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tXII. Account of a Visit to the Crater of the Volcano Goenons 

 Apie, one of the Islands of Ban da. By Captain Verheul*. 



In the year 1817 (says M. V.), being in the Archipelago of 

 ^anda, with His Majesty's ship Admiral Evertsen, of which I 

 had the command, commissioned by the Government to receive 

 trom the Enghsh possession of those islands so celebrated for 

 their principal production, the nutmeg; I formed the design of 

 visiting the Goenong Apie, or volcano, situated in one of these 

 islands, and of ascending to the summit as nearly as possible, 

 ileing fond of drawing, I promised myself a rich harvest for mv 

 collection of Indian sketches and drawings. 



The little island of Goenong Apie rises in the form of a cone 

 above the surface of the ocean ; two-thirds are covered with co- 

 coa and other trees, the rest is arid, and bears the traces of lava 

 in different directions, which lead to the flattened summit. The 

 island does not produce any spices ; but some of the inhabitants 

 or iSanda have made in the lower part some gardens, the most 

 considerable ot which belongs to Mr. Vetter, officer of the royal 

 raarme in the colonies, and commandant of the port of Banda. 

 formerly there were also some forts to protect the western out- 

 Jet, but none now exist. 



The 3d of April was the day I fixed for the execution of this 

 arduous expedition. I preferred the night in order to avoid the 

 excessive heat of the sun; and the more so, as the full moon fa- 

 voured our enterprise. 



Mr. Vetter offered some of his slaves to serve us as guides, and 

 several officers of the ship Eve<-tsen joined our party. An hour 

 after midnight we went on board a boat, and proceeded to the 

 country-house of Mr. Vetter, whose dwelling with several other 

 habitations had been almost entirely demolished by the earth- 

 quake in (October, 1S16. There we put aside our superfluous 

 Clothes, and carrying bamboo canes, we proceeded to the pxecu- 

 tion of our project. Several negroes of our company carried the 

 necessary refreshments, and the flags of the Netherlands, which 

 we proposed to place on the edge of the crater. The night was 

 raagnihcent : soon every thing around us was desert, and very 

 often we were enveloped in darkness by the thick foliage of the 

 trees, shrubs, and other plants, so that we were obliged to feel 

 HUh our canes, and to climb from rock to rock, in order to fiiul 

 a practicable path. One of the Indians who preceded us, armed 

 with a kind of axe called klenang, with which he cut awav the 

 branches that impeded our progress, pointed out to us the clefts 

 in the rocks, produced as it seems bv earthquakes. V/c were 

 onen obliged to go a long way about in order to avoid the crc- 

 * New Monthly Magazine for May Ib20. 



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vices. 



