hy Alexander von Humboldt. xxvii 



of being- recorded, as in the expedition of La Perouse there 

 were found red porous lavas, as well as wide areas, covered with 

 slags, in the Baie des Castries, in the narrow island of Krafto 

 (Saghalien), which is, as it were, merely a continuation of 

 Yesso. In our own day these regions command a higher 

 interest, from a political point of view, more especially since 

 Russia, dissatisfied with the situation of Okhotsk, at the 

 sanded mouth of the A moor, was anxious, after the destruc- 

 tion of Petropaulowski, on the coast of Kamtschatka, 

 to obtain, on the S. E. coast, a harbour suitable for a military 

 station. 



Among the three islands which form the main portion of 

 the Japanese Empire, six volcanoes are known to have had 

 eruptions in the historic period. The volcano, Fusi Jama, 

 in Niphon, province of Suruga (Lat. 35° 18' N., Long. 

 136° 15' E., altitude 11,675 feet), is said to have risen out 

 of the plain 286 years before the Christian era. Its last 

 eruption was in 1707. The volcano, Asama Tama, in the 

 district of Saka, between the meridians of the two capitals, 

 Miaco and Jeddo, was last in eruption in 1783. On the 

 island of Kiusiu, adjoining the peninsula of Corea, four 

 volcanoes are situated, from one of which, called Wanzen, 

 there was a most destructive eruption in 1793. 



The beautiful work of Commodore Perry, U.S.N., detail- 

 ing his mission to Japan, on the part of the United States 

 Government, in 1852, containing excellent photographs of 

 races, as also drawings by the Berlin artist, Wilhelm Heine, 



