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Rh empire, excluding Formosa and the Pescadores, is between 146,000 and 147,000 square miles. Only twelve per cent. of this total area is cultivated, or even cultivable. By far the greater portion of it is covered with mountains, many of which are volcanoes either active or extinct. Fuji itself was in eruption as late as January, A.D. 1708. Of recently or constantly active volcanoes we may mention Asama, the two Shirane-sans, Nasuyama, and Bandai-san in Eastern Japan, Vries Island (Ōshima) not far from the entrance to Yokohama harbour, Aso-san and Kirishima-yama in Kyūshū, and the beautifully shaped Komaga-take near Hakodate. Others, extinct or quiescent, are Ontake, Hakusan, Tateyama, Nantai-zan, Chōkai-zan, Iide-san, Ganju-san, and Iwaki-yama, all on the Main Island. Some are difficult to class, for instance, Sakura-jima in Kyūshū, whose smoke has long been reduced almost to nothing, and Onsen-ga-take in the same island, where all that remains active is a solfatara at its base. The grandest mountain mass in Japan is the Shinano-Hida range,—granite giants of from 8,000 to 10,000 ft. in height.

Owing to the narrowness of the country, most Japanese streams are rather torrents than rivers. The rivers best worth mentioning are the Kitakami, the Abukuma, the Tone, the Tenryū, and the Kiso, flowing into the Pacific Ocean, the Shinano-gawa flowing into the Sea of Japan, and the Ishikari in Yezo. Most of the smaller streams have no general name, but change their name every few miles on passing from village to village.

Lake Biwa near Kyōto is the largest lake, the next being Lake Iwashiro, on whose northern shore rises the ill-omened volcano, Bandai-san. The so-called lakes to the north-east of Tōkyō are but shallow lagoons formed by the retreating sea. The most important straits are the Strait of La Pérouse between Yezo and Saghalien, the Strait of Tsugaru between Yezo and the Main Island, the Kii Channel (Linschoten Strait) between the Main Island and eastern Shikoku, the Bungo Channel between western Shikoku and Kyūshū, and the Strait of Shimonoseki between the south-western extremity of the Main Island and