134 



S. SEKIYA AND T. KIKUCHI 



issuing stream will soon cut deep passages through the loosely 

 cohering debris; and it is to be expected that sudden yielding« of 

 some of the barriers will take place. Hence will result a rush of es- 

 caping water accompanied by violent floodings in the lower courses of 

 the stream. It was thus that certain villages and cultivated field 

 were flooded when the Nagase-gawa burst its lowest barrier, which 

 immediately after the eruption quite stopped the flow of that river into 

 Lake Inawashiro. Because of the loosely compact character of the 

 debris, the configuration, size, and number of these lakes will alter 

 greatly as time goes on.* 



On the 13th of April of this year (1889) about 6 p.m., a large 

 portion of Onogawa lake was suddenly drained, and the torrent of 

 water rushed through the mud-field, carrying mud, pebbles, and 

 boulders to the lower levels. The embankment newly erected at 

 Nagasaka and other places to protect from inundation, was destroyed, 

 and the water spread out into the cultivated fields adjoining the dis- 

 trict of Inawashiro. Considerable damage was done to bridges, and 

 roads, but fortunately the houses and inhabitants escaped. 



New lakes or ponds are also being formed within the crater, by 

 the condensing steam and the rain water. The waters of these lakes 

 contain much soluble matters and some of them are hot. But as 

 the crater-bottom is set in a sloping position, an accumulation of 

 water to any considerable extent cannot take place. 



* As this is passing through the press, we are able through the kindness of Professors C. G. 

 Knott and C. Miehie Smith to call attention to the remarkable changes in the region under 

 consideration. These gentlemen visited Bandai towards the end of May, 1889. They report 

 that Hibara and Ösawa lakes have united into one huge lake which forms the most promi- 

 nent feature in the landscape. The other lakes are comparatively small. Of particular in- 

 terest, also, are their observations on the erosion of the new earth by the action of running 

 water. Thus the comparatively small stream that ran down Biwa-sawa has cut out of the new 

 earth a deep V-shaped gorge, in many places attaining a de2)th of 40 or 60 meters. At these 

 places the stream has not yet cut down to the original surface. Their observations are to be 

 published in full in the Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan. 



