The trees and herbage of every description,
along the whole of the north and west sides of the peninsula, have been
completely destroyed, with the exception of those on a high point of
land, near the spot where the village of Tomboro stood."
Tomboro village was not only invaded by the sea on this occasion, but
its site permanently subsided; so that there is now eighteen feet of
water where there was formerly dry land.
THE VOLCANOES OF JAPAN
The Japanese archipelago, as stated in an earlier chapter, is abundantly
supplied with volcanoes, a number of them being active. Of these the
best known to travelers is Asamayama, a mountain 8,500 feet high, of
which there are several recorded eruptions. The first of these was in
1650; after which the volcano remained feebly active till 1783, when it
broke out in a very severe eruption. In 1870 there was another of some
severity, accompanied by violent shocks of earthquake felt at Yokohama.
The crater is very deep, with irregular rocky walls of a sulphurous
character.
Far the most famous of all the Japanese mountains, however, is that
named Fuji-san, but commonly termed in English Fujiyama or Fusiyama. It
is in the vicinity of the capital, and is the most prominent object in
the landscape for many miles around. The apex is shaped somewhat like an
eight-petaled lotus flower, and offers to view from different directions
from three to five peaks.
Though now apparently extinct, it was formerly an active volcano, and is
credited in history with several very disastrous eruptions.
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