180 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 



is not continuous, and partly because the sulphur indications are con- 

 cealed by later deposits. The region, moreover, is much faulted. 



According to Professor Kemp, the common methods of mining are 

 of the crudest description. In most cases the deposits are reached by 

 steep slopes or circular stairways (" scala"), with wide steps, up which 

 boys laboriously l)ring the crude rock in l)askets or sacks. No mine 

 maps are made, and no precautions taken to work beds on a systematic 

 scale. Timbering or any supports for the roof are not generally 

 thought of. A feeling of distrust prevails between the owners of the 

 land and the operators, and between the latter and the miners. 



These objectionable features arise partly from the irregular nature 

 and uncertainty of the deposits, partly from excessive subdivision of 

 ownership and ill-adapted property laws, and partly from the local 

 prejudices against innovations. Even in one case where an American 

 and an Englishman in partnership secured the right to work a mine, 

 and set about installing suitable hoisting machinery, they were ham- 

 pered by a lawsuit with the owner because of this innovation, and 

 had a long legal contention to establish their undoubted rights. It is 

 a striking fact that in the new developments in Japan, on a remote 

 island and against great natural difficulties, the most modern methods 

 and management prevail, while in Sicily, in the center of the oldest 

 civilization, these are to a great extent of the crudest. 



The Japanese sulphur deposits are all of volcanic origin, and the 

 Abosanobori mine (Specimen No. 61941, U.S.N.M.), in Kushiro village, 

 Kawakami-gori, Kushiro Province, Hokkaido, may be taken as fairly 

 typical. The mine is on a conical-shaped mountain of augite andesite 

 which, on its northern side is open, and looks down upon a plain cov- 

 ered with lava and shut in by the walls of the old crater on the other 

 sides. Sulphur is found in different parts of these walls in massive 

 heaps and sulphur fumes still issue nearly everywhere about the mines. 

 The ore as taken from the mines carries from 35 per cent to 90 per 

 cent of sulphur, which is extracted by steam refining works at Hyocha, 

 some 35 miles north of the mine. ' 



Other Japanese localities represented in the collection are the 

 Aroya mines, at Onikobe village, Rikuzen Province (Specimen No. 

 61945, U.S.N.M.), relined sulphur from the Mitsui Production Com- 

 pany at Tokio (Specimen No. 61944, U.S.N.M.), and the active vol- 

 cano of Icvo-San, in Yezo (Specimen No. 72801, U.S.N.M.). 



In addition to these localities may be mentioned the following, in 

 alphabetical order: Austria, Celebes, Egypt, France, Greece, Hawaii, 

 Iceland, Italy, Mexico (Specimens Nos. 57136 and 57137 from Popo- 

 catepetl), New South Wales, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Spain, and 

 the West Indies (Specimen No. 33309, U.S.N.M.). 



^The Mining Industry of Japan, by Wada Tsunashiro, 1893. 



