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You are twelve thousand feet above the sea, on the dizzy brink of the ominous, great opening in Fuji's summit. Up to two hundred years ago smoke was frequently seen ascending in dark clouds from this very crater; several different times fiery lava boiled over the rim and ran in hideous, deadly streams down over the steep, cinder-covered sides of the mountain. Quantities of "ashes" (fine powdered mineral stuff from the interior rock-chimney, torn into dust by steam explosions within) used to blow up out of this gigantic hollow and settle afterwards, as snow might settle in drifts, on the farmer's fields and the merchant's highways far down below, away beyond the wooded base of the mountain. 

There has been no sign of volcanic activity here since 1708. Active or quiescent, the lofty cone is sacred in Japanese eyes; climbing the steep, slippery, cinder-covered slopes to the point where you are now is not merely a pleasure excursion for the venturesome curiosity-seeker - it is an act of pious devotion and reverence to a powerful goddess. You can ride on horse-back the first six thousand feet of the ascent, but, from that point on, you must climb on foot, your shoes protected from the sharp-cutting cinder edges by sandals bound to soles; these men are wearing similar sandals. There are almost no plants on the slopes about you here, although most of the snow-cap disappears at this time of year. That light-colored slope, over beyond the projecting boulder, has a snow coat not yet melted by the June sun; see what curious grooves have been marked over its surface by stones breaking from the rim and rolling down towards the middle of the crater. 

At least thirty thousand pilgrims toils up here to the summit every year to pray. They are chiefly middle-class people from country districts.

(See Scidmore's "Jinrikisha Days in Japan," etc.)
From Notes of Travel, No.8, copyright, 1904, by the Underwood & Underwood.
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Peering from the Rim Down into the Crater of Fujiyama; Japan
Regardant du Bord en Bas dans le Cratère de Fujiyama; Japon.
ßlid 𝖎 𝔢𝔯 𝔡𝔢𝔫 ℜ𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔫 𝔦𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔡𝔢𝔰 𝔉𝔲𝔧𝔦𝔥𝔞𝔪𝔞;𝔍𝔞𝔭𝔞𝔫
Mirando desde el Borde hacia Abajo en el Cráter de Fujiyama; Japón.
Seende från kanten ned i vulkanen vid Fujiyama; Japan.
Видъ жерла Фужіямскаго волкана; Японiя.