Bonin Islands  Source  Whalesite

      For upwards of two years the government of Japan has stendily pursued the purpose of resuming practical possession of the group, or groups, of Bonin Islands, situated some five hundred miles south of the center of the empire, and the authority of its agents is now fully established and recognized. Although insignificant in area and until recently populated only by a little band of outlaws, the geographical position of these outlying dependencies is believed to be of no slight importance. They have been spoken of as affording suitable ground for a telegraphi station, and they are on the direct line of a commercial route southward which Japan expects, in time, to open. The immediate cause of the active attention directed to them carly in 1875 was the interpellation of one or more of the Foreign Ministers, who expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of a recognized rule there, and a desire to know if this government was prepared to exercise jurisdiction. There was no pressing need for hasty action, but as the islands had been, at different periods, formally claimed by representatives of various nations – England, Russia and Amerien in particular--it was thought advisable to reëstablish the Japanese sway, the forms of which were neglected and virtually abandoned more than a dozen years ago. None of the Western nations would probably now have any disposition to occupy them; but they may become valuable by and bye, in which case the onission of Japan to assume the responsibilities of ownership might be easily turned to advantage, and the territory be open to seizure by the first comer.

      The history and condition of these islands are not without interest. They were first visited, according to native chronicles, by a Japanese navigator named Ogasawara, in the latter half of the seventeenth century.^* After him they were originally named, and in ancient Japanese charts they appear as the Ogasawara islands. In 1675 a party of explorers from Nagasaki landed upon them, and, finding them uninhabited, called them Bu Nin, which we of the west have altered (as we alter, more or less, the majority of Asiatic names) to Bonin. “Bu” or "mu" is a word adopted from the Chinese vocabulary, signifying negation. “Nin," also Chinese, is “man." The title miglt be freely translated in many different ways; the real meaning is plain enough. It will probably be discontinued in future, at least by the Japanese, as in all recent documents they have shown an intention to return to the primitive desination.

      The islands are in three, or it might be said four, clusters, extending almost directly southward from latitude 27 minutes 45 degrees to 26 minutes 10 degrees. Of these the southern most was the one first observed by any western navigator. In the rear 1823 Captain Coffin, of the American whaling ship Transit," landed there, established the position, and bestowed his name upon the locality. In 1827, Captain Beechey in the English surveying skip "Blossom," touched at the same spot, and, though fully aware of the prior discovery hy Coffin, which he acknowledged, claimed possession of the whole group for Great Britain, and renamed the several islands. This, it is remarked in the Narrative of Commodore Perry's expedition, was done "with the proverbial modesty and justice of English surveyors, as if they had been then first observed." The act of appropriation was commemorated by an inscription upon a copper plate, which was nailed to a tree. One year later, a Russian Captain named Lutke also landed, and left upon record a claim of ownership in behalf of his sovereign. This was written upon a board likewise fastened to a tree. During all this period the islands were never regularly inhabited, unless, perhaps, at some carly and forgotten date, by Japanese, but in 1830 a party of colonists consisting of two Americans, one English man, one Dane, one Genoese and some twenty-five or thirty natives of the Sandwich Islands, arrived and established themselves upon Peel Island, the largest of the central group, with a view to permanent residence. The Genoese was the first leader of this party. In the course of a few years, the five whites either died or withdrew, with the exception of Nathaniel Savory, a Massachusetts man, who thenceforward, thoughout his life, was recognized as the head of the com munity, which was from time to time enlarged by stragglers from whaling vessels. While his influence lasted, it appears that a fair system of order and propriety prevailed; and in 1853 a very respectable constitution was drawn up for the organization of the settlement, Savory being elected chief magistrate over the eight inhabitants of American or European birth. In addition to the reputable whalers who sometimes looked in upon them, piratical adventurers made occasional descents, one body of whom, in 1849, ransacked the village, plundered all the available property, and forcibly abducted some of the women. In June, 1853, Commodore Perry, with a part of his squadron, arrived at Port Lloyd, the harbor of Peel Island, in fulfilment of part of his general purpose of exploration in this vicinity. He found the inhabitants indisby posed to acknowledge the authority of England, or indeed of any government, and was unable to discover any trace of the copper plate upon which Capt. Beechey had left his record in 1827. This may perhaps have then been purposely concealed, for it has since come to light and is now, we believe, in the hands of the British authorities in Japan. It was a significant circumstance that the nomenclature of several of the islands, as arranged by the British navigator, was totally disregarded by the occupants. Peel Island (as we may call it for the sake of convenience) was the only one then settled ; and of its whole area, about six miles in length by two in breadth, only one hundred and fifty acres were under cultivation. The soil, however, was very prolific, and amply supplied the wants of the little colony. But to add to their comforts, a number of cattle and sheep were landed, the latter of which, it may be observed, have since increased to enormous numbers, considering the limited space to which they are confined. Garden seeds of every kind were also distributed, of which, for a while, good use was made. Commodore Perry was much struck by the importance of the geographical position of these islands, and, in order to secure a coaling station for ships of the United States, he purchased a title to a suitable piece of land in the excellent harbor of 'Port Lloyd. This transaction led him, not long after, into a brief controversy with the British superintendent of Trade at Hong Kong, Sir J. G. Bonham. That official communicated to the Commodore the fact that he had been instructed by Lord Clarendon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, to ask for information as to the object in view. He furthermore advanced a formal claim to the islands, based upon Captain Beechey's

proceedings; upon an alleged original discovery by an English whaling ship in 1825, and the colonization in 1830, which, it was assumed, was undertaken by Englishmen. In reply, it was pointed out that the first visit, by a Western mariner, was that of the American, Coffin, and that, of the earliest settlers, the larger number were Americans while the leader was a Genoese. Commodore Perry therefore declined to acquiesce in the position taken by Sir George Bonham. He had a short time previously sent Commander Kelly, in one of his ships, to take possession of the southern group — that upon which Coffin landed—in the name of the United States. This was done in October, 1853, and a new chart was laid out, in which the name given by Beechey, "Bailey's Islands," was set aside, and that of "Coffin's Islands" substituted. The usual formality of affixing a metal plate to a trec was here repeated. Another, and final, visit by one of Perry's squadron was made in April, 1854, when the settlers expressed a desire to place themselves under the American colors, and a flag was left with them to be displayed as occasion might arise.

      For several years thereafter, nothing of interest occurred in connection with the Bonins. Savory died, and the creditable attempt at self-government which was commenced in 1853 was not sustained. Peel Island gradually became a resort for extremely questionable characters, and reports of disorders grew to be so frequent that in 1861 an inquiry was made — by Sir Rutherford Alcock, the British Minister, we are informed-as to whether the Japanese government was prepared to undertake control and jurisdiction there. An affirmative reply was given, and a competent officer was despatched to assume the direction of affairs. Sixty families were transported thither, to form the nucleus of a colony. A form of local administration was established, and, forbrief term, maintained. But this was just at the time when the internal troubles of Japan were beginning, and it was soon found impracticable to continue the arrangement. The effort toward regular occupation was given up within a year. After that, until the end of 1863, periodical visits of inspection were made by officials duly appointed for the purpose. At last these ceased, the emigrants were brought back to their old homes, and the Japanese thenceforward neglected to pay any attention to this comparatively unimportant station. They left behind them, instead of the customary metal sheet, a stone monument, with an inscription proclaiming the proprietorship of their nation. Four years later, the government of the Taikuns fell, and the Imperial party, on resuming the executive functions after a lapse of six hundred years, had no leisure, in its pressure of urgent business, to consider a detail so trifling as the management of the Bonin Islands then appeared. The subject was next brought into promi-nence in April, 1873, when a certain Captain Benjamin Pease, an American, called upon Mr. De Long, the U. S. Minister to Japan, to make inquiries our his own account as to the sovereignty of the group. This lease appears to have been little better than a freebooter. Je owned a small schooner, and was engaged in all sorts of dubious traffic among the islands of the Pacific, the kidnapping and selling of human beings occupying his chief attention. This was probably not known at the moment, inasmuch as Mr. De Long undertook to investigate the subject for him. It appeared, according to the information which he brought, that there were then upon Peel land twenty-five Americans, seventeen Englishmen, four Frenchmen and a considerable number of Hawaiians and others — all living in a state of lawless irregularity. His ostensible, and possibly his genuine, motive for inquiry was to discover if any means of preserving order could be supplied. Mr. De Long wrote to Mr. Fish, and received an answer, dated May 21, 1873, disavowing all responsibility for any Americans that might be on the islands, and declaring that the U. S. Government would not undertako to protect them. Captain Pease had previously disappeared from view, carrying with him two Japanese women, whom he decoyed away from Yokohama. At the close of 1873 intelligence arrived that he had been murdered by some of his fellow-islanders. As he has not since been seen, the report is believed to have been correct. It was toward the end of 1874 that the latest phase of the subject came into view. Whether it was then revived by foreign agents or by the Japanese it is difficult to say. It is certain, however, that from the outset, several of the diplomatic corps were extremely active in it. As soon as it was discovered that the government were about taking steps to reässert their anthority, they were confronted by a declaration that, as they had abandoned the islands twelve years ago, they could not now reclaim them. In response to this, it was stated that though the exercise of jurisdiction there had been "neglected,” the rights of Japan had never been “abandoned," and that the acts in contemplation were not in the nature of “reclamation,” but simply a resumption of powers temporarily laid aside. Vullum tempus occurrit reyi is a principle sufficiently well established; but it was thought desirable, on this occasion, to infuse a certain element of discomfort into the proceedings, purely, we may presume, by way of diplomatic discipline. The obstacles, however, were overcome without serious inconvenience. In November, 1874, a commission consisting of attachés of the Interior and Foreign Departments, and under the direction of an officer who had before been sent from the capital in 1861, sailed for Peel Island. They paid little attention to the northern group — Parry's Islands, according to Capt. Beechey — or to the insignificant cluster just below them, these being uninhabited. They landed upon Peel, which is and always has been called by the Japanese Chichi Sima (Father Island). Here they found some seventy persons of various nationalities, corresponding pretty nearly to the description given by Pease to Mr. De Long. Next visiting Coffin's group, which they call Haha Sima (Mother Island), they discovered that the only residents were one couple and a child. These were all living in a state of indigence and ignorance. There was no pretence of social law, to the reestablishment of which a stolid indifference seemed to be shown. They appeared, however, somewhat gratified at the prospect of a renewal of Japanese rule, for the reason that the chances of violent misdeeds would thereby be lessened. The reports brought back by this commission respecting the physical aspect of the islands were almost identical with that of Bayard Taylor, written in 1853. The productions, as may be supposed, had somewhat increased, although no endeavor had been made to raise more than would be necessary for the support of life. In the way of vegetables there were found sweet potatoes, wheat, corn, pumpkins, onions, taro, sugar, tomatoes, and tobacco. Of fruits there were melons, bananas, lemons, oranges and a few varieties of berries. Of

animal food the supplies were abundant in the sheep, which had multiplied prodigiously since Perry's time, oxen, hogs, goats, and ponltry. Turtle and fish were also profuse. It would appear, upon the whole, as if few more attractive spots for a "sweet do-nothing" existence could be found. A photographer, who accompanied the commission, brought back conclusive proofs of the romantic and picturesque character of the scenery, and the researches of a young ex-daimio, of scientific bent, who went as a volunteer, showed that the region is not without charms for the deeper student of nnture in an unaccustomed guise.

      Immediately after the sailing of the Japanese ship from Yokohamn, a British gunboat, with Her Majesty's Consul on board, set out for the same destination. Mr. Robertson's examination of the principal island was minute and thorongh, and the result of his observations was given in an admirable paper to the Asiatic Society, some months later. While there, he obtained possession of the copper plate left by Captain Beechey, which had been invisible to Commodore Perry. This he brought away with him, whether as a formal renunciation of the British claim or otherwise has not appeared. It is not likely, however, that it will hereafter be reasserted. The Japanese have now held undisputed possession for two years, and have, as is well known, perfected arrangements for the good government and steady improvement of the place Certain industries will be gradually introduced, and the resources of the islands will be to some extent developed, with as little delay as may be, for the benefit of those who already dwell there and of such as shall be led by inclination to transfer themselves thither.

"The Ogasawara, or Bonin, Islands."
      The Tokio Times.
Vol. 2, No. 4 (Jul 28, 1877)
pp.48-50

Bonin Islands  Source  Whalesite