THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. VI. 



No. VIII.— AUGUST, 1879. 



OEIGIUAL AETICLES. 



I. — A Cruise among the Volcanos of the Kttrile Islands. 



By Professor John Milne, F.G.S., 



Imperial College of Engineering, Tedo, Japan. 



(PLATE IX.) 

 fHHE following notes upon the Kuriles were collected during an 



I excursion which I made to these islands in the summer of 1878. 

 Owing to a continuance of foggy weather, which I do not think 

 would find its equal even in Newfoundland, the want of harbours, 

 and the strong currents, although I was almost a month steaming 

 amongst these islands, it was seldom that we could effect a landing. 

 In consequence of this the bulk of the material embodied in the 

 following notes was written from what I saw from the deck of our 

 vessel. However, as I had good opportunities for seeing nearly 

 every island in the group, and many of these from several points of 

 view, the following notes may not be altogether without value. 

 One advantage which was gained by viewing these islands from a 

 distance was, that I was thereby better able to judge of the number, 

 and the general form of the mountains they contained, and to 

 roughly make comparisons of their relative heights, thau I could 

 have done had I been actually on the islands themselves. 



In a few cases I endeavoured to estimate the heights by .means of 

 sextant observations. I also made many measurements of the slopes 

 of the mountains which I saw ; but as these were made with a small 

 hand clinometer from the deck of a rolling ship, these measurements 

 must only be regarded as rough approximations. 



I have spoken of several of these volcanos as conical, but it must 

 be understood that this, in many cases, only indicates a general form, 

 the true form of the slopes being approximately logarithmic. 



In the majority of cases the mountains and different portions of 

 these islands are without names, and I have therefore had to describe 

 them by their positions. 



We finished our journey northwards at the southern extremity of 

 Kamschatka, which is terminated with high black snow-capped 

 peaks, looking as cold, cheerless, and uninviting as the most dreary 

 part of Iceland. 



Commencing from the north we first have Shumashi or Pervi 

 Island. This is the most northern of the Kuriles, and it is separated 

 from Kamschatka by the Kurile Straits, which are about eight miles 

 wide. Towards the south it is separated from Paramushir by the 



DECADE II.— VOL. VI. NO. VIII. 22 



