356 COMrEXDIUM of geography and TltAVEL 



from this eruption extended over a circle of more than 

 2000 miles in diameter, and out of a population of 

 12,000 persons who inhabited the province of Tambora 

 previous to the eruption, it is said that only 26 indi- 

 viduals survived. The mountain is now quiescent, and 

 few signs of the catastrophe remain, save that the course 

 of the lava-streams may be traced by the inferior height 

 of the jungle now covering them. The little island of 

 Setonda, which is situated a mile or two to the north- 

 west, is a secondary crater of Tambora, and, like it, 

 appears to be extinct. 



Sumbawa has its coast-Hne broken in two or three 

 places with curious fjord-like bays, of which the most 

 important is Bima. The narrow entrance, barely 400 

 yards in width, and guarded by two old and ruined forts, 

 opens into a spacious harbour surrounded by mountains, 

 which is the only port visited by ships, and the sole 

 point of contact between savagery and western civilisa- 

 tion. The Sale Gulf is little known. Here, and about 

 the island of ]\Iayo, pirates are said still to lurk, taking 

 praus and making occasional descents on the callages, so 

 that the shores of the gulf are more or less deserted for 

 some distance inland, where the natives live in stockaded 

 towns. The land south of the gulf is very low, and not 

 more than nine or ten miles broad, and the monsoon 

 blowing across it from April to October as a strong 

 south-easterly wind parches the entire country, so that 

 the trees shed their leaves, and the ground is thick with 

 a very line, powdery dust. The difference between the 

 seasons becomes more marked as we progress eastward in 

 the Sunda chain, the drought being here more severe and 

 the rainfall heavier tlian in Bali. 



The people may be divided into three groups — the 

 Sundjawans proper, the Bugis and Makassar immigrants, 



