ght are still active.

Altogether about 232 eruptions have been recorded, and of these the
greater number took place in the southern districts. This may perhaps
be accounted for by the fact that Japanese civilization advanced from
the south. In consequence of this, records were made of various
phenomena in the south when the northern regions were still unknown
and unexplored.

The most famous of the active volcanoes is Asama-yama in Shinano. The
earliest eruption of this mountain of which record now exists seems to
have been in 1650. After that it was only feebly active for 133 years,
when there occurred a very severe eruption in 1783. Even as late as
1870 there was a considerable emission of volcanic matter, at which
time also violent shocks of earthquake were felt at Yokohama. The
crater is very deep, with irregular rocky walls of a sulphur
character, from apertures in which fumes are constantly sent forth.

Probably the earliest authentic instance of an earthquake in Japan is
that which is said to have occurred in 416 A.D., when the imperial
palace at Kioto was thrown to the ground. Again, in 599, the buildings
throughout the province of Yamato were all destroyed, and special
prayers were ordered to be offered up to the deity of earthquakes. In
679 a tremendous shock caused many fissures to open in the provinces
of Chikuzen and Chikugo, in Kiushiu; the largest of these chasms was
over four miles in length and about twenty feet in width. In 829 the
northern province of Dewa was visited in a similar manner; the castle
of Akita was overthrown, deep rifts were formed in the ground in every
direction, and the Akita river was dried up.

To descend to more recent instances, in 1702 the lofty walls of the
outside and inside moats of the castle of Yeddo were destroyed, tidal
waves broke along the coast in the vicinity, and the road leading
through the famous pass of Hakone, in the hills to the east of
Fuji-yama was closed up by the alteration in the surface of the earth.
A period of unusual activity was between the years 1780 and 1800, a
time when there was great activity elsewhere on the globe. It was
during this period that Mount Unsen was blown up, and from 27,000 to
53,000 persons (according to different accounts) perished; that many
islands were formed in the Satsuma sea; that Sakura-jima threw out so
much pumice material that it was possible to walk a distance of
twenty-three miles upon the floating debris in the se