PEALE.] JAPANESE THERMAL SPRINGS. 345 



CHAPTER VII. 



THERMAL SPRINGS OF JAPAN, FORMOSA, MALAYSIA, AUSTRALASIA, AND 



POLYNESIA. 



South of the peninsula of Kamtschatka the Kurile Islands, the Jap- 

 anese Islands and Formosa form the connecting links between its vol- 

 canoes and the intense volcanic centers of the Eastern Archipelago. 

 Each also has its thermal springs, as we would naturally expect. The 

 Kurile Islands have ten volcanoes, but of its springs we have no de- 

 tails. The chain of islands, extending from Bering's Strait to the Ant- 

 arctic Circle, contains 150 volcanoes, according to Judd,* and if those 

 of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific islands which are adjacent, are 

 added, this system includes half of the active vents of the globe. Here, 

 then, we look for thermal springs, and we are not disappointed. The 

 catalogue we present, however, is but a list of the localities actu- 

 ally known and described. The islands of the Eastern Archipelago 

 have been but partially investigated, and yet we know that its vol- 

 canic ranges abound in hot springs, although the localities cannot be 

 specified, the majority of travelers merely mentioning the fact of their 

 existence without any details, omitting, in most cases, both names and 

 temperatures. The interior parts of many of the islands also have never 

 been visited, and of the smaller islands a large number have not even 

 been touched by the explorer's feet. It will not, therefore, be surpris- 

 ing if future investigation should add immensely to the catalogue of 

 springs that we present in connection with this chapter. 



From Japan to Formosa t the volcanic band turns to the westward, 

 and the proximity of the island to the Chinese coast may account for 

 the springs near Macao and Foo-chow-choo in China. 



Between the continent and the islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra 

 a shallow sea exists. Borneo is not volcanic, and, as far as known, has 

 no thermal springs, the line apparently passing to the westward through 

 the Celebes. 



JAPANESE THERMAL SPRINGS. 



As just mentioned, Japan is considered as one of the links in the 

 volcanic band that extends from the Aleutian Islands through Kam- 

 tschatka and Formosa southward to the islands of the Eastern Archipel- 

 ago, where it widens out very considerably. Japan has twenty-five vol- 

 canoes,! ^"d is said to have veritable geysers ; but I can find no de- 

 scription of any that are more than pseudo-geysers. Our knowledge of 

 the interior of Japan, however, is exceedingly limited. Boiling springs 

 are fouud at Urijnio, Ussina, and Wunzen. 



The following lists of Japanese springs are from the reports of Ben- 

 jamin S. Lyman, who has surveyed the oil lands of Jaj^an : 



* Formosa is subject to frequent earthquake shocks. 



tVolcanocs, «fec., by Jolin W. Jiuld, New York, 1881, p. 2.30. 



tFroiu the fifth century to the nineteenth, one hundred and forty-nine destructive 

 earthquakes are recorded in Jai)an. — Trans. Asiatic Soc. of Japan, Vol. VI, Part II, 

 1878, p. 271. 



