J2 EXCURSION TO THE LAKE OF RANIO CLAKKA. 



was very uneasy and every now and again sent forth volumes 

 of smoke, with violent explosions as if hundreds of cannon 

 were being fired simultaneously, causing us to rush out of 

 the bungalow in the greatest hurry, our hopes were always 

 disappointed. 



I waited as long as I possibly could, and of course, some 

 short time after I left, on one calm night the critical period 

 arrived, and about three hundred feet of the summit was 

 blown off, and numerous streams of molten lava coursed down 

 the precipitous sides of the mountain. It was one of the 

 finest eruptions that had been seen, and those who witnessed 

 it, described the scene, reflected in the mirror-like surface 

 of the lake, as splendid in the extreme. Fortunately the 

 eruptions of this mountain do little or no harm, as the flow of 

 the lava does not extend much beyond the cone. 



Towards the end of July I bade adieu to my kind and 

 hospitable friends, and started overland for Batavia. The 

 first part of the journey I was accompanied by a very 

 agreeable Englishman who had settled in Java, but the latter 

 part I had to make alone in my carriage. I used to travel 

 with my rifle by my side, and managed to bag a good many 

 wild hog as well as peafowl and jungle fowl, which were as 

 common as possible all along the route, and afforded excellent 

 sport. 



A few days before I arrived at Kediri there had been 

 an eruption of the Kluti (Kloet), a volcano 5,193 feet 

 above the sea, and when I came to the bank of the river I 

 was nearly pitched into it in consequence of the coachman 

 attempting to drive over a temporary structure made of 

 bamboo framework, to replace a part of the bridge which had 

 been carried away by the flood. The effects of the late 



