Geological researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan, during the years 1862-1865.

CHINA, MONGOLIA, AND JAPAN. 97
either forest or cane, which appeared to us in the distance like a mantle of green
velvet. Many other well-shaped cones were visible in the.distance.
Just N. N. W. of the Iwaounobori there is a cone somewhat lower than the peak
of the solfatara, with a well preserved crater, so near that it seems to be partly within
the circumference of the foot-slope of the Iwaou mountain. As I have said before,
it is in a line with its neighbor and the Shiribetz, and this direction is repeated
in the zone of the solfatara activity on the Iwaou mountain, a coincidence that would
seem to point to a fissure connection between the three peaks.
The government has sulphur works on this mountain, in which fourteen caldrons
are kept at work. The production is about 64,000 pounds per month, costing forLabor of all kinds and for fuel per month.... $74 50
Rice for workmen......... 41 00
Salt and miso for workmen....... 4 00
Straw sandals for workmen....... 6 50
Transportation by horse to Iwanai..... 5 25
Total for 64,000 pounds.... $183 25
August 20th. We returned to Iwanai.
August 21st. Continuing our journey northward, we rode along the beach to the
mouth of the Shiribuka creek, where the coast line, turning off to the northwest,
marks the southern shore of the peninsula south of Strogonof bay. Following
this shore we left the terrace plain of Iwanai bay. During the rest of the day we
saw only tte tufa-conglomerate formation, which, traversed by numerous dykes of
volcanic rock, faces the sea in bold bluffs, to pass which we were at last compelled
to take a boat to carry us to Ousubetz, a small fishing village.
The volcanic conglomerate of this region extends some distance inland, and consists almost entirely of more or less rounded fragments of black lava filled with
green-coated cells.
August 22d. Leaving the sea we made a short excursion up the bed of a creek,
the Kaiyanobetz. About one mile from the shore a gray sandstone was found exposed for a short distance beneath the volcanic conglomerate, and about one mile
and a half further we found in the bed of a rivulet the following strata, the order
reading from younger to older.'
1. Fine-grained argillaceous rock with fossil plants.
2. Coarse sandstone.
3. Clay shale with Equisetacece.
4. Coarse sandstone.
5. Three seams of bituminous coal alternating with thin beds of clay, the principal seam having about four feet of good coal.
The strike of these beds was N. 30~ E., the dip being 50~ to N. 60~ W.
In a neighboring ravine a white silicious rock was observed, apparently older
than the coal, and made up of minute layers, the whole being hard, and having
somewhat the appearance of a semi-opal.
1 Except a small specimen of coal which was brought away by one of the Japanese officers, all
the collections from this region were lost in the wreck mentioned above.
13 July, 1866.