13 ART. 1 — B. KOTÔ 



fantastic shape. Hereafter I shall call the ridge, now under consideration, 

 Inj this name. 



The Thai-Päik-san ridge sharply cuts off in the mountainous dis- 

 trict of Sam-chhyok, the tilted edge of the Syo-Päik-san which equally 

 faces eastwards with fault-scarps. The ridge now deflects a little 

 westwards and continues through O-dai-san, noted for its pagodas, to 

 the famous Keum-gang-san, terminating at Thong-chhyon, after 

 pursuing a lengthy course of 480 kilometers. The cliff between 

 Chyang-chyön Cove and Thong-chhyön fully exposes an oblique 

 profile of the ridge, and detached clods of granite of monstrous 

 shapes are seen in the sea retaining the former direction of the 

 ridge. Scenery lovers of Korea frequent the shore and native- 

 geographers style these islets the Häi-Keum-gang or Mid-sea Diamond 

 Mountains. 



Keum-gang-san or the Diamond Mountain (1,200 meters) is a 

 large granitic stock, stretching north-south and penetrating Paleozoic 

 rocks. It is excavated to its bottom by a crooked, canyon-like gorge, 

 the precipitous wall overhanging the bottom and raising a multitude 

 of grotesque heads ; hence to the mountain not unusually the appella- 

 tion of Twelve Thousand Peaks is given. The valley bottom and 

 steep slope are forested with pine, the Pinus pinea, and maples, through 

 which clear water rushes down in thousands of cataracts 2 '. About 

 fifteen pagodas large and small have been here since the Sil-la period, some 

 perched on rock heads, some buried deep in the forest giving shelter to 

 world-renouncing monks and nuns. It is the Y< »sémite of Korea, 

 and a favourite resort of Westerners. 



ii. Coastal Ridge. — The Tbai-Paik-san is really triple in struct- 

 ure; the one hitherto spoken of, is the middle and highest line. 

 There is another lying to the east and parallel to the first, and this is 



L) — fäzL^-H -i) Man-phok-dong (ÄälJpl) or ten thousand watèr-fallg. 



