110 S. SEKITA AND Y. KTRUCHI 



from below, bore some resemblance to a broken crater-wall, was not 

 unnaturally regarded as a proof of this assumption. But the spot, 

 when examined by us, was found to be wanting as well in the cha- 

 racteristic features of a crater as in any appearance of its having been 

 the origin of a violent volcanic outburst. If there had been such 

 an outburst as to produce the vast quantity of matter that descended 

 towards Mine we must have seen the crater or cavity from which 

 the matter issued, unless indeed it were supposed to have oozed 

 forth gradually after the manner of some of the mud- volcanoes already 

 spoken of — a supposition, however, which is absolutely at variance 

 with the observed facts. 



The matter which descended toward Miné was really found, 

 upon close examination, to be the loose red loamy soil that had formed 

 the superficial covering of the flanks of Bandai, largely admixed with 

 ash or dust, and boulders. The red colour of the soil was however 

 concealed from view by the coating of grey-coloured "ashes," 10-30 

 cm. in thickness, that fell especially abundantly down Biwa-sawa, the 

 wind having been directed straight into that ravine during the erup- 

 tion. At Xinnano-taira the accumulation of ashes was especially 

 thick, and from 1 hence it gradually lessened toward the lower part 

 of Biwa-sawa. The mud field of Miné examined some time after was 

 found to have been cut by the action of running water into nu- 

 merous deep chasms often forming perpendicular walls and exposing 

 the red loam underneath. 

 Conical Hills. Among the various phenomena that constantly bewilder the eyes 



of visitors to the scene of the eruption, not the least striking are the 

 numerous bh>" boulders, some of them measuring from 5 metres to 10 



O J ^ 



metres each way, that are to be seen resting on the surface of the débris 

 far away from the crater. These have evidently been carried along as part 

 of the mud current, and not hurled through the air. Kot less curious 



