The Ascent of Asama-Yama. 193 



midnight stars they struggled up the height of "Hard 

 Scramble," with no eye upon them save that of the 

 Omnipotent, laboring to win their victory over Asama 

 only to throw themselves as victims upon her altar! 

 What did they think, when they were thus by themselves, 

 face to face one with the other, separate from the 

 rest of the world through the awful resolution which 

 bound them together? They thought only of the dis- 

 honor which had come upon them by failure at an 

 examination and of their purpose of cleansing away the 

 stain by death. This is the spirit of the old Japan mani- 

 fest under the forms of the new. 



It is always safe to go around three sides of the crater, 

 always a little dangerous to go along the fourth side — 

 the side toward which the wind is blowing. But there 

 were two of us in the party, young men, alert and 

 athletic, who had also some scientific interests to further, 

 who felt that the excursion would be well worth whatever 

 danger was involved. Upon this day the southwest side 

 was the dangerous one. 



We set out with camera and field-glass, and ran for 

 a short distance during the lull between two gusts of 

 steam and sulphur. Then we lay flat, buried our faces 

 in the loose lava, drew whatever air we could out of the 

 ground, and waited until the way was clear for another 

 dash. Between these dashes we obtained some excellent 

 pictures and were able several times to see at close range 

 the movements of the elements in the gulf beneath. Our 

 friends watched us from a high point of vantage upon 

 the other side. The whole period of time occupied by 

 the run through the sulphurous clouds was some twenty- 

 five minutes. When we came forth, our eyes were almost 

 blinded for a time, and our throats and nostrils were so 

 burned that they did not recover for two weeeks. But 

 we would not have missed the round trip for a much 

 greater amount of discomfort than we actually suffered. 



After the encircling of the crater came breakfast, to 

 which, in spite of the sulphur, we were ready to do 



