a; and that Asama
ejected so many blocks of stone--one of which is said to have been
forty-two feet in diameter--and a lava-stream sixty-eight kilometres
in length.

In 1854 an earthquake destroyed the town of Shimoda, in the province
of Idzu, and a Russian frigate, lying in the harbor at the time, was
so severely damaged by the waves caused by the shock that she had to
be abandoned. In 1855 came a great earthquake which was felt most
severely at Yedo, though its destructive power extended for some
distance to the west along the line of the Tokaido. It is stated that
on this occasion there were in all 14,241 dwelling houses and 1,649
fire proof store houses overturned in the city, and a destructive fire
which raged at the same time further increased the loss of life and
property.

What was possibly the gravest disaster of its class in this land of
volcanoes, since the terrible eruptions which came in the twenty years
ending in 1800, occurred in the Bandai-san region in northern Japan,
on July 15, 1888. At about eight o'clock in the morning of that day,
almost in the twinkling of an eye, Little Bandai-san was blown into
the air, and wiped out of the map of Japan. A few moments later its
debris had buried or devastated the surrounding country for miles, and
a dozen or more of upland hamlets had been overwhelmed in the earthen
deluge, or wrecked by other phenomena attending the outburst. Several
hundreds of people had met with sudden and terrible death; scores of
others had been injured; and the long roll of disaster included the
destruction of horses and cattle, damming up of rivers, and laying
waste of large tracts of rice-land and mulberry groves.

A small party was organized in Tokio to visit the scene. As the
travelers approached the mountain, they were told that twenty miles in
a straight line from Bandai-san no noise or earthquake was experienced
on the 15th, but mist and gloom prevailed for about seven hours, the
result of a shower of impalpable blue-gray ash, which fell to a depth
of half an inch, and greatly puzzled the inhabitants. An ascent of
about 3,000 feet was made to the back of the newly formed crater, so
as to obtain a clear view of it and of the country which had been
overwhelmed. Only on nearing the end of the ascent was the party again
brought face to face with signs of the explosion. Here, besides the
rain of fine, gray, ashen mud which had fallen on and still covered
the ground and all vegetatio