40 
Fig. 11. Distant view of the pure stand of Picta polita near Lake Yaruanaka; the foreground 
shows a cultivation of Morus alba Linn. (Photographed by the author). 
Picea-formation is, after all, nothing but one of the forest-patches 
which flourish upon the porous lava of the stream. 
Travelling along the base of the mountain on the north 
flank, one can not miss the noble forest of dark, green Coni- 
fers which extend over a distance of 2000 m., with a breadth 
of 1000 m. When I was journeying along this side, my attention 
was at once called to this great forest. On examining this se- 
cluded region, I found, to my astonishment, that it consists of a 
pure stand of Picea polita. This species is not rare on this 
mountain at rather high elevations, mixed with Abies bicolor 
and Tsuga Sieboldi. But to find its pure stand, so much 
broader than is seen elsewhere in the Empire, is something more 
than surprising. 
The ground of this formation is all formed by large blocks 
of lava which are very porous in their structure, and very 
jagged in their surface. These characters of the lava have a 
very important relation to the forest-formation upon it. Moreover, 
underground water is plentifully supplied here by the adjacent 
lake. The Katsuragawa, an outlet of the lake, flows through 
this area of lava. Nothing is here wanting to make a luxuriant 
o o 
