Sept. 28, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



33: 



official, already on his way back from the scene, drew 

 plan after plan of the catastrophe for us with his pen and 

 little box of water-colours, as deftly and rapidly as only 

 a Japanese can. At four o'clock we left him and pushed 

 on round the lake, over a road so bad that it was con- 



uninjured side of the mountain that we proposed to 

 ascend, and for the first five miles our road was smooth 

 and shaded, leading us through pleasant ascents and 

 between cultivated fields. Then we struck off into the 

 short green scrub, and three miles of this, along a 



THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE. 



stantly necessary to walk, until at last it degenerated into 

 a mere path among the narrow paddy-fields. 



On reaching Inawashiro at last, at the farther end ot 

 the lane, we found that accommodation, not palatial 

 perhaps, as the village is a small and poor one, but 

 much the best to be had, was provided for us. 



narrow track used by the peasants when cutting fodder 

 for their horses, brought us to the beginning of the 

 ascent proper. The climb now became really fatiguing ; 

 it was so steep that an alpenstock was almost necessary, 

 and occasionally hands had to come to the rescue of feet ; 

 the path wound in and out round trees and over torrents 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER. 



The village of Inawashiro, from which we started next 

 morning, is situated at the base of the volcano opposite 

 to that on which the violence of the eruption expended 

 itself, and therefore it escaped injury. It was up this 



and stones; recent rains had made it slippery with mud, 

 and all the while a tropical sun was beating straight 

 down upon our heads. 



For an hour and a half, too, there were no mire suns 



