232 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



five or six inclies. I took it for granted tliat tlie 

 mountain was undergoing another eruption, and that 

 in a moment we should all be shaken down its almost 

 vertical sides ; but as the rocks ceased coming down 

 we continued our ascent, and soon stood on the 

 rim of the crater. The mystery concerning the fall- 

 ing rocks was now solved. One of our number had 

 reached the summit before the rest of us, and, with 

 the aid of a native, had been tumbling off rocks for 

 the sport of seeing them bound down the mountain, 

 having stupidly forgotten that we all had to wind 

 part way round the peak before we could get uj) on 

 the edge of the summit, and that those of the party 

 who were not on the top must be directly beneath 

 him. 



The whole mountain is a great cone of small an- 

 gular blocks of trachytic lava and volcanic sand, and 

 the crater at its summit is only a conical cavity in 

 the mass. It is about eighty feet deep and one hun- 

 dred or one hundred and fifty yards in diameter. 

 The area on the top is elliptical in form, about three 

 hundred yards long and two hundred wide. This, 

 on the eastern side, is composed of heaps of small 

 lava-blocks, which are whitened on the exterior, 

 and, in many places, quite incrusted with sulphur. 

 Through the heaps of stones steam and sulj^hurous 

 acid gas are continually rising, and we soon hurried 

 around to the windward side to escape their suffo- 

 cating fumes, and in a number of places we were 

 glad to run, to prevent our shoes from being scorched 

 by the hot rocks. On the western side of the crater 

 the rim is largely composed of sand, and in one place 



