339 



f^oicanoe^ in the Bay of Bengal^ &c. By pr" BulSl? of Bomb^iy. 



Communicated by the Autnor. '"V\l 

 t (lOfi.'i • m I bfldB 



" One of the most terribly active groups of Volcanoes," 

 says Mrs Somerville, begins with the Banda group of Islands, 

 and extends through the Sunda group of Timor, Sumbayi^,^. 

 Balli, Java, and Sumatra, separated only by narrow channels, 

 and altogether forming a gently-curved line 2000 miles long ; 

 but as the volcanic zone is continued through Barren Island 

 and Neercondam in the Bay of Bengal (lat. 12^ 15'), and 

 northward along the entire coast of Arracan, the entire length 

 of the volcanic range is a great deal more." * The band is 

 not, as will be seen presently, limited to Arracan, but ex- 

 tends north w^ard to Chittagong, lat. 22°, or 600 miles beyond 

 Barren Island. The first description we possess of the vol- 

 cano in question, is that of Lieut. Colebrook,")" who visited it 

 in 1787, when it was in a state of violent activity ; he does 

 not seem to have landed on it, and he quotes entire the ac- 

 count of it given by Captain Blair in his survey of the Anda- 

 man Islands. The cone, which springs from near the level o|. 

 the sea, rising at an average of 32°, 17', to 1800 J feet nearly. 

 Mr Lyell gives the following account of it ; he does not 

 quote his authority. " Barren Island, in the Bay of Bengal, 

 is proposed as an illustration of the same phenomena (that 

 of ancient craters of elevation, as contrasted with modern 

 craters of eruption,) and here it is said we have the advan- 

 tage of being able to contrast the ancient crater of elevation 

 with the cone and crater of eruption, and its centre. Whei^. 

 seen from the ocean, this island presents on almost all side^^ 

 a surface of bare rocks, which rise up with a moderate declir 

 vity towards the interior : but at one point there is a narrow 

 cleft, by which we can penetrate into the centre, and there 

 discover that it is occupied by a great circular basin, filled 

 by the waters of the sea, bounded all round by steep rocks^ 

 in the midst of which rises a vplcanic cone- Yerjf , fi*equentiY ' 



* Physical Geography, vol. i., p. 267.^ ^ ^ d \ 



f Asiatic Researches, vol. in., p. 3961 -'>' \xm ^\\>vrru\> 



\ Later authorities malce 500 feet, and this is probably tts ttnM i^Ultu<l«. 



v2 



