CHINA, MONGOLIA, AND JAPAN. 107 



The third line is that of the island of Sagalin (Krafto), which, trending due north 

 and south, would seem to determine the N. S. course of the western coast line of 

 Yesso, and the N. S. trend of Nippon from its northern point to the Bay of .Yedo. 



I have already referred the N. E. line of uplift to the Sinian system of eleva- 

 tion, in a previous chapter ; the N. W. trend affecting, as it does, the oldest meta- 

 morphic rocks, is perhaps older, and the N. S. trend younger. 



Neighhorhood of Nagasald, on the West Coast of the Island of Kiusiu. 



This port is at the head of a long narrow inlet, or fiord, which has nearly a 

 N. E., S. W. trend, and lies between long ridges, the peaks of which rise to between 

 1,000 and 2,000 feet above the sea. The skeleton rocks of these hills are meta- 

 morphic strata. These were mica schist dipping vertically, in both the ridges where 

 they were examined, northwest and southeast from the city, and argillaceous and 

 talco-argillaceous schists, with some limestone, where the eastern ridge was seen 

 near its southern end, opposite the island of Kabasima, On this island the trend 

 of the strata is nearly N., S,, and they are traversed by a broad belt of granite 

 bearing fragments of the schists near the planes of contact. On the island Amaksa, 

 a few miles further east, crystalline, white limestone, and a fine sandstone are 

 quarried. 



The greater part of the country, in the neighborhood of Nagasaki, is covered, to 

 the summits of the highest hiUs, with an extensive pluto-neptunian deposit, resem- 

 bling in general character the volcanic tufa-conglomerate of Yesso. 



In places along the eastern side of the bay, and on the islands at its mouth, the 

 rocks of a coal-bearing formation are exposed. Of these only a coarse, hard sand- 

 stone, with threads of coal was seen, as it was not permitted to foreigners to land 

 at any of these localities. The position of these beds, however, is such as to make 

 it probable, that the rocks of this coal basin rest immediately, and nonconformably, 

 on the metamorphic strata before mentioned. 



In the terraces which in places fringe this coast, we have again evidence of 

 oscillations in level, since the beginning of the volcanic epoch. The terraces are 

 very tufaceous, and seem to be of more recent deposition than the conglomerate 

 that covers the higher hills. 



Bay of Yedo. 



Nearly all the country included within the treaty limits, or radius of twenty-five 

 miles from Yokohama, which area alone is accessible to foreigners, is of recent 

 formation. A bluff, from 60 to 100 feet high, of bluish clay containing recent 

 shells, and fragments of pumice, with an upper stratum of more gravelly character, 

 faces the bay. From the summit of this bluff a plain of the same deposit extends 

 westward, about twenty miles, rising gently, till the mountains of Oyama. I was 

 not permitted to ascend these moimtains, but from the gravels of the streams 

 descending from them I judged them to be metamorphic. The fragments seen 

 'were of diorite, gabbro, and serpentine. 



