Evening star., 1905-08-22
Almost as Large as Cuba is Island
Taken by japanese.
From the London Globe

From the London Globe.
The question of Sakhalin has remained In
suspense for more than fifty years: In fact
it is very "old quarrel" Prior to 1856
Sakhalin was called Karafuto by the Japa-
nese, and was then exclusively inhabit ed
by Nippons and Chinese. 1t was a navi-
gator from the Rising Sum- Mania Rimo
who first, in the year 1904, located its safe
anchorages, which had, however, already
been roughly noted by the Frenchman, La
Perouse, in 111i. So far back as 1856 the
Japanese protested against a convention
which was ratified and executed in 1862 in
virtue Of which the Sakhalin Island was
shared between Japan and Russia the 10th
parallel of latitude forming the limit of the
zones of influence. Later, in 1915 under
the treaty of ST. Petersburg the Japanese
part of the island also became Russia
property in exchange for the mediocre
archipelago of the kuriles, the yield of
which is nil from an economical point of
view, and on that occasion Japan lodged
another protest. Sakhalin is situated to
the north of Japan, a strait dividing il from
feso- The Russians converted it into
penltentfary colony, where the convicts and
their issue numbered about 10000. They
were given the charge Of coloniziAg the
island, a task that they performed with as
little eagerneSS success.
The natives are very primitive and very
wild, but at the same time quite harmless;
they are known by the name of the Guiliaks
and the Ainos and they camp along the
large rivers OF the island, that is to say,
the Thyme and the Peronia. The width
of Sakhalin varies between sixteen and 40
miles, but so long is the island (over $50
miles,, that Its area equals the sixth part
of France, or about $4,000 square miles.
The island is particularly wealthy in gold,
silver, timber, amber, iron, plumbagin
furs, coal and petroleum deposits, the latter
being more extensive than those of the
c hat ha
petroleum springs found in the vicinity of
the Nooteva river, which is one of the
main streams of the island, more i'm
portant than those of Baku.
Now that the japanese are in possession
of Sakhalin. they are the masters of the
fishing in the northern seas of the far east;
and, with excellent ground, professors and
journalists in Japan affirm that Sakhalin
will be of much greater advantage to them
than 1t was to the Russians. Already the
specialists such Prof. Tonizu, foresee
that Japan's annual profits from the fish
cries. which have hitherto amounted to
93O0,000, will rise at once to about Ell ,2O0,-
600, and that later. when full attention has
been given to pisciculture, 1t will be easy
to get a revenue exceeding G3,O0O000 a year.
There is less exaggeration than one might
suppose in these claims.
Although the island is covered with snow
for so long every year, and during July
ice is still found at a distance of less than
one yard from the surface of the earth,
take Sakhalin because fish is the national
food in Japan, and since the beginning of
the war they had to get 1t from the For
mosa and Indo-China coasts. And Japan is
not naturally rich country: its principal
agricultural products are rice, mulberries,
vegetables and indigo in limited quantities:
and so poor is the soil that it requires more
manure than that of any other country in
the world. Consequently, fish Is not simply
one of the chief foods OF the Japanese, but
it supplies them with excellent fertilZ-
ing material for their fields. In olden times
the Japanese agriculturists to enrich their
lands and rice fields made use of bean
shells. which were imported from the ports
of China and Korea, Shanghai and Chefoo,
Fusan and Chemulpo. The bean manure
had the advantage of being very cheap. its
cost being only fifth of the price of the
fish manure, but the latter has a chemical
power incomparably stronger, and the fields
amended by its employment yield very rich
crops SO that the most skeptical Japanese,
having been taught by experience during
the war against China, are now convinced
that It Is advantageous to use fish fertilizer,
In spite of it's higher price,