These photographs were taken in 1892-1896 by Bronisław Piłsudski, an ethnographer and exile, sentenced to 15 years of detention for his participation in an anti-Tsarist plot. On Sakhalin Island he documented the life of prisoners, settlers as well as the indigenous population. He also made first audio recordings, using Edison cylinders (the audio is a recording of a song in Ainu language, taken from his collection).