ON ITS EXTERIOR. VOLCANOES. 279 



volcanic groups to the old continent, where, on the 

 contrary, we find the greater number of crowded groups 

 of volcanoes not on the mainland, but on islands. Thus, 

 most of the European volcanoes are in the Mediterranean, 

 and indeed (including the great and repeatedly active 

 crater between Thera, Therasia, and Aspronise) in the 

 Tyrrhenian and ^Egean portions of that sea ; and in Asia 

 the mightiest volcanoes are to the south and east of the 

 continent, in the greater and lesser Sunda Islands, the 

 Moluccas and the Philippines, in the islands of 

 Japan, and the Kurile and Aleutian archipelagos. 



In no other part of the earth's surface are there such 

 frequent and such fresh traces of active communication 

 between the interior and the exterior of our planet, as 

 in that comprised between the parallels of 10 S. and 

 14 N. latitude, and the meridians of the south 

 point of Malacca and of the west point of the Papua 

 peninsula of New Guinea. The area of this volcanic 

 archipelago, washed by the Sunda, Banda, Solo, 

 and Mindoro seas, scarcely equals that of Switzerland. 

 The single island of Java contains at present a greater 

 number of still-burning volcanoes than does the whole 

 southern half of America, although it is only 544 geogra- 

 phical miles long, or one seventh of the length of South 

 America. A new and long-looked^for light on the geo- 

 logical constitution of Java (after the earlier and very 

 incomplete though meritorious labours of Horsfield, 

 Baffles, and Eeinwardt) has been recently afforded by 

 a courageous, accomplished, and unweariedly active ex- 

 plorer of nature, Franz Junghuhn. After a residence 

 of more than twelve years in Java he has comprised the 

 whole natural history of that island in an instructive 



