TARKAL, or KRAFTO, an island of Asia, lying off the coast of Mantchooria, between N. Lat. 46. and 54. 20. It extends nearly due north and south for a distance of 600 miles; its greatest breadth at the head of the Bay of Patience is about 120 miles, its average breadth 50, and its area more than 30,000 square miles. The sea of Ochotsk washes it on the east, on the west the sea of Tartary separates it from Mantchooria, and on the south the Strait of La Pérouse divides it from the island of Jesso. The coasts are much indented, but there are few harbours or safe anchorages. The southern portion of the island is occupied by a chain of mountains stretching northwards from Capes Crillon and Aniva, which form the twofold extremity of the island, to about the middle. Few of the summits exceed the height of 5000 feet, but they are covered with snow for a great part of the year. Between the mountains and the sea there is in general a narrow strip of land densely covered with lofty trees. About the centre of the island is a low, swampy, and sandy flat; while the extreme north is occupied with a hilly and fertile country. The coast here consists of lofty white cliffs. The climate is generally cold, and dense fogs almost always enshroud the island. Oak, fir, birch, and maple compose the forests, and afford excellent timber; gooseberries, raspberries, and strawberries are the principal fruits. Bears and martens are the wild animals most numerous; salmon and herring are caught, cured, and exported. Whales are obtained in large numbers along the east coast and in the Strait of La Pérouse. The natives call themselves Ainor, or men, and they resemble the people of the Kurile Islands. They make a kind of cloth from willow-bark, and build large and strong boats. A few Japanese and Mantchoos have settled on different parts of the island. The whole of the island now belongs to the Russian empire, the southern portion having been obtained within recent years from Japan, to which empire it had previously belonged.