JIMBo : GEOLOGY OF JAPANESE SAKHALIN. I 3 



elevations on the other side of the river, that is to say, along the eastern sea-coast, 

 can be seen only on the lower course of the river. 



The so-called Tundra * of the plain of Poronai is a flat land, occupying its 

 greater part and covered with lichens {Cladonia, Stereocaulon, etc.) and mosses 

 {Sphagnum, Polytrichiiim, etc.). besides shrubs snchzis Ledum pahistre, Vaccinium 

 hirtum, Betula nana, and so forth, also a remarkably crippled form of Larix 

 dahurica. The tundra is more or less wet with the brown water of bogs, on which 

 the pedestrian sink^ into a depth of at least one third of a meter. Close to the side of 

 flowing water, however, drainage is complete, and no character of tundra is there 

 observable, and we find forests of coniferous as well as broad-leaf trees. The ground 

 was frozen in the ver>' height of summer below the depth of more than one meter, at 

 a tundra just on the west side of Sakai, and also on the eastern bank of the Poronai, 

 about 8 km. (direct distance) below Sakai. In the midst of the tundras, there are 

 often found heaths where the ground is more dr\\ Among the low mountains and 

 in valleys, also on the sides of the timdras, there are extensive heaths. 



The large lagoon-lake of Taraika on the north coast of Patience bay has a 

 long spit, across which a little boat may be dragged by those, who want to pass from 

 the bay by the shortest distance into the lake, and then over the narrow land on 

 the west side up to the Tarankotan river. 



The southern part of the ^ledian Depression, occupied b}* the plains with the 

 rivers Susuya and Takoi, shows the character of vegetation different from that on the 

 Poronai, there being observed no tundra, though heaths are found at ^litslyofka 

 and other places. The whole region is a plain, with low terrace-lands lining 

 some of the hills, but without high cliffs of rock, extending right down to the 

 river side. Cultivation is going on in the former Russian settlements, which 

 makes a great contrast with the wet and sterile character of the main part of the 

 Poronai plain. The principal lands selected to introduce immigrants from Japan 

 are mostly found on the lower course of the rivers, Susu\'a. ROtaka, and Xaibuchi ; 

 and on the low plateau to the west of the Tunnaicha lake. 



Xo marked feature revealing any fault character of the Median Depression has 

 been yet recognized. The presence of volcanic rocks just on the bank of the 

 Poronai river is however remarkable. 



The two bays. Patience and Aniwa, may here be treated in connection with 

 the Median Depression on land. These are the only two large bays in Sakhalin, 



* "We possess no particular Japanese wonl for such a sort of land. The Enssians call it 

 " Tundra," which wok! ■was introduced to us, after our making acquaintance -writh it after 

 the war. This word is naturally often corrupted by the Ja^xinese iuto Ts>in-do-ra .' 



