354 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



surrounded by numerous small islands. Although the 

 Dutch have had a footing on it for more than two hundred 

 years, it still remains but little known. 



Like Bali and Lombok, Sumbawa seems to have its 

 mountains ranged more or less in two lines, running 

 from west to east, the volcanoes for the most part occupy- 

 ing the more northern portion. Of these, both active 

 and extinct, there are many. The most important are 

 Ngenges (5560 feet) and Lante (5413 feet), in the 

 western half of the island ; the gigantic Tambora 

 (9040 feet), occupying the northern peninsula; Dende 

 (5151 feet), Soro Mandi (4553 feet), and Aru Hassa 

 (5568 feet), grouped together on the western side of 

 Bima Bay ; and Sambori, Lambu, and Massi at the 

 eastern end of the island. Gunong Api or Sangeang Island, 

 off the north-east coast, is an active island-volcano of 

 striking appearance, rising to a height of over 6000 feet 

 from a base of only about 7 miles in diameter. The 

 land in the south of Sumbawa is of lower elevation, and 

 some of the mountains and hills, notably Tafelberg, at the 

 extreme western end of the island, appear to be of sedi- 

 mentary formation. Of the volcanoes above-mentioned, 

 that of Tambora is incomparably the most important, 

 causing, as it did in 1815, one of the most awful erup- 

 tions ever recorded in history. It is said that previous 

 to this catastrophe the peak was more than 13,000 feet 

 high. Now it is variously estimated at from 8600 to 9040 

 feet, so that the apex for a height of about 4000 feet 

 must have been blown into the air. That this may well 

 have occurred is evident from the fact that the crater, as 

 it at present appears, has a diameter of over 7 miles. 

 The following account of the occurrence is taken chiefly 

 from Sir Charles Lyell's PtHnciplcs of Geology : — 



The great eruption began on 5th April, 1815, was 



