i6 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



masses of mica-,talc-, chlorite-schist, serpentine, and marble,~whose 

 presence on both sides of the Bungo Nada I was the first to prove, 

 and which can be followed through all Shikoku and the peninsula 

 of Yamato,— have been since then found in all parts of the country ; 

 but this formation appears to be most extensively developed in 

 Shikoku, where, according to Naumann, it composes the highest 

 peaks. 



Then follow, according to age, different strata of clay-shale, 

 greywacke, quartzite and lime-stone, all of which, like the crys- 

 talline shales, often exhibit marked faults — and until now, with 

 the exception of the varieties of lime, have yielded no fossil 

 contents, and therefore A> data for a nearer determination of their 

 age ; so that they must for the present be grouped together as 

 palaeozoic strata. The lime-formations exhibit in various localities 

 rich enclosures of Fusulines and other characteristic petrifications, 

 which establish beyond a doubt that they belong to the carbon- 

 iferous formation/^ 



In 1874, through the discovery of petrifactions in the brown 

 Jurassic formation of the province Kaga, I furnished the first 

 proofs regarding the existence of mesozoic strata, an indication 

 which has been followed by countless others, so that now there is 

 no doubt as to the appearance also of trias and chalk. 



Miocene and pliocene conglomerates, sandstone, slate clays, 

 peat, volcanic tufas, and sea-sand, with many fragments of marine 

 shells or a rich land-flora, lie in many places among the older 

 mountain ridges already mentioned, and especially in proximity 

 to the sea, along the coasts and inlets, or in the plains which long 

 ago arose from the ocean itself. Of eocene formations, however, 

 as well as of the diluvian, there has not yet been any certain in- 

 dication. 



The oldest eruptions, — which have in many places broken through 

 the metamorphic and palseontological strata, and overlie them, 

 — were of granite, which is very widespread. For example, in 

 central Hondo (or Honshiu), it forms a large part of the higher 

 mountains ; the border range between Shinano and Hida, parti- 

 cularly, being a case in point. In the Komagatake of Kai, the 

 granite reaches a height of 3,000 metres. A great number of 

 other mountains of respectable height are also composed of it, 

 and it underlies many others. 



Later volcanic formations with almost greater frequency break 

 through most varied complexes of strata, and in many cases over- 

 lie them, as they do the granite. Thus they 'often compose the 

 tops of peaks, or they appear along the mountain side as isolated 

 advanced outposts, in the usual conical shape. Among these the 

 most prominent is Fuji-san, or Fuji-no-yama. This *'mons ex- 

 celsus et singularis" (Kaempfer) lifts its head (3,750 meters) far 



* See the first volume of this work, p. 38, and Naumann, pp. 12 ff. 



