294 Banda. 



quakes exist, has taken away somewhat of the strange and 

 exceptional character that really belongs to them. The in- 

 habitant of most parts of Northern Eui'ope sees in the earth 

 the emblem of stability and repose. His whole life-expe- 

 rience, and that of all his age and generation, teaches him 

 that the earth is solid and firm, that its massive rocks may 

 contain water in abundance, but never fire ; and these essen- 

 tial characteristics of the earth are manifest in every mount- 

 ain his country contains. A volcano is a fact opposed to all 

 this mass of experience, a fact of so awful a character that, 

 if it were the rule instead of the exception, it would make 

 the earth uninhabitable ; a fact so strange and unaccount- 

 able that we may be sure it would not be believed on any 

 human testimony, if presented to us now for the first time 

 as a natural phenomenon happening in a distant country. 



The summit of the small island is composed of a highly 

 crystalline basalt ; lower down I found a hard stratified slaty 

 sandstone, while on the beach are huge blocks of lava, and 

 scattered masses of white coralline limestone. The larger 

 island has coral rock to a height of three or four hundred 

 feet, while above is lava and basalt. It seems probable, there- 

 fore, that this little group of four islands is the fragment 

 of a larger district which was perhaps once connected with 

 Ceram, but which was separated and broken up by the same 

 forces which formed the volcanic cone. When I visited the 

 larger island on another occasion I saw a considerable tract 

 covered with large forest-trees, dead, but still standing. This 

 was a record of the last great earthquake only two years ago, 

 when the sea broke in over this part of the island, and so flood- 

 ed it as to destroy the vegetation on all the lowlands. Al- 

 most every year there is an earthquake here, and at intervals 

 of a few years very severe ones, which throw down houses 

 and carry ships out of the harbor bodily into the streets. 



Notwithstanding the losses incurred by these terrific visit- 

 ations, and the small size and isolated position of these little 

 islands, they have been and still are of considerable value to 

 the Dutch Government, as the chief nutmeg-garden in the 

 world. Almost the whole surface is planted with nutmegs, 

 grown under the shade of lofty kanary-trees (Kanarium com- 

 mune). The light volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive 



