JOURNEYS THROUGH KOREA. 129 



lovers of scenery. The place is called Nopheun-clin'ông or the 

 " High Slimmer- hon se." It is 140 m lower than the foot of the 

 Yuk-slm-nu'ônii pass, and is the ontlet to the hilly land of the 

 Nak-iomj basin. We were then in the eumnal of An-eui (150 m), 

 onr nearest approach to Sa-Jxeiùu on the route of tlie First 

 Traverse '^ which was only 1 1 km distant. 



Leaving the eumuai we climbed a pass northwards on a 

 slightly schistose gneiss-granite with vertical shearing plane, 

 trending N. 40" E. The rock is fast disintegrating into arkose 

 sand. We did not take tlie somewhat roundabout way to K'ô- 

 chlnjanij'^, but proceeded due east coming down to a shallow 

 valley, which brought us to Sln-gol located at the entrance of an 

 equatorial gorge. Looking back at the mountain just crossed, we 

 saw that it was a rather high ridge, trending in the same direction 

 as the gneiss itself, i. e., N.30'E. ; but toward the northwest in the 

 direction of Kö-chliijang and farther northwards, the land is open, 

 and the oft-mentioned Tai-tök-san "^ of the hinterland was seen 

 culminating in a snow-capped crest. 



It was somewhat surprising to find ourselves in a low and 

 open region of granite hills in this intermontane area. The low, 

 liilly tract extends from Ham-yang at the foot of the Chiri-san 

 to Keum-san '^ via An-eui., Ko-chhyang, Chi-rg'ôi, and farther north- 

 eastwards, all along the eastern foot of tlie boundary -ridge. We 

 cannot attribute this formation simply to subaërial erosion and a 

 loose underground structure ; for the rocks of the ridge and the 

 hills are exactly alike. We must therefore look for another 

 cause in accounting for the present low relief. Tlie writer thinks 

 it probable that the uplifting of the boundary-ridge, the So-paik- 



1) See ante, page 82. 2) © ^ 



3) See aide, pp. 125 Jind 128. 4) ^ jlj A station of the Seoul-Fusan Railway. 



