“ One of the earliest acts of the Meiji government was to develop the resources of Yezo and encourage Japanese to emigrate thither. Free grants of agricultural land were made, roads were constructed, model farms established, beet-sugar factories and sawmills opened, horse-breeding undertaken, foreign fruit trees planted and railways laid. The outlays incurred did not immediately bear fruit, but they attracted large numbers of settlers. During recent years attention has been attracted to the mineral resources of Yezo. Coal of fair quality is abundant, and a railway has been built for its carriage ”

“ Climate.—The climate differs markedly from that of the main island of Japan, resembling rather the climate of the British Isles, though the winter is longer and more severe, and the atmosphere in the warm season contains a greater quantity of moisture. During five months the country is under snow, its depth averaging about 2 ft. in the regions along the southern coast and more than 6 ft. ”

“ The population of Yezo is 605,742, of whom 17,573 are Ainu. There is a steadily growing but not large emigration from Japan proper to Yezo. Yezo is divided into ten provinces, the names of which, beginning from the S., are Oshima, Shiribeshi, Ishikari, Teshio, Kitami, Iburi, Hidaka, Tokachi, Kushiro and Nemuro. Of these, Oshima, Shiribeshi and Ishikari are by far the most important. There are only three towns having a population of over 20,000, viz. ”