444 Account o/^ome Volcanic Eruptions, 8^c, [pBc« 



their escs^pe, and in a moment a great number of persons were 

 swallowed up, or consumed by the flames ; violent shocks con- 

 tinued to be felt till the 8th of the seventh month, and were per- 

 ceptible to the distance of twenty or thirty leagues : enormous 

 stones and clouds of sand were carried by the wind towards the 

 ^ast and north. 



The water of the rivers Yoko-gawa and Karousawa boiled ; 

 the course of the Yone-gawa, one of the largest rivers of Japan, 

 was obstructed, and the boiling water inundated the adjacent 

 country, doing incredible mischief. The bears, hysenas, and 

 other beasts of prey, fled from the mountains, and flocked to 

 the neighbouring villages, where they devoured the inhabitants, 

 or mangled them in a horrible manner. The number of dead 

 bodies floating upon the rivers was incalculable. 



About the middle of the same month, a more circumstantial 

 account of this phaenomena was transmitted to me from Yedo. 

 It is in substance as follows : 



From the 4th of the seventh month (Aug. 1), there washear4 

 night and day a rumbling like that of very loud thunder, which 

 gradually increased in violence. On the 5th, a shower of sand 

 and ashes fell on all sides ; and on the 6th, the volcano projected 

 at Ouye-wake an immense quantity of stones, some of which were 

 so large, that two persons were not able to carry them. Twenty- 

 seven villages were swallowed up, and four only escaped, namely, 

 Matsyeda, Yasouye, Takasakie, and Fousie-oka. At the last 

 of these places, there fell a shower of red-hot stones, each 

 weighing four or five ounces. At two o'clock the same day, 

 the mountain Asama cast forth a torrent of flames and balls of 

 fire ; the earth shook in a frightful manner ; the whole country 

 was enveloped in darkness, and, though mid-day, it was not to 

 be distinguished from the darkest night. The thunder was so 

 tremendous that the inhabitants were paralyzed with terror to 

 such a degree as to appear inanimate. About ten o'clock there 

 fell small stones mix;e(i with sand and ashes at Fousic-oka, the 

 ground was covered with them to the depth of eight or nine 

 inches ; at Yasouye they were fourteen or fifteen inches, and at 

 Matsyeda three feet deep. All the growing crops were totally 

 destroyed. 



On the 7th, about one o'clock, several rivers became dry ; at 

 two a thick vapour was seen at Asouma over the river Tane- 

 gawa, the black muddy water of which boiled up violently. An 

 immense quantity of red-hot stones floating on the surface gave 

 it the appearance of a torrent of fire. Mokou, one of the life- 

 guards, and a great number of men and horses, were swept 

 away by the current, and cast on shore at Nakanose, or carried 

 along by the river Zin-mei-gawa. 



On the 8th, at ten in the morning, a torrent of sulphur, mixed 

 with roftks, large stones and mud, rushing from the mountain, 

 precipitated itself ^to the river AsQuma-gawa^ ia the. ^tricts 



