 As part of a nationwide Sino-French cartographic program, the Jesuits Jean-Baptiste Régis, Pierre Jartoux, and Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli joined a Chinese team visiting the lower Amur (known to them under its Manchu name, Saghalien Ula, i.e.the "Black River"), in 1709, and learned of the existence of the nearby offshore island from the "Ke tcheng" natives of the lower Amur.The Jesuits were told that the islanders were believed to be good at reindeer husbandry.