Studio: international art (89.1925)

SIR HERBERT HUGHES-
STANTON'S WATER-COLOURS OF
JAPAN. & d 0 & &

" Rejoicing Hermits climb upon this mighty peak

above the clouds,
The sacred Dragon older grows in this deep pool

beyond the sky :
The everlasting snow is white as the silvery silk of

her I love ;

Smoke drifts along the mountain-sides as 'twere
her wafted veil ;

While peerless Fuji's form recalls her white un-
folded Fan

Reversed to the rejected Earth from the Far
Eastern sky."

—Dreams from China and Japan.

ONCE when staying in Karuizawa I
went with a party of friends to visit
Asama, our active volcano. We started
at nine in the evening, rode through a
gloomy, foggy night for ten miles, and
leaving our horses and grooms in the thick
woods at the foot of the mountain we
began to climb the steep mountain road
at midnight. As we started heavy drench-

ing rain came down, and we climbed
through the darkness, slipping and stum-
bling, until we came, after many a pause
for breath, to a point where we could
smell the sulphur fumes and see the
smoke drifting from the mountain-top.

Luckily, the cruel rain had stopped,
though we were all thoroughly soaked;
and a few diamond-clear morning stars
showed in the limpid sky, as we ap-
proached the highest point. For the
last mile nothing was to be seen but the
black boulders scattered over the black
broken ground : no heath, no shrub, no
vegetation of any kind. Presently the
sulphur smell was so strong that we knew
we must be close to the crater edge. a

The first thing to be done was to go
to the brink of the crater before sunrise
and get a glimpse of the interior of the
volcano. The tallest of the party held
my ankles as I crawled to the rim. For-
tunately the wind was blowing away from