496 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, it was scarcely above the horizon*. It is certainly not so high as 
Onnodake, which, to a person at the surface of the sea, would be just 
May, visible at the distance of thirty-four miles. He is also mistaken in 
supposing it the only peak on the island. 
These heights appear to be gained by ascents of moderate eleva- 
tion only. In no part did we perceive any hills so abrupt that 
they could not be turned to account by the agriculturist. The cen- 
tre of the island, or perhaps a line drawn a little to the westward of 
it, is the most elevated part of the country. Still the island is not 
divided by a ridge, but by a number of rounded eminences, for the 
most part of the same elevation, with valleys between them ; so that 
when viewed at a distance the island appears to have a very level 
surface. In a Chinese plan of Loo Choo all these eminences are 
occupied by palaces and by courts of the king. The higher parts of 
the island are, in general, surmounted by trees, generally of the pinus 
massoniana, and the cycas; though they are sometimes bare, or at 
most clothed with a diminutive and useless vegetation. It not unfre- 
quently happens that stnall precipices occur near the summits of the 
hills, and that large blocks of a coral-like substance are seen lying as if 
they had been left there by the sea. This substance, of which all the 
rocky parts of the island that we examined were composed, is a cel- 
lular or granular limestone, bearing a great resemblance to coral, for 
which it might easily be mistaken. It has a very rugged surface, not 
unlike silex macli^re. Lieutenant Belcher found sandstone of a loose 
texture, enclosing balls of blue marl, and in one instance interstratified 
wdth it in alternate seams with the coral formation. This formation 
constituted part of a reef, dry at low water. In the marl he found 
cylindrical and elongated cones, similar to the belemnite, of a light 
colour, and occasionally crystallizations of calcareous spar. 
The precipices inland, as well as those which form cliffs upon the 
coast, are hollowed out beneath, as if they had been subjected to the 
action of the waves. Upon the sea-coast this has no doubt been the 
Klaproth’s M6moires relatifs a I’Asie, tom. ii. p. ITS. 
