332 BANDA. [chap. 



Lontoir. The latter is half-moon shaped, and produces the nutmegs 

 which for the past three centuries have made its name famous. 

 Opposite its conca\dty lie the two other islands, almost touching 

 one another, the first one, as its name implies, being the volcano, 

 the other ha^'ing built upon it the town with its three old forts. 



Those who are learned in such matters have suggested that 

 Banda Lontoir forms part of the lip of an ancient crater of pro- 

 digious size, from whose centre the present cone of Gunong Api 

 has since arisen, and the appearance of the former with its steep 

 sides and semicircular shape is certainly strongly in favour of 

 the theory. One would have imagined that the thought of 

 living in the very centre of a crater would have been a trial even 

 to the strongest -nerved. But, though they have had no little 

 experience in the way of earthquakes and eruptions, the islanders 

 do not seem to disquiet themselves with possibilities. The usually- 

 smokmg peak of Gunong Api showed its head in unclouded 

 clearness during our visit. It had not given any sign of acti\dty 

 for some little time, and the people told us that if it remained 

 quiescent much longer an eruption or a severe earthquake would 

 probably result. The information was given with the off'- hand 

 manner in which an Englishman would predict a wet day on the 

 morrow. The volcano is of insignificant size — little, if at all, above 

 2000 feet in altitude — but the bareness of its slopes and the 

 sharpness and regularity of the cone make it look much higher. 

 Its base is about two miles in diameter. The summit — to which 

 our energetic chief engineer, j\Ir. Flowers, was the only one of us 

 to ascend — has a crater about a hundred and twenty yards across, 

 and of no great depth. From it small clouds of steam arose in 

 various places, and the stones around were thickly coated with 

 layers of pure sulphur. 



A narrow creek — the " Zonnegat " — only na\dgable by small 

 craft, separates Gunong Api from Banda Xeira. It is on this island 

 that the town is jDlaced, its cool white houses overshadowed by 

 dark-foliaged trees dottincj the whole length of the southern shore. 



