3° 2 



The National Geographic Magazine 



THE WIND GOD IN IEMITSU S MAUSOLEUM 



region became alternate strata of lava 

 and tufa, broken here and there by earth- 

 quakes of tremendous power. And out 

 of this frightful desolation and disorder 

 lias come the exceptional beauty of 

 Nik-ko ! Every waterfall there tumbles 



off from a lava bed, and wherever pos- 

 sible cuts down through the underlying 

 tufa and flows along on the next lower 

 lava shelf. 



It adds tenfold to the enjoyment of 

 seeing the finest waterfall in Japan, 

 Kegon, if you only notice how it was 

 made. It is one huge spout of water 

 about 20 feet in diameter jumping about 

 250 feet into the pool below. From top 

 to bottom it is white with foam, and, as 

 it falls, from its edges shoot off comet-like 

 bunches of water with spreading tails of 

 thinner foam, until the whole has passed 

 the lava cliff a hundred feet thick. When 

 to the beauty of this magnificent column 

 of water-foam is added the beauty of a 

 fringe of baby waterfalls bursting from 

 the underlying tufa, and half encircling 

 -the giant spout, they all together take the 

 final plunge of a hundred feet more : and 

 when the gorgeous foliage of the ravine 

 bends across the gorge, so that against 

 this spotless white foam you can see the 

 shapes of the branches and leaves, you 

 have a picture the memory of which 

 abides forever with every lover of nature. 



In descending the ravine to the place 

 where Kegon looks its best, we pass close 

 to one of the tufa strata, from the holes 

 of which shoot out water enough to make 

 a powerful, roaring stream, and this cas- 

 cade in turn makes another famed water- 

 fall called Haku-un, the White Cloud. 

 The photograph plainly shows the thick 

 lava above and the innumerable streams 

 breaking out where the lava meets the 

 tufa. 



Coming down from Chuzenji to 

 Nik-ko any one can see lavas and tufas 

 alternating where the mountain sides 

 have been denuded by storms or broken 

 by earthquakes. I saw seven such strata 

 in one place, and it was that sight which 

 gave me the key to the beautv of Nik-ko. 

 At one of the tea-houses on the road are 

 seen two charming falls in the distant 

 ravines tumbling off thin lava beds. They 

 have cut through one tufa bed and are 

 flowing along on the lava bed, from which 

 they tumble clown to another. The 

 stream that flows through Nik-ko is con- 



