300 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



peaks were seen. After this destruction it was again 

 settled, and in 1855 its population numbered six 

 thousand. In 1862 it again burst forth, destroying 

 nearly every one on the whole island. So great a 

 quantity of ashes was thrown out, that at Ternate, 

 about forty miles distant, they covered the ground 

 to the depth of from three to four inches, and nearly 

 all the vegetation, except the large trees, was de- 

 stroyed. A similar devastation caused the severest 

 suffering within all that radius. But this eniption, 

 fearful as it was, could not be compared to that of 

 Mount Tomboro, already described. 



North of Makian is Motii', a deep cone of trachyt- 

 ic lava, about one thousand feet in height. During 

 the next night we passed between the high, sharp 

 peak of Tidore on the right and that of Ternate on 

 the left, and, entering a large, well-sheltered bay, an- 

 chored off the village, situated on the eastern declivi- 

 ty of the latter mountain. This morning as the sun 

 rose the scene was both charming and imposing 

 — imposing, while we looked upward to the lofty 

 summit of this old volcano and watched the clouds 

 of white gas rising in a perpendicular column high 

 into the sky, until they came up to a level where 

 the air was moving, and at once spread out into a 

 broad, horizontal band, while the sun was pouring 

 down a perfect flood of bright light over the high 

 crest of the ancient peak and the city on its flanks ; 

 charming as we looked below the level water-line on 

 the shore, and beheld the whole grand sight above, 

 perfectly mirrored beneath in the quiet sea. This 

 was the fii'st mountain, whose flanks are cultivated, 



