or Kuriliski Isles, extending from north latitude 51. to 45. which probably once lengthened the peninsula of Kamtschatka before they were disjoined from it, are a series of islands running south from the low promontory Lopatka, which is distant one league from Shoomska, the most northerly of these. Of the twenty-one islands subject to the Russian empire, no more than four are inhabited. The rest of these islands remain wholly uninhabited, but are visited occasionally, for the purpose of hunting otters and foxes.