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378
EAST ASIA.
THE ISLAND OF KIU-SIU.
Like those of Sikok, the Kiu-siu rocks, running north and south, consist mainly
of crystalline schists, overlaid with trachytes, which are interspersed with tufa and
lignite. But here also occur some volcanic cones, a few of which are either
constantly or intermittently active. Such is the Aso-yama
in the centre of the
island, on whose slopes are some sulphur and alum beds, besides ochrous formations
containing a white fatty substance, which has not yet been analyzed, and which is
eaten by the inhabitants of the district. The eruption of 1874 changed the
surrounding streams into torrents of a milky colour, a phenomenon apparently of
frequent occurrence, to judge, at least, from the name of the chief stream the
Sira-kava, or " White River." Although of moderate elevation, the crater of
Fig.
Erfn I5050'
176. YAMA-GATA AND MOUNT KAIMOX.
Scale 1 : 220,000.
. 5
Miles.
Aso-yama resembles those of the moon in its vast proportions, being no less than
14 miles long by 10 miles broad between its vertical walls, which are from 700 to
1,000 feet high. Within this extensive area dwell over 10,000 people, who seem
scarcely conscious that their villages stand on the very mouth of a volcano.
The peninsula of Simabara, stretching east of Nagasaki, consists of a single
mass sloping regularly down to the sea. This is the famous Unzen-ga-take
(Unzen-ean), or "Mountain of the Hot Springs," whose vast crater swallowed up
thousands of Christians in 1638, during the revolt of the recently converted
Catholics, at that time very numerous in this part of the empire. Although
quiescent for the last one hundred years, the cone still emits sulphurous vapours,
which in the time of Kampfer were so dense that birds on the wing kept many