THE TIMOR GROUP 355 



most violent on the lltli and 12tli, hikI did not entiivly 

 cease till the following July. The sound of the explo- 

 sions was heard at Benkulen in Sumatra, a distance of 

 over 1100 miles in one direction, and at Ternate, a dis- 

 tance of over 900 in a nearly opposite direction. Violent 

 whirlwinds carried up men, horses, cattle, and whatever 

 else came witliin their influence, into the air ; tore up 

 the largest trees by the roots, and covered the sea v.-ith 

 floating timber. Many streams of lava issued from the 

 crater and flowed in different directions to the sea, 

 destroying everything in their course. Even more 

 destructive were the ashes, which fell in such quantities 

 that the}^ broke through the Eesident's house at Bima, 

 more than 60 miles to the eastward, and rendered most 

 of the houses in that town uninhabitable. On the west 

 towards Java, and on the north towards Celebes, the 

 ashes darkened the air to a distance of 300 miles, while 

 fine ashes fell in Amboina and Banda, more than 800 

 miles distant, and in such quantity at Brunei, the capital 

 of Borneo, more than 900 miles north, that the event is 

 remembered and used as a date-reckoner to this day. 

 To the west of Sumbawa the sea was covered with a 

 floating mass of fine ashes two feet thick, through which 

 ships forced their way with difficulty. The darkness 

 caused by the ashes in the daytime was more profound 

 than that of the darkest nights, and this horrid pitcln- 

 gloom extended a distance of 300 miles to the westward 

 into Java. Along the sea-coast of Sumbawa and the 

 neighbouring islands, the sea rose suddenly to the height 

 of from 2 to 12 feet, so that every vessel was forced 

 from its anchorage and driven on shore. The town of 

 Tambora sank beneath the sea, and remained permanently 

 18 feet deep where there had been dry land before. 

 The noises, the tremors of the earth, and the foil of ashes 



