SOUTHERNMOST JAPAN i6i 



ACCOUNT OF A TEIP IN" SOUTHERNMOST JAPAN, 

 WITH EARLY RECORDS OF ITS DISCOVERY 



By Dr. ROBERT VAN VLBCK ANDERSON 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



ON one of the early days of May, 1905, three of us — a Japanese 

 friend, my brother and I — were trudging through long avenues 

 of pine trees and crossing the upland border line between the provinces 

 of Hiuga and Osumi in southern Kiushiu and southern Japan. 

 Kiushiu, the farthest south of the four main islands of Japan, is an 

 exceptionally interesting and picturesque country, and perhaps the 

 finest member of the archipelago. At this time we were traversing it 

 diagonally from the open shore of the Pacific Ocean on the east to the 

 bay and city of Kagoshima that mark the island's southern extremity. 

 This is far from the center of the empire and the region of foreign 

 traffic, and as yet there was no railway leading thither. The country 

 paths are seldom trodden by foreigners, and the towns and villages are 

 rarely afforded the amusement of a stranger's advent. 



The rain was continuous, at times bringing such a downpour that 

 it seemed to bid fair to fiatten every object in the landscape. One 

 who lives much out-of-doors in Japan must be reconciled to the coming 

 of rain at all times, so we walked on gayly through it all, until the end 

 of each day brought us to some inn where the night could be spent. 

 As we neared our destination, the way followed torrents muddy with 

 a burden of silt derived from the hills of volcanic ash and other volcanic 

 rocks around about, and among green unterraced hills that reminded us 

 of the limitless smooth slopes of home in America, so unlike were they 

 to the usual terraced, stone-walled and rice-grown hills with forested 

 tops that one knows throughout Japan. Finally we crossed over the 

 axis of the island, the main divide, whence precipitous volcanic slopes 

 led down through the rain-mist to the bay and islands that we could 

 not see. Neither could we see the great smoking volcano Kirishima- 

 yama, of which days before we had caught a glimpse from far in the 

 north in the vicinity of Aso-san, and which we were later to view from 

 southward on finer days. 



After descending from the mountains and skii-ting the bay through 

 extended ill-smelling fishing villages populous with staring people, we 

 reached Kagoshima, the city of gardens and rich semi-tropical growth, 

 the great port of the south. Here one looks down from one's balcony 

 upon whole streets of shipping agencies, where hang great black and 

 white placards of Chinese characters advertising dates of departure 



