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Show 1897.] THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 191 A few hours were spent at Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, on the 17th of June, and Yokohama was finally reached on the night of the 29th of the same month. O n arrival at Yokohama Mr. Barrett-Hamilton found H.M.S. ' Edgar' ready to convey him to Hakodate in the northern island of Hokkaido, so that only a few hours were spent in Yokohama and Tokio, as the ' Edgar' sailed on July 1st. Hakodate was reached on the 3rd, and H.M.S. ' Spartan' was found there under orders to convey the speaker to Bobben Island and the Commander Islands : various causes, however, delayed the start until the 8th of July. O n the way up from Yokohama to Hakodate, while following the eastern coast of the island of Nippon, on the 2nd of July, the effects of the terrible seismatic wave of the 15th of June were very plainly visible, not only by the quantity of wreckage, dead animals, and even corpses passed at sea, but also by a distinct mark on the shore. The coast was here very much indented and highly suited to assist the action of such a catastrophe. Hakodate was left on the 8th of July, en route for Bobben Island, and the coast of Hokkaido followed on that day and the 9th, many sea-birds being seen and occasionally a whale. On the 10th the ' Spartan' passed through the Straits of La Perouse, and late in the day made Cape Siretoko, a magnificent head which formed the eastern termination of Animama Bay and the southeastern extremity of the island of Saghalien. Thence the ' Spartan' made for Bobben Island, which was reached early on the morning of July the 11th. Bobben Island was a very small rock with a sandy beach all round it. It lay under Cape Patience in the island of Saghalien. It was a most inaccessible island, and there were no means of landing on it in bad weather, so that the ' Spartan' was very lucky to find a fine and clear morning there on the 11th. There was a small Bookery of the Fur-Seals on Bobben Island, which belonged to the Russian Government, and photographs of this as well as of the Bookery were taken. The season was evidently not Jong begun, and the young Seal-pups were still very small. The ' Spartan ' sailed from Robben Island on the same day, and steered her course across the foggy Sea of Okhotsk for Amphi-trite Straits in the Kurile Islands, which were passed through in dense fog on the 13th. On the morning of the 14th she passed up the coast of Kamtehatka from Cape Lopatka to Petropaulowsk, and the weather being now clear a splendid view of the beautiful volcano and mountains of the peninsula was obtained. [Mr. Barrett-Hamilton exhibited some photographs to show the mountains and the character of the coast.] The ' Spartan' remained three days at Petropaulowsk and in Tareinski Harbour, as some fresh meat was needed. Salmon and trout were exceedingly abundant in the harbour, the former comprising several species of the genus Onchorhgnchus, and the latter being a species of Salvelinus. The fishes of these seas were |