See pp. 313 ff., below. Footnote 88: On March 27, 1904, Russia declared that Niu-chwang was under her martial law. This eventuality had been fully expected by Japan. The gravity of the situation, however, may be understood, when we remember that the Russian law of neutrality considers food as among contraband goods, so that the supply of millet, beans, and bean-cakes from Manchuria to Japan was henceforth completely closed, until the Russians evacuated Niu-chwang in July. Footnote 89: These concessions were acquired by the Russians in 1896 when the Korean King was still living in the Russian Legation in Seul. About May, 1903, after more than seven years’ inactivity, the Russians began to cut timber on a large scale along the Yalu River, and subsequently made extensive improvements at Yongampu at the mouth of the river. The political features of this event do not concern us here. See pp. 263, 289 ff., 318 ff., below. Footnote 90: Kaiserling is a successor to the two other Russians who, one after the other, had been engaged in the whale fishery on the Japan Sea for a long period of time. It was Kaiserling, however, who extended the work, made an agreement with the Korean Government, and was turning the business into an apparently successful enterprise. In 1901, his two vessels caught about eighty whales, which number was in 1902 increased to 300.—The _Tsūshō Isan_, September 28, 1903, p. 34. Footnote 91: Mr. J. Sloat Fassett’s article in the American _Review of Reviews_, for February, 1904, p. 174. In the winter of 1902–3, ice at Dalny was six inches thick.—Mr. F. Nakasawa in the _Tōyō Keizai Zasshi_ (“Oriental Economist”), No. 262 (March 15, 1903), p. 13. Footnote 92: It is well known that at several times in history kingdoms have been built which extended over both sides of the present boundaries between Korea and Manchuria. Footnote 93: It is noticeable that the Russian diplomatic historian already referred to gives as a reason for the desirability of placing Korea under Russian protection the need of safe-guarding the frontiers of Russian territories adjacent to Korea.—The _Dōbun-kwai Hōkoku_, No. 49, p. 8. Footnote 94: The Bay of Masampo, generally so-called, which lies between the Island of Koji and the Korean coast, is said to be deep and broad enough to hold the largest fleet, sheltered from winds from all directions. Several islands with sufficiently wide passages between them form a splendid gate to the bay, while the western extremity of the latter may be walked across, when the tide is low, from the Koji to the coast.