One Fissure
Was Completely Lined With Exquisite, Acicular Crystals Of Sulphur,
Which Perished With A Touch.
Lower down there were two hot springs
with a deposit of sulphur round their margins, and bubbles of gas,
which, from its strong, garlicky smell, I suppose to be
sulphuretted hydrogen.
Farther progress in that direction was
impossible without a force of pioneers. I put my arm down several
deep crevices which were at an altitude of only about 500 feet, and
had to withdraw it at once, owing to the great heat, in which some
beautiful specimens of tropical ferns were growing. At the same
height I came to a hot spring - hot enough to burst one of my
thermometers, which was graduated above the boiling point of
Fahrenheit; and tying up an egg in a pocket-handkerchief and
holding it by a stick in the water, it was hard boiled in 8.5
minutes. The water evaporated without leaving a trace of deposit
on the handkerchief, and there was no crust round its margin. It
boiled and bubbled with great force.
Three hours more of exhausting toil, which almost knocked up the
horses, brought us to the apparent ridge, and I was delighted to
find that it consisted of a lateral range of tufa cones, which I
estimate as being from 200 to 350, or even 400 feet high. They are
densely covered with trees of considerable age, and a rich deposit
of mould; but their conical form is still admirably defined. An
hour of very severe work, and energetic use of the knife on the
part of the Aino, took me to the top of one of these through a mass
of entangled and gigantic vegetation, and I was amply repaid by
finding a deep, well-defined crateriform cavity of great depth,
with its sides richly clothed with vegetation, closely resembling
some of the old cones in the island of Kauai. This cone is
partially girdled by a stream, which in one place has cut through a
bank of both red and black volcanic ash. All the usual phenomena
of volcanic regions are probably to be met with north of Shiraoi,
and I hope they will at some future time be made the object of
careful investigation.
In spite of the desperate and almost overwhelming fatigue, I have
enjoyed few things more than that "exploring expedition." If the
Japanese have no one to talk to they croon hideous discords to
themselves, and it was a relief to leave Ito behind and get away
with an Aino, who was at once silent, trustworthy, and faithful.
Two bright rivers bubbling over beds of red pebbles run down to
Shiraoi out of the back country, and my directions, which were
translated to the Aino, were to follow up one of these and go into
the mountains in the direction of one I pointed out till I said
"Shiraoi." It was one of those exquisite mornings which are seen
sometimes in the Scotch Highlands before rain, with intense
clearness and visibility, a blue atmosphere, a cloudless sky, blue
summits, heavy dew, and glorious sunshine, and under these
circumstances scenery beautiful in itself became entrancing.
The trailers are so formidable that we had to stoop over our
horses' necks at all times, and with pushing back branches and
guarding my face from slaps and scratches, my thick dogskin gloves
were literally frayed off, and some of the skin of my hands and
face in addition, so that I returned with both bleeding and
swelled. It was on the return ride, fortunately, that in stooping
to escape one great liana the loop of another grazed my nose, and,
being unable to check my unbroken horse instantaneously, the loop
caught me by the throat, nearly strangled me, and in less time than
it takes to tell it I was drawn over the back of the saddle, and
found myself lying on the ground, jammed between a tree and the
hind leg of the horse, which was quietly feeding. The Aino, whose
face was very badly scratched, missing me, came back, said never a
word, helped me up, brought me some water in a leaf, brought my
hat, and we rode on again. I was little the worse for the fall,
but on borrowing a looking-glass I see not only scratches and
abrasions all over my face, but a livid mark round my throat as if
I had been hung! The Aino left portions of his bushy locks on many
of the branches. You would have been amused to see me in this
forest, preceded by this hairy and formidable-looking savage, who
was dressed in a coat of skins with the fur outside, seated on the
top of a pack-saddle covered with a deer hide, and with his hairy
legs crossed over the horse's neck - a fashion in which the Ainos
ride any horses over any ground with the utmost serenity.
It was a wonderful region for beauty. I have not seen so beautiful
a view in Japan as from the river-bed from which I had the first
near view of the grand assemblage of tufa cones, covered with an
ancient vegetation, backed by high mountains of volcanic origin, on
whose ragged crests the red ash was blazing vermilion against the
blue sky, with a foreground of bright waters flashing through a
primeval forest. The banks of these streams were deeply excavated
by the heavy rains, and sometimes we had to jump three and even
four feet out of the forest into the river, and as much up again,
fording the Shiraoi river only more than twenty times, and often
making a pathway of its treacherous bed and rushing waters, because
the forest was impassable from the great size of the prostrate
trees. The horses look at these jumps, hold back, try to turn, and
then, making up their minds, suddenly plunge down or up. When the
last vestige of a trail disappeared, I signed to the Aino to go on,
and our subsequent "exploration" was all done at the rate of about
a mile an hour.
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