108 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



of hot water and flowing mud, while most of the stones 

 and ashes and sand that were thrown out passed com- 

 pletely over them, and destroyed villages that were 

 farther removed from the centre of this great eruption. 



The thundering was first heard at half-past one o'clock. 

 At four o'clock the extreme violence of the eruption was 

 past ; at five, the sky began to grow clear once more, and 

 the same sun that at noon had shed its light over a rich 

 and peaceful landscape, at evening was shining over the 

 same spot now changed into a scene of utter desolation. 



But this was not all. A second eruption followed 

 on October 12th, even more violent than the first. Hot 

 water and mud were again vomited forth, and great 

 blocks of basalt were thrown to a distance of seven 

 miles from the volcano. There was at the same time a 

 violent earthquake ; the summit of the mountain was 

 liroken down, and one side, which had been covered with 

 forest, became an enormous semi-circular gulf. The rivers 

 bore down to the sea the dead bodies of men and the 

 carcases of deer, rhinoceroses, tigers, and other animals. 

 The base of the mountain could not be approached for a 

 month, and it was found that the surrounding country 

 had been covered with a layer of greenish -blue mud, 

 which in places was 50 feet in depth. The official 

 accounts state that 114 villages were destroyed and 

 4000 persons killed. 



Passing to the central and eastern groups of volcanoes, 

 we find them to be uniformly of greater height than 

 those of the western portion of the island. No less than 

 nine attain an altitude of over 10,000 feet. Of these 

 S'lamat is remarkable as much for the regularity of its 

 shape as for the thick cloud of smoke which it continually 

 pours forth from its summit. Of the great crater of 

 Prau one-half of the lip alone remains, the southern 



