.172 LOMBOCK. 



can sailor ran away from his ship on the east side of the isl- 

 and, and made his way on foot and unarmed across to Ampa- 

 nam, having met with the greatest hospitality on the whole 

 route. Nowhere would the smallest payment be taken for 

 the food and lodging which were willingly furnished him. 

 On pointing out this fact to Manuel, he replied, " He one bad 

 man — run away from his ship — no one can believe word he 

 say ;" and so I was obliged to leave him in the uncomfortable 

 persuasion that he might any day have his throat cut. 



A circumstance occurred here which appeared to throw- 

 some light on the cause of the tremendous surf at Ampanam. 

 One evening I heard a strange rumbling noise, and at the same 

 time the house shook slightly. Thinking it might be thunder, 

 I asked, " What is that ?" " It is an earthquake," answered 

 Inchi Daud, my host ; and he then told me that slight shocks 

 were occasionally felt there, but he had never known them 

 severe. This happened on the day of the last quarter of the 

 moon, and consequently when the tides were low and the surf 

 usually at its weakest. On inquiry afterward at AmjDanam, I 

 found that no earthquake had been noticed, but that on one 

 night there had been a very heavy surf, which shook the house, 

 and the next day there was a very high tide, the water hav- 

 ing flooded Mr. Carter's premises higher than he had ever 

 known it before. These unusual tides occur every now and 

 then, and are not thought much of ; but by careful inquiry I 

 ascertained that the sui-f had occurred on the very night I had 

 felt the earthquake at Labuan Tring, nearly twenty miles off. 

 This would seem to indicate, that although the ordinary heavy 

 surf may be due to the swell of the great southern ocean con- 

 fined in a narrow channel, combined with a peculiar form of 

 bottom near the shore, yet the sudden heavy surfs and high 

 tides that occur occasionally in pei'fectly calm weather may 

 be due to slight upheavals of the ocean-bed in this eminently 

 volcanic region. 



