函館から岩見沢・深川・旭川・池田を経て釧路へ

21. From Hakodate via Iwamizawa, Fukagawa, Asahigawa, and Ikeda to Kushiro.

Hakodate Main Line, and Kushiro Line of the Imperial Japanese Government Railways.

To Iwamizawa 204 M.; several trains daily in about 13 hrs. — To Kushiro, 457 M. in about 28 hrs. For fares see the Rly. Time Table. Neither line has touristic value equal to that of Rte. 20, but they are of particular interest to those concerned with the tribal life of the Ainu as well as with virgin country but recently penetrated by the rly. The towns are primitive.

From the Port of Hakodate to Iwamizawa Junction is described in detail in Rte. 20. The busy town is the end of a rly. division, with round-houses, car-shops, etc., and several new inns near the station; rates from ¥3-4 a day. From here the rly. runs due N. through a wild, beautiful, and practically primitive country 200 or more ft. above the sea-level, to 245 M. (from Hakodate) Fukagawa (a place similar in many respects to Iwamizawa), where the Rumoi Line turns N.W. and traverses an equally undeveloped region to 31 M. Rumoi, a growing port on the Japan Sea, and in touch with Otaru by small coasting steamers. From Fukagawa the main line runs E. for 20 M. to 265 M. Asahigawa (2 inns opposite the station; ¥4), 475 ft. above the sea, and the point of departure for the important Teshio Line, now under construction (consult the rly. time-card), and which is slowly penetrating the frigid wilds of Teshio Province (northernmost of the island group). 167 M. Wakkanai, on the Soya Strait, is its ultimate destination. The constantly shifting rail-head, and the steady improvements which the region is undergoing, renders sustainedly accurate information difficult. Fierce forest fires sometimes scourge the region and alter the face of it.

At Asahigawa (Inn: Miura-ya, ¥4), a clean, thriving town near the center of the island, and which less than two decades ago was an unpeopled wilderness, the main line turns S. and traverses a more developed and progressive country; mountainous in part, well watered, and covered with magnificent forests almost tropical in their density. Ainu villages are met with occasionally in the remote fastnesses (usually not far from the coast), but they are as a rule too difficult of access to repay the effort made to reach them. At 327 M. Ikutora, the train crosses the Ikutorashibetsu River at an elevation of 1288 ft., then climbs higher to Karikatsu (1856 ft.), where it enters the sharply slanting Karikatsu Tunnel (3009 ft. long), before it descends to the shorter Shinnai Tunnel. The big mts. at the far left are Tokachi-san, and Ishikari-san.

From 392 M. Ikeda, the Abashiri Line diverges to the N. and runs through a district where most of the peppermint grown on the island is raised. Passing Mt. Meakan, and 87 M. Nokkeushi Jct., the line proceeds to 120 M. Abashiri, a grow-

ing port at the E. end of the island, on the Okhotsk Sea. At Ikeda the main line continues S.E. over a practically level country to 409 M. Urahoro, whence the train ascends (404 ft.) to the Atsunai Tunnel (1035 ft. long), then descends to the Atsunai River, which it crosses 9 times in as many miles before reaching the port of the same name on the Pacific Ocean. From this point the rly. follows the contour of the coast, threading 3 tunnels and crossing 6 rivers before it reaches its present terminus.

457 M. Kushiro (Inn: Kanekichi, ¥4), a thriving port at the mouth of the Kushiro River, in Kushiro Province, 204 M. from Hakodate by sea (frequent ships of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha), is perhaps destined to become one of the most important seaports on the island. Considerable sulphur is exported, the product coming down the river from Shipetcha, where it is refined after being brought from the famous Sulphur Mt. (Iwo-san) near Atosanobori. Transpacific ships often stop here for the excellent coal from the near-by fields. The thousands of oak and maple logs which come down the river on the spring freshets are shipped to Europe. The Tokachi Valley, in the hinterland, is noted for its beans. The ruinous old fort near (2 M.) Mojiriya is believed to have been used by the Ainu a thousand years ago. Archaeologists have unearthed numerous relics of the Stone Age in the neighborhood. — A number of Ainu villages dot the intervening country between Kushiro and Nemuro (Inn: Yamagata-ya, ¥4) — a picturesque port on the E. coast, in Nemuro Province, known for its extensive crab-canning establishments.