Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/34

 including artificial terraces, is barely 12 per cent of the area of the whole empire. A long range of high mountains runs like a backbone through the main island. The highest peak is the famous Fuji, which rises 12,365 feet above the sea-level, and is a "dormant volcano," whose last eruption occurred in 1708. Its summit is covered with snow about ten months in the year. There are several other peaks of more than 8,000 feet elevation, such as Mitake, Akashi, Shirane, Komagatake, Aso, Asama, Bandai, some of which are active volcanoes. Eruptions happen not infrequently; and earthquakes, more or less severe, registered by the seismometer, are of daily occurrence, although most of the shocks are not ordinarily perceptible. There are also several excellent hot springs, of sulphuric or other mineral quality, as at Ikao, Kusatsu, Atami, Hakone, Arima, Onsen. The mountainous character of Japan has also its pleasant features, because it furnishes means of escape from the depressing heat of summer. Karuizawa, Nikkō, Miyanoshita, Hakone, Arima, Chūzenji are the most popular summer resorts.

There are not many, or large, lakes in Japan. Lake Biwa, 50 miles long and 20 miles wide at its widest point, is the largest and most famous. Hakone Lake, the "Asiatic Loch Lomond," is beautiful, and especially noted for the reflection of Mount Fuji in its water by moonlight. Lake Chūzenji, in the Nikkō mountains, is regarded by many as "unri-