SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 83 



our own times, in the smaller islands of the volcanic 

 series, (for example the eruption of the Tombero 

 mountain in the island of Sumatra, in April 1815, 

 which embraced a circle of a thousand miles around 

 it), and view this range as it is now presented to 

 us on the map of the world, a conjecture perhaps 

 might be hazarded, that the whole may have once 

 formed but the southern side of one large island or 

 continent, within which much of the mainland has 

 fallen in, and subsequently disappeared in the influx 

 of the sea." 



The constitution of Java is unfavourable to metals, 

 and it may be laid down as a general position, that 

 these no where occur in such a quantity, or with 

 such richness of ore, as to reward the operations of 

 the miner. Iron pyrites is found in small quantity 

 in several districts, as well as red ochre, which, 

 however, often contains so little iron as scarcely to 

 serve for the common purpose of paint. There are no 

 diamonds or other precious stones; but many minerals 

 of the schorl, quartz, potstone, feldspar, and trap 

 kind. Prase and hornstone are abundant in parti- 

 cular situations, as well as flint, chalcedony, hyalite, 

 common jasper, jasper-agate, obsidian, and por- 

 phyry. The soil is for the most part rich and deep, 

 resembling the finest garden-mould of Europe ; and 

 wherever it can be exposed to the inundation ne- 

 cessary for the rice-crop, requires no manure, and 

 will bear without impoverishment one heavy and 

 one light crop in the year. The poorest, with this 



