5IO ROBERT ANDERSON 



highest point cannot be reached as it is an isolated monument of 

 andesitic lava loo feet high and having slopes of from 60 to 75 degrees 

 on its sides. 



The western flank of Neko-dake extends down most of the way to 

 the crater floor, forming a depression in the central ridge 2,000 to 

 2,500 feet deep, so that the peak is left as an isolated pyramid with 

 truncated, broken summit. The top is 4,800 feet above the level 

 of the sea, and not much over 2,500 feet above the highest portion of 

 the floor. 



Beyond the gap just mentioned the central ridge continues west- 

 ward and rises immediately into Taka-dake, the highest peak of all. 

 It has an elevation of 5,600 feet, and rises some 4,000 feet above the 

 plain at its base. The next peak, Naka-dake, is a somewhat lower 

 one, on the southwest flank of Taka-dake, sHghtly out of line with the 

 general east and west sum.mit line of the ridge. Its shape is somewhat 

 like that of a half dome, and it presents on the south side of its summit 

 a broken precipice of black lava. 



At the western base of the last two peaks the modern crater is 

 situated, at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the sea. The range 

 declines still more just west of this, forming a depression in its central 

 portion. (See left of Fig. 3 and right of Fig. 5.) This depression is by 

 no means as low, however, as the one between Neko-dake and Taka- 

 dake, and does not tend to break the continuity of the range as that 

 one does. The surface of the range here is a widfe upland covered 

 with curious small steep mounds of volcanic debris. 



The north and south flanks of the range sweep down with con- 

 cave slopes into the wide level floor. They are furrowed by sharp 

 ravines and intervening ridges that gradually lose their prominence 

 among the gentler slopes toward the base. The slopes are not 

 usually very steep, and are for the most part covered with soil and 

 long grass. They afford little water, and are uncultivated and 

 uninhabited. 



Basaltic andesite of varying compact, cystalline and scoriaceous 

 texture is the chief material of which the central ridge is built up. In 

 the vicinity of the higher peaks exposures of lava are very prominent 

 Over the lower, more gentle slopes, outcrops are infrequent. Deposits 

 of ashes and pumice are scattered far and wide. 



