Bickmcre.] 328 [December 4, 



The harbor of Hakodadi is formed by a long spit of sand extending 

 outward from the side of a bay to a high headland, the ruins of an 

 old volcano, which tradition says became extinct some four hundred 

 years ago, after a great eruption, which first raised tliis sand spit 

 above the level of the sea. The city, which numbers about thirteen 

 thousand inhabitants, is situated partly on the flanks of the mountain 

 and partly along the neighboring shore. With a Japanese, who could 

 speak a little English, for a guide, I started on foot over the low lands 

 that border the bay, and extend back from three to five miles to the 

 flanks of a mountain range between two thousand and three thousand 

 feet in height. A mile from the beach rose a long terrace some twenty 

 feet high, which, in former days, was undoubtedly a bluff" by the sea 

 shore. Back of this there is a smooth ascending plain, which, accord- 

 ing to subsequent measurements made with an aneroid barometer 

 that had just been tested by the known height of Hakodadi jieak, rises 

 to a height of 1180 feet above high water level. The place where the 

 plain attained this elevation bore N. 25° E. from Hakodadi peak, but 

 I afterwards saw another place bearing about N. 20° E. where It 

 probably rose two hundred or three hundred feet higher. The smooth 

 surface of this plain Is an indication that It was formed under tculer, from 

 the material washed down from tlie surrounding mountains, firstl}', 

 because the mountains rise up at once from the plain and tbrm a sharply 

 defined angle; and secondly, because If this had been a sub-aerial In- 

 stead of a marine formation, the loose sand and rocks of which It Is com- 

 posed would have been scored with many small gullies like the present 

 surface of the neighboring volcano. 



Along the way we met long lines of pack horses, carrying wood 

 and charcoal to Hakodadi, and In one place a triangular cart on three 

 wheels drawn by a single bullock. Most of the houses we passed 

 had bunches of green twigs hung out in front, as a sign to passers by 

 that saki could be obtained within. A walk of twelve miles took us 

 to Ono, and an old man well accjuainted Avith the neighboring moun- 

 tains guided me five nules in a northwesterly direction, along a small 

 stream, to an old lead nunc. Eveiy where terraces appeared, as dis- 

 tinctly defined as any I have ever seen In the upper part of the Con- 

 necticut valley. In a small depression on our left, heaps of debris 

 marked where two tunnels were made, but the whole had been so long 

 neglected, that In some places the rock had fallen in, and in others 

 the Avooden supports for the hanging Avails were completely decayed 

 and ready to fall from their own Aveight. The few specimens Ave 

 could gather, all shoAved that the lead ore (bi-sulphuret of lead) 

 occurs in veins of quartz which intersect masses of syenite. With 

 the lead there is also seen much pyrites, both in the quartz veins and 

 in the syenites on either side. 



