242 THE WORLD. 



islands, where a train of volcanic mountains exists, nine of which 

 are known to have been in eruption ; and elevations of the bed 

 of the sea from earthquakes have occurred several times since 

 the middle of the last century. The line is next continued through 

 the Japanese group, which contains a number of active volcanoes 

 and is continually liable to earthquakes. Proceeding southward, 

 the chain is continued through the islands of the East Indian 

 Archipelago. Mountain ranges of a volcanic character traverse 

 almost all these, some rising upwards of 12,000 feet in height. 

 In Sumatra, four volcanoes occur, and also several in Java. The 

 largest of the Mollucca group, Celebes, contains a number of 

 volcanoes in a state of activity, and one of the most terrible erup- 

 tions ever recorded happened on the island of TSumbawa another 

 of this group. Here the chain branches off eastward and west- 

 ward, passing to the west through New Guinea, New Britain the 

 Solomon group,and the New Hebrides, thence through the Friend- 

 ly and Society Islands nearly east. Indeed the Pacific Ocean in 

 the equatorial regions seems to have been one vast theatre of ig- 

 neous action, its innumerable archipelagos being composed of 

 volcanic rocks, or coralline limestones > with active vents here 

 and there. To the westward, the chain passes through Borneo, 

 and Sumatra, to Barren Island in the Bay of Bengal. From 

 Java southward, the chain may be traced along the coast of New 

 Holland and Van Diemens land, and thence probably is a sub- 

 marine connection with Freeman's Peak, in the Ballerny Isles, on 

 the Antarctic continent. Still farther south we have the chain 

 extending along Victoria land, between 80 and 70 of south 

 latitude, connecting with Mounts Erebus and Terror before men- 

 tioned. Another great chain of mountains runs nearly east and 

 west from the shores of the Caspian sea to the Atlantic, passing 

 through Turkey, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Spain. 

 The whole region along this chain, which sends off many lateral 

 branches, is subject to earthquakes and other volcanic phenomena; 

 the well known volcanoes Etna, and Vesuvius, are a part of this 

 chain. In addition to the volcanic chains we have named, there 

 are some cases of isolated volcanic action, such as Mount Hecla 

 in Iceland, and the volcanoes of Madagascar. 



