Navigation is peculiarly dangerous in these waters. Many of the islands are submerged by the spring-tides, and the direction of the channels, scoured by the rush of the tide, becomes quite indefinite. In the absence of charts and maps, these island-fringed shores have been the scene of many shipwrecks; Dutch, American, French, and British shipping meeting in one grim and silent procession a common end: captivity on shore or death in the sea. Some of these unfortunate mariners survived their experiences, leaving, after the fashion of Hendrik Hamel, the supercargo of the Dutch frigate _Sparwehr_, which went ashore off Quelpart in 1653, records and histories of their adventures to an incredulous posterity. Most of the islands lying off the coast are well wooded. As they are very beautiful to look upon and very dangerous to approach, they are regarded with mingled sentiments of reverence and superstition, differing little, in their expression, from the fear in which the ancients held the terrors of Scylla and Charybdis. Their isolated position, moreover, makes them the centre of much contraband trade between the Chinese and Koreans; their defenceless state renders them an easy prey to any pirates who care to ravage them. The islands off the south-west coast are the sanctuaries of many animals. Seals sport and play unharmed among the rocks; the woody peaks are rich in game: teal, crane, curlew, quail, and innumerable small birds make them their breeding-grounds. The shores are happy hunting-grounds for naturalists, and a variety of marine food is found throughout the archipelago. A number of well-marked species of sponge may be gathered, and the coral beds display many violent tints and delicate shades, forming in their beautiful colourings a sea garden of matchless splendour. The _flora_ of these islands is a no less brilliant feature of the summer landscape. Tiger-lilies, showy and gigantic, daisies, asters, many varieties of cactus, grow side by side with curious ferns, palms and creepers, almost tropical in their character and profusion, yet surviving the cooler temperature of autumn and winter, to greet each coming spring with freshened beauty. The air vibrates with the singing and buzzing of insects, the limpid day is bright with gaudy butterflies. Snow-white herons stand in the shallows. Cormorants, diving birds and ducks throng the reefs to rise in clouds with many angry splutterings when their haunts are invaded. In the deeper waters, there are myriads of fish; in passing from group to group along the coast shoals of whales are to be seen, blowing columns of spray aloft, of sleeping idly upon the surface.