76 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



Througli this tliick darkness flashes of liglitning 

 gleamed in a hundred lines, and many natives were 

 instantly struck down to the earth by stones falling 

 from the sky. Then a deluge of hot water and flow- 

 ing; mud rose over the rim of the old crater, and 

 poured down the mountain-sides, sweeping away 

 trees and beasts and human bodies in its seething 

 mass. At the same moment, stones and ashes and 

 sand were projected to an enormous height into the 

 air, and, as they fell, destroyed nearly every thing 

 within a radius of more than twenty miles. A few 

 villages, that were situated on high hills on the lower 

 declivities of the mountain, strangely escaped the 

 surrounding destruction by being above the streams 

 of hot water and flowing mud, while most of the 

 stones and ashes and sand that were thrown out 

 passed completely over them, and destroyed many 

 villages that were farther removed from the centre 

 of this great eruption. 



The thundering was first heard at half-past one 

 o'clock. At four the extreme ™lence of the erup- 

 tion was past ; at five the sky began to grow clear 

 once more, and the same sun that at noon had shed 

 his life-giving light over this rich landscape, at even- 

 ing was casting his rays over the same spot then 

 changed into a scene of utter desolation. A second 

 eruption followed within five days, and by that time 

 more than twenty thousand persons had lost their 

 lives. 



When the mountain could be ascended, a great 

 valley was found, which Dr. Junghuhn considers 

 analogous to the " Val del Bove " on the flanks of 



