OF THE DEPENDENT ISLES OF TAIWAN. 7 



distinguished in Eastern Asia ; the one has served for the well- 

 ing out of an enormous quantity of Basalt in later Tertiary age, the 

 other has given rise to the chains of modern (Andesitic) volcanoes. 

 In the north of the Chang-pei-shan, in Korea, he announced 

 recently the discovery of an extensive Basaltic mesa more than 

 G0,000 square km., which extends from Mukden through Kirin to 

 Ninguta, forming the water-shed of the Sungari Hiver and the 

 Tumen-kiang. I have been informed, verbally by j\Ir. Nishiwada, 

 of the occurrence, outside of Manchuria, of a trappean plateau, 

 of small extent, along the eastern water-shed of the Korean 

 Peninsula, and the island of Quelpart ; and Venukoff' ^ cites a 

 number of localities where Basalts make their appearance on the 

 plateau of Mongolia. Furthermore, the Basalts occur sj)oradically 

 in Liau-tuug, and 8hang-tung as far down as Nanking, ap- 

 proximately in a straight line, and v. Eichthofen"^ brings the 

 line in connection with the tectonic movement which has created 

 the ' great plain ' of China, and he assigns the age of this crustal 

 movement to the Tertiary period. The Basalts of the Pescadores 

 seem to me to be included in this petrographical province of 

 Eastern Asia. 



Since the beginning of the Diluvial epoch, a subaerial condition 

 has prevailed over HAko, as well as in all the islands of the whole 

 group, and erosion and disintegration have been at work, thereby 

 carrying off the greater j^art of the uppermost flow, and gradual!}^ 

 diminishing the area of the islands, and finally reducing them to 

 ruins, as we see at present. Consequently, no record is left of 

 the deposit representing this period, unless we take for it the 



1) 'Les Eoclies basaltiques de la ^Mongolie,' Bulldin de la Société be'çje de Géologie, etc., 

 tome II, p. 441. 



2) 'Shantung und seine Eingangspfort Kiautschou,' 1S9S, S. GG. 



