We scramble and grope our way down, ever deeper into this apparently bottomless pit, into this boiling smoking abyss, where the evil-smelling fumes wrap us round so effectually that we can scarcely trace our path, and choking and blinded, we wonder vaguely, if we shall ever emerge into light and air once more. But after we have made a long and devious descent, we branch off to the left, and when we feel ourselves in comparative safety, and in a clearer atmosphere, we turn round to look back to see the wreathing masses of smoke that eternally ascend from this hell. And there, behind this blank desolation, rises at the head of the valley the graceful acute peak of Kammurigatake, with the dense green forests covering it from top to bottom, formed by a thick undergrowth of small box and andromeda japonica. It reminds us of the hot springs of New Zealand, of those beautiful pink and white terraces, which, alas! are no more, where mingling as here with volcanic rocks and steam, there is the additional charm of a luxuriant wealth of semi-tropical vegetation.
We have a very long descent to make, over the roughest path of loose rock and stones, and across several streams, where the obliging coolie makes a bridge of his back, and when we have nearly reached the bottom and made the circuit of the valley on the path cut out midway on the mountain side, we pass round into another valley with wide amphitheatre of mountains. It is through the midst of these, at the end of a long vista formed by their green slopes, that we see the smooth waters of the Pacific, spread out like a looking-glass in the closing afternoon light, and beautiful as had been the views and scenery all day, I think this glimpse of sea and mountains exceeded all. A long winding descent to Miyanoshita in the dusk, which we reach just as they were sending out two messengers with lanterns, to light us home.
_Friday, October 3rd._--We went up Sengeuyama, the wooded hill, 1000 feet above, and at the back of the hotel, carried in a kagos or Chinese chair, a most luxurious way of ascending a mountain. It was a glorious morning, with not a cloud in the sky; one of those days when you feel that everything is beautiful, and the views of the mountains at every zig-zag changing and appearing more and more splendid, as at each turn we rise more on a level with them. And then those beautiful thickets of bamboos, the trees of delicately-pointed maple leaves, the laurels and evergreens, the azaleas and hibiscus, the creepers and tendrils, the great clumps of red spiky wild lotus, of purple everlastings, of blue lupus, and yellow snapdragon all growing in wild confusion, fresh with the morning's dew.