one of the Islands of Banda. 373 



even carpet, varied onlv by different tints of colour of the roofs 

 of the houses and the forts Neira and Lonthoer. The sun now 

 rose in all its splendour : he issued majestically froui the bosom 

 of the ocean, and his brilliant rays were reflected by the waves 

 of the calmest sea. We seemed to float with the steep Pico on 

 which we stood, having above our heads the sereuest sky. No 

 expression is adequate to paint so astonishing a picture. 



Meantime the sulphuric vapour which issued from the crater 

 began to incommode us, and our situation appeared the more 

 critical, as we found the stones at every successive step more and 

 more loose, and the noise they made in falling was augmented 

 by that which was heard in the interior of the crater. Thick sul- 

 phuric exhalations issued with violence from the clefts of the 

 mountain, in the sides of which we heard a confused rumbling 

 noise, resembling the roaring of the sea agitated by a tempest. 



We at last arrived at the upper edge of the crater, with our 

 shoes and clothes half burnt, and our hands wounded by the 

 sharp lava. The appearance of the interior of the crater, which 

 is in the form of a funnel, is singularly striking; the whole sur- 

 face is c6vercd with a lava of the most beautiful yellow colour 

 imaginable; the smoke issued from a number of channels or tubes 

 of sulphur, frequently accompanied by a hollow sound. The 

 crater itself may be calculated at about 200 feet in diameter, and 

 the bottom is divided into two parts. On the north side the 

 bottom is not visible, the edges are steep, so that their greatest 

 thickness does not exceed four feet. On the south side the bot- 

 tom is seen covered with an imniense quantity of rocks, which 

 appear to have been thrown into it by the last eruption, the 

 traces of which are visible in a deep furrow of lava across the 

 whole mountain. 



We went on as far as the top of a peak which rises on the 

 northern side ; it was there that Lieutenant de Tong and myself 

 placed the standard of the Netherlamls. We found there also a 

 cassowary which had run away from the farm of Mr. Vetter, si- 

 tuated at the foot of the mountain. It seems that this biid was 

 suffocated bv the sul))hurcous atmosphere. 



The wind began to blow from the south, and as it drove the 

 thick sulphuric clouds from the entrance of the crater, we had a 

 mind to examine more nearly a part of the interior. For this pur- 

 pose we kept our handkerchiefs tied before our noses and mouths, 

 to preserve them from the azotic gas, and descended into the 

 volcano. The sulphur upon which we walked broke and crackled 

 like frozen snow, and the heat of the ground obliged us to be 

 always in motion. Sometimes a hollow sound was heard under 

 our feet: the smoke, continually effervescent, issued from the 

 veins of crystallized sulphur, and, escaping with violence, evapo- 

 rated 



