The cold and bleak winds that sweep over Siberia, carry their chill to Kamschatka, and, though the sea lies on two sides of it, they make it one of the coldest places in the world. The winter lasts nine months of the year, and no kind of grain can be made to grow upon its soil. But this sterility in the vegetable kingdom is compensated by the abundance of animal life. In no place in the world is there such a quantity of game. The coasts swarm with seals and other marine animals; the rocks are coated with shell-fish; the bays are almost choked with herrings, and the rivers with salmon. Flocks of grouse, woodcocks, wild geese and ducks darken the air. In the woods are bears, beavers, deer, ermines, sables, and other quadrupeds, producing abundance of rich furs. These form the basis of a good deal of trade. Thus, though the Kamschadales have no bread, or very little, they have abundance of fish, flesh, and fowl. In no part of the world are the people more gluttonously fed. They are, in fact, a very luxurious race, spending a great part of their time in coarse feasting and frolicking. They sell their furs to the Russians, by which they get rum and brandy, and thus obtain the means of intoxication. Many of them are, therefore, sunk to a state of the most brutal degradation. The Kurile Islands, as I have stated, extend from the southern point of Kamschatka to Jesso, one of the principal of the Japan Isles. They are twenty-four in number, and contain about a thousand inhabitants. The length of the chain is nearly nine hundred miles. Some of them are destitute of people, but most of them abound in seals, sea otters, and other game. The people are heathen, and a wild, savage set. The Japan Isles lie in a long, curving line, in a southerly direction from Okotsk. They are very numerous, but the largest are Jesso and Niphon. These are the seat of the powerful and famous empire of Japan, which has existed for ages, and has excited nearly as much curiosity and interest as China. One thing that increases this interest is, that foreigners are carefully excluded from the country, as they are from China. The only place which Europeans are allowed to visit, is Nangasaki, on the island of Ximo. This is a large town, but the place assigned to foreigners is very small; and no persons are permitted to reside here, except some Dutch merchants, through whom all the trade and intercourse with foreigners must be carried on. The interior of Japan is very populous, there being twenty-six millions of people in the empire. The capital is Jeddo, on the island of Niphon; this is four times as large as New York, there being one million three hundred thousand people there. The lands in the country are said to be finely cultivated, and many of the gardens are very beautiful. The people are very polite, and nearly all can read and write. They have many ingenious arts, and even excel European workmen in certain curious manufactures.