82 MEMOIR OF 



sion. Among other phenomena, are mineral wells 

 of various temperature and impregnation ; wells of 

 naphtha or petrolium ; and rivers arising in a few 

 cases from the craters of volcanoes impregnated 

 with sulphureous acid. From these and all other 

 investigations yet made, the constitution of Java 

 appears to be exclusively volcanic ; it may, indeed, 

 be considered as the first of a series of volcanic 

 islands, which extend nearly eastward from the 

 Straits of Sunda for about twenty-five degrees. 



" At what period (says our author) the island 

 assumed its present shape, or whether it was once 

 joined to Sumatra and Bali, is matter for conjec- 

 ture. The violent convulsions which these islands 

 have so often suffered, justify a conclusion that the 

 face of the country has frequently changed, and 

 tradition mentions the periods when Java was sepa- 

 rated from those islands ; but the essential diffe- 

 rence which has been found in the mineralogical 

 constitution of Java and Sumatra, would seem to 

 indicate a different origin ; and to support the 

 opinion that those two islands were never united. 

 Whether at a period more remote, the whole archi- 

 pelago formed part of the continent of Asia, and 

 was divided from it, and shattered into islands ; 

 whether they were originally distinct from the main- 

 land ; or whether they were formed at the same 

 time or subsequently, are questions we cannot re- 

 solve. Yet when we reflect on the violence of 

 those dreadful phenomena which have occurred in 



