152 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 1 6, 1886 



of frugivorous birds. In Lunan's " Hortus Jamaicensis, ' 

 vol. ii. p. 67, published about the end of last century, it is 

 stated that " the usual method in forming a new pimento 

 plantation or ' pimento walk ' is nothing more than to 

 appropriate a piece of woodland in the neighbourhood of 

 a plantation already existing ; or, in a country where the 

 scattered trees are found in a native state, the woods of 

 which being fallen, the trees are suflered to remain on 

 the ground till they become rotten and perish. In the 

 course of twelve months after the first seasons (rains), 

 abundance of young pimento plants will be found growing 

 vigorously in all parts of the land, being without doubt 

 produced from ripe berries scattered there by the birds, 

 while the fallen trees, &c., afford them both shelter and 

 shade." In a foot-note it is added that "birds eagerly 

 devour the ripe seeds of the pimento, and, muting them, 

 propagate these trees in all parts of the woods. It is 

 thought that the seeds passing through them undergo 

 some fermentation which fits them better for vegetation 

 than those gathered immediately from the tree." The 

 present plan for forming pimento plantations in Jamaica 

 is exactly as described above. In fact, the planters firmly 

 believe that no other plan is likely to produce good pimento 

 walks, although it has been shown by experiments in the 

 Botanical Gardens that by careful treatment plants of 

 pimento can be raised in nurseries in large numbers, 

 exactly as any other economic plants. It remains, how- 

 ever, that all the present pimento plantations in Jamaica 

 have been formed by the action of frugivorous birds, and 

 to this agency alone we are indebted for the commercial 

 supply of a most valuable and wholesome spice. 



Kew, December 3 D. MoRRl.s 



SOUNDING A CRATER 

 "HP H E following is a brief account of my third ascent of 

 ■*• Asama Yama, an active volcano about 75 miles 

 north-west from Tokio. My first ascent was made in 

 the spring of 1S77. The time we stayed on the summit, 

 which is about SSoo feet above sea-level, was exceedingly 

 short. The crater looked like a bottomless pit, with per- 

 pendicular sides. It was audibly roaring, and belching 

 forth enormous volumes of sulphurous vapour, threaten- 

 ing suffocation to any living thing they might envelop. 

 The drifting of these vapours across the snow, with which 

 the upper part of the mountain was covered, had ren- 

 dered it so bitter that we were unable to use it as a means 

 of quenching our thirst. A quantity of this snow was 

 carried to the bottom of the mountain in a handkerchief, 

 where it was bottled, and carried to Tokio for chemical 

 examination. The examination, however, only yielded 

 pure water, from which it was concluded that the lique- 

 faction of the snow had been accomplished by heating 

 over a fire, and whatever it was that had given the snow 

 its peculiarly bitter taste had been evaporated. My 

 next visit to Asama was in the spring of 18S6. One of 

 the chief objects of this expedition was to satisfy a 

 curiosity which had arisen with regard to the depth of 

 the crater. Many visitors to the summit reported that at 

 favourable moments, when the wind had blown the 

 steam to one side, they had been able to see downwards 

 to an enormous depth. C)ne set of visitors, who had 

 remarkable opportunities for making observations, were 

 convinced that if the crater was not as deep as the moun- 

 tain is high above the plain from which it rises (5800 feet), 

 it must at least be from 1500 to 2000 feet in depth. Al- 

 though I had provided myself with sufficient wire and 

 rope to solve this problem, owing to the inclemency of 

 the weather and the quantity of snow then lying on the 

 mountain the expedition proved a failure. One of our 

 nuinber had to give up the attempt to reach the summit 

 at about 6000 feet above sea-le\'el, while I and my re- 

 maining companion only reached it with great difficulty. 

 Our stay was very short. The wind, which was at times so 



strong that we were often compelled to lie down, ren- 

 dered it impossible to approach the crater, and after a 

 few minutes' rest we beat a retreat, worn out with fatigue, 

 across the snow-fields, towards our starting-point. 



Two months after this, a visitor who ascended the 

 mountain by moonlight reported that the crater was only 

 200 feet in depth, and that at the bottom there was a 

 glowing surface. A second visitor, Colonel H. S. Palmer, 

 R.E., estimated the depth as being between 500 and 600 

 feet. This estimate was based on the convergence of the 

 walls of the crater, which he saw to the depth of about 

 300 feet, and the diameter of the crater, which he estimated 

 by walking round a semi-circumference as about 370 yards. 

 Previous estimates of the diameter had been 200 yards, 

 three-fourths of a mile, and 1000 metres. The Japanese 

 say that the periphery is 3I miles. These last estimates, 

 as pointed out by Colonel Palmer, are nearly in the ratio 

 of 10, Si, 85, and 150 ! 



These wildly discordant results as to the dimensions of 

 .Vsama, and the increasing curiosity on this question, led 

 me, in conjunction with Messrs. Dun, Glover, and Stevens, 

 to face the fatigue of ascending Asama for the third time. 

 We left our resting-place, Kutoukake, at the foot of the 

 mountain, at 4.30 a.m. on the morning of October 2, and 

 in company with five coolies we reached the summit at 

 1 1 a.m. .After a short rest, we commenced our measuring 

 operations, the general arrangements of which were en- 

 tirely the suggestion of Mr. Dun. When these are ex- 

 plained, they are no more remarkable than the manner in 

 which Columbus caused the egg to stand ; but before Mr. 

 Dun made his suggestion, the various schemes which were 

 proposed would, to my mind, have been unpractical and 

 unsatisfactory. One suggestion was to roll a cannon-ball, 

 with a string attached, down the crater ; another was to 

 shoot an arrow xarrying a string into the hole ; a third 

 suggestion was to fly a kite across the crater ; &c., &c. 



Mr. Dun's method, as carried out, was as follows : — 

 First, a light rope some 500 yards in length was attached 

 to a block of rock lying on a high portion of the rim of 

 the crater. Next, this rope, which I shall call the cross- 

 line, was carried round the edge of the crater for about 

 I 50 or 200 yards. Here a heavy brass ring was tied upon 

 it, and through the ring was passed the end of a copper 

 wire coiled on a large reel. This was the sounding-line. 

 Close to the ring, a string, which I shall call the guy- 

 rope, was made fast to the cross-line. This being com- 

 pleted, the cross-line was then carried on round the rim 

 of the crater until it reached an eminence, as near as we 

 could judge, opposite to the point where the other end of 

 it was attached to the block of rock. After this, the same 

 line was jerked clear of pinnacles and boulders lying 

 round the edge of the crater. The cross-line now formed 

 two sides of a triangle, stretching across the crater from 

 where the ring and lowering apparatus were to two points 

 diametrically opposite to each other. By letting out the 

 guy-rope, the cross-rope could be stretched until it formed 

 a diameter to the crater, with the ring in the middle. The 

 getting of these ropes into position was a matter of no 

 little difficulty. First was the fact that clouds of vapours 

 not only prevented us from seeing from station to station, 

 but also from seeing far out into the crater. Secondly, 

 on account of the hissing and bubbling noises in the 

 crater itself, we could only communicate with each other 

 by sound for short distances. And, thirdly, there was the 

 difficulty of clearing the cross-rope from the ragged edges 

 of the crater, which involved considerable risks in climb- 

 ing. All being ready, word was passed along to haul on 

 the cross-rope ; and, as it tightened, the guy-line was let 

 out, together with the sounding-line, running parallel to 

 it, but passing through the ring. Owing to the twisting 

 of the cross-line by tension, and the consequent revolu- 

 tion of the ring, the wire was broken, and the first 

 attempt at sounding failed. This difficulty was overcome 

 by attaching the guy-rope to the ring itself. Very luckily, 



