TRUE VOLCANOES, 351 



fer (Wilhelm Heine, Seise nach Japan, 1856, bd. ii., s. 4). 

 The upheaval of this conical mountain is recorded in the fifth 

 year of the reign of Mikado VI. (286 years before our era) 

 in these (geognostically remarkable) words : ' In the country 

 of Omi.a considerable quantity of land sinks, an inland lake 

 is formed, and the volcano Fusi makes its appearance.' The 

 most violent historically recorded eruptions within the Chris- 

 tian era are those of 799, 800, 863, 937, 1032, 1083, and 

 1707": since the latter period the mountain has been tranquil. 

 (2) The volcano of Asama jama, the most central of the act- 

 ive volcanoes in the interior of the country, distant 80 geo- 

 graphical miles from the south-southeast, 52 miles from the 

 north-northwest coast, in the district of Saku (province of 

 Sinano), lat 36 22', long. 138 38' ; thus lying between 

 the meridians of the two capitals, Mijako and Jeddo. The 

 Asa'ma jama had an eruption as early as the year 864, con- 

 temporaneously with the Fusi jama ; that of the month of 

 July, 1783, was particularly violent and destructive. Since 

 that time the Asama jama has maintained a constant state 

 of activity. 



" Besides these volcanoes two other small islands with 

 smoking craters have been observed by European mariners, 

 namely, (3) the small island of Ivogasima, or Ivosima (sima 

 signifies island, and ivo sulphur ; ga is merely an affix mark- 

 ing the nominative), Krusenstern's lie du Volcan, south of 

 Kiu-siu, in Van Diemen's Strait, 30 43' N. lat, and 130 

 18' E. long., distant only fifty-four miles from the above- 

 mentioned volcano of Mi take ; the height of the volcano is 

 2364 feet (715 met.). This island is mentioned byLinscho- 

 ten, so early as 1596, in these words : ' The island has a vol- 

 cano, which is a sulphur, or fiery mountain.' It occurs also 

 on the* oldest Dutch sea-charts under the name of Vulcanus 

 (Fr. von Siebold, Atlas von Jap. Seiche, tab. xi.). Krusen- 

 stern saw it smoking in 1804, as did Captain Blake in 1838, 

 and Gue'rin and De la Roche Poncie in 1846. The height 

 of the cone, according to the latter navigator, is 2345 feet 

 (715 met.). The rocky islet mentioned as a volcano by 

 Landgrebe in the Naturgeschichte der Vulkane (bd. i., s. 355), 

 and which, according to Kampfer, is near Firato (Firando), 

 is undoubtedly Ivo-sima, for the group to which Ivo-sima 

 belongs is called Kiusiu ku, sima, i. e., the nine islands of Kiu- 

 siu, and not the ninety-nine islands. A group of this de- 

 scription occurs near Firato, northward of Nagasaki, and no- 

 where else in Japan. (4) The island of Ohosima (Barne- 



