108 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



On our riglit was Sumlbawa, with its liigli moun- 

 tains, and near its southeastern end is Sapi, or 

 Cattle Bay, wliicli gives its name to the strait. In a 

 peninsula on the northern side of this island is Mount 

 Tomhoro, which suJffered such a terrible eruption, and 

 caused so much destruction of human life, in 1815. 

 The first intimation that the people of Java received 

 of this frightful phenomenon was a series of explo- 

 sions, so closely resembling the reports of cannon, 

 that at Jokyokarta, in Java, a distance of four hun- 

 dred and eighty miles, troops were marched toward a 

 neighboring post that was supposed to have been at- 

 tacked. At Surabaya, gunboats were sent out to as- 

 sist ships that were thought to be trying to defend 

 themselves against pirates in the Madura Strait ; and 

 at two places on the coast, boats put off to search for 

 ships that were imagined to be in distress. These re- 

 ports occun^ed on the 5th of April, and continued for 

 five days, when the sky over the eastern part of Java 

 began to be darkened by falling ashes, and for four 

 days they could not see the sun. Mr. Crawfurd 

 says that at Surabaya the sky for several months did 

 not become as clear as it usually is in the southeast 

 monsoon. Northward fi^om Sumbawa the reports 

 accompanying this eruption were heard as far as 

 the island of Ternate, near Gilolo, a distance of seven 

 hundred and twenty geographical miles, and so dis- 

 tinctly, that the Resident sent out a boat to look for 

 the ship which was supposed to have been firing sig- 

 nals. To the westward these reports were heard 

 at Moko-moko, a post near Bencoolen, which is no 

 less than nine hundred and seventy geographical 



