, after having been
absent from their native country about thirteen years. From Nagasaki
they were carried to Yeddo, where they were subjected to an
examination. One person put questions, another wrote the answers,
and a third showed by drawings all the remarkable events they had
survived. They were then sent to their native place. In the
introduction it is further said that the shipwrecked were unskilful
seamen, by whom little attention was often given to the most
important matters. A warning accordingly is given against full
reliance on their accounts and the drawings in the book. The latter
occupy the fourth part of the work, consisting of more than 100
quarto pages. It is remarkable that the first Russian circumnavigation
of the globe, and the first journey of the Japanese round the world,
happened at the same time. ]

[Footnote 85: _A Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the
Territory of Alaska._ Washington, 1875, p. 160. ]

[Footnote 86: Hakluyt, first edition, p. 317. ]

CHAPTER IV.

The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea--Rules
for Sailing through Yugor Schar--The "Highest Mountain"
on Earth--Anchorages--Entering the Kara Sea--
Its Surroundings--The Inland-ice of Novaya Zemlya--True
Icebergs rare in certain parts of the Polar Sea--The Natural
Conditions of the Kara Sea--Animals, Plants, Bog Ore--
Passage across the Kara Sea--The Influence of the Ice on
th