132 THE KII COAST. 



Shocks of earthquake are frequent throughout 

 Japan. On one occasion, when just going off to sleep, 

 in a Buddhist temple, I heard a rumbling sound like 

 distant thunder, which appeared to come down the 

 valley. I had just time to think it a strange occur- 

 rence on a cloudless starlight night, when the temple 

 appeared to receive a sharp violent kick from directly 

 underneath, lifting me nearly off the floor. A cock 

 pheasant at the same moment crowed most energeti- 

 cally, evidently as much surprised as I was. On 

 another occasion, when waiting at the edge of a forest 

 for deer, which I expected would leave the cover 

 towards sunset to feed on the open mountain, the ridge 

 opposite me seemed to sway backwards and forwards, 

 causing a most uncomfortable sensation ; but it was 

 really the ground on which I stood that moved, and 

 conveyed the very disagreeable impression. Houses 

 at Kobe were split up by this shock ; and the Sylvia, 

 lying a quarter of a mile off the shore, quivered as if 

 the cable was running out. The same evening, about a 

 couple of hours afterwards, the temple I was staying in 

 rattled as if it was coming to pieces. 



The hills and mountains of this peninsula are 

 covered with wood. The crests of the higher ranges 

 are about 5000 feet above the sea, the highest peak. 



