SECT. XXV. VOLCANIC ACTION. 233 



changes of igneous origin that have already taken place in the 

 earth, and may occasion others not less remarkable, should time 

 that essential element in the vicissitudes of the globe he 

 granted, and their energy last. 



Sir Charles Lyell, who has shown the power of existing causes 

 with great ingenuity, estimates that on an average twenty erup- 

 tions take place annually in different parts of the world ; and many 

 must occur or have happened, even on the most extensive and 

 awful scale, among people equally incapable of estimating their 

 effects and of recording them. We should never have known 

 the extent of the fearful eruption which took place in the island 

 of Sumbawa, in 1815, but for the accident of Sir Stamford 

 Baffles having been governor of Java at the time. It began on 

 the 5th of April, and did not entirely cease till July. The 

 ground was shaken through an area of 1000 miles in circum- 

 ference ; the tremors were felt in Java, the Moluccas, a great 

 part of Celebes, Sumatra, and Borneo. The detonations were 

 heard in Sumatra, at the distance of 970 geographical miles in a 

 straight line ; and at Ternate, 720 miles in the opposite direction. 

 The most dreadful whirlwinds carried men and cattle into the 

 air ; and with the exception of 26 persons, the whole population 

 of the island perished to the amount of 12,000. Ashes were 

 carried 300 miles to Java in such quantities that the darkness 

 during the day was more profound than ever had been witnessed 

 in the most obscure night. The face of the country was changed 

 by the streams of lava, and by the upheaving and sinking of the 

 soil. The town of Tomboro was submerged, and water stood to 

 the depth of 18 feet in places which had been dry land. Ships 

 grounded where they had previously anchored, and others could 

 hardly penetrate the mass of cinders which floated on the surface 

 of the sea for several miles to the depth of two feet. A catas- 

 trophe similar to this, though of less magnitude, took place in 

 the island of Bali in 1808, which was not heard of in Europe 

 till years afterwards. The eruption of Coseguina in the Bay of 

 Fonseca, which began on the 19th of January, 1835, and lasted 

 many days, was even more dreadful and extensive in its effects 

 than that of Sumbawa. The ashes during this eruption were 

 carried by the upper current of the atmosphere as far north as 

 Chiassa, which is upwards of 400 leagues to the windward of 

 that volcano. Many volcanoes supposed to be extinct have all 



