VOL. XIX.J VHILOSOVHJCAL TRANSACTIONS. l63 



little inferior to ebony : this does not emit the same smell when burnt, with 

 that called tir-wood ; so that the smell of that wood cannot be attributed to the 

 bituminous parts of tlie earth in which it has lain. About 6o or 70 years ago, 

 several Dutchmen undertook, to drain a large marsh in that place ; and in cutting 

 a channel in the dry ground between the fen and the river ; at the first they 

 threw up a rich and firm soil, afterwards they met with a stratum of sand, under 

 that a stratum of boggy ground, in which they found some of these subterra- 

 neous trees, and under that firm ground again. The place, where these trees 

 are found, is a long flat on the one side, bounded by the raging river Humber, 

 uhich often breaks its banks. 



Extract from some Letters from, Mr. Nicholas JVitsen, of Am.sterdam ; giving 

 a ftrther jlccount of the horrible Burning of some Mountains of the Molucca 

 Islands. N° 228, p. 52p, &c. 



The mountain Kemas or Brothers, in the territory of Manado, is blown up 

 with a most dreadful noise, as of the loudest thunder, which caused darkness 

 and an earthquake, and oihtrdismal signs at Ternata : which noise has also 

 been heard at Amboyna. The mountjin of brimstone upon Amboyna, called 

 Wawany, also burns dreadfully. From all which it seems evident that in those 

 parts and seas, there are subterraneous fires, having a mutual communication 

 with one another. When a hole is made any where in the ground, iO or 12 

 feet deep, the ground is warm. 



Nov. 20, ltig4, about the evening was seen a very thick smoke about the 

 top of the mount Gounong Apy, in the island of Banda, which was much 

 augmented on the 2 1 stand 22d, and that night the flame broke out: on the 

 23d, 24th, and some following days, the fire was continually increasing on the 

 west side, and with such noises, as if the greatest pieces of cannon had been 

 discharged : and afterwards followed the stones on the west-side as far as the 

 sea, which was a horrible spectacle. The fishermen say that so many stones 

 have been cast out already, that the place where they used to fish with lines at 

 40 fathom water, is now dry, and the fire comes out of the water so ve- 

 hemently that it is dreadful to see, and the water is so hot that we cannot 

 come near it. And now the mountain burns most towards the side of the 

 Loutoir. The trees on the east and west-side are altogether spoiled, and the 

 west side is covered with stones to a great height. The smell of brimstone, 

 during the v.esterly monsoon, is so intolerable, that one could scarcely endure 

 it in the strees of Neira, 



It causes also a great sickness on Neira : the water which rains down is, 



y 2 



