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LAKE BIVA. 873
bubblings everywhere. On the slopes of the hollow stood a few stone idols. A
couple of men were gathering sulphur." *
West of the Hida range the horizon is broken by the Siro-yama, or Haku-san,
that is, " White Mountain," which is so called from its abundant snows, and which
was the scene of eruptions in 1239 and again in 1554. Owing to the generally
colder climate of the west side of Hondo, the Haku-san,while 3,000 feet lower than
Fuzi, receives a far greater quantity of snow, and its upper crevasses remain
streaked with white throughout the summer months. According
to a local
tradition, it has never been entirely free from snow for the last two hundred years
and even at its base, near the Itsinose hot springs, the ground is occasionally
covered with frozen masses over 20 feet deep. Botanists have discovered a greater
variety of vegetable species on Siro-yama than on any other mountain in Japan, a
circumstance attributed by them to the peculiar climatic conditions of these
uplands.
LAKE BIVA.
A low ridge running south and south-west from the Siro-yama bifurcates round
a vast and profound cavity
filled by the waters of lake Biva
(the "Guitar"),
which, according to the legend, was formed at the time when Fuzi-san rose above
the surface. But long before this period there existed an inland freshwater basin,
the Avo-umi, which word, contracted to Aomi, Omi, has become the name of the
province encircling the lake. This basin has certainly been the scene of igneous
eruptions. The island of Tsikubu-sima, containing one of the most venerated Sinto
shrines in the Empire, was upheaved in the northern part of the lake in the year
82 of the new era, and other islets seem to be also of igneous origin. The surface
stands some 330 feet above sea level, and in the profounder cavities the sounding
line has recorded depths of 280 feet. The volume of water is thus far inferior to
that of Geneva, with which Biva is often compared, and which it about equals in
extent. Like Geneva, it is enclosed by mountains, some cultivated, some wooded,
but all presenting bold or graceful outlines. In autumn, when the heavy clouds
of the monsoon have been dispersed by the winds, the varied contours of the sur-
rounding highlands, with their green, violet, bluish, or rosy tints, blend har-
moniously in a marvellous landscape, changing incessantly with the shifting play
of light and shade. Eastwards rises the Ibuki-yama, the loftiest crest in this vast
amphitheatre, in the popular fancy formerly peopled with maleficent spirits.
South-westwards stands the famous Hiyei-san, whose Buddhist monasteries were
inhabited by 3,000 monks down to the middle of the sixteenth century. These
real masters of the land, assembling in the Temple of Kimon (" The Devil's Gate "),
were bound to pray night and day, beating drums and ringing bells, in order to
dissipate the evil influences proceeding from Ibuki-yama, and thus protect the
sacrod city of Kioto, situated at the southern foot of the mountain. The romantic
region encircling Biva and its emissary, the Yodo-gava, is the true cradle of Japanese
nationality, to which the grand historic memories thus lend an additional charm in
"The Land of the Morning," 1882. p. 652.