OF TOMBOKO. 1 I 



have been perceptible at Sarawak, though distant, in 

 a straight line, 800 miles. 



I have been told that on the Samarhand river is a 

 small spring of warm water, and at Borneo are one or 



accounts of the naturalist, but the most extraordinary of them can 

 bear no comparison, in point of duration and force, with that of 

 Tomboro. This eruption extended perceptible evidences of its 

 existence over the whole of the Molucca Islands, over Java, a 

 considerable portion of Celebes, Sumatra, and Borneo, to a cir- 

 cumference of 1000 statute miles from its centre, by tremulous 

 motions, and the report of explosions ; while within the range 

 of its more immediate activity, embracing a space of 300 

 miles around it, it produced the most astonishing effects, and 

 excited the most alarming apprehensions. On Java, at the 

 distance of 300 miles, it seemed to be awfully present. The 

 sky was overcast at noon-day with clouds of ashes, the sun was en- 

 veloped in an atmosphere, whose ' palpable ' density it was unable 

 to penetrate ; showers of ashes covered the houses, the streets, and 

 the fields, to the depth of several inches ; and, amid this dark- 

 ness, explosions were heard at intervals, like the report of artillery 

 or the noise of distant thunder. So fully did the resemblance of 

 the noises to the report of cannon impress the minds of some 

 officers, that, from an apprehension of pirates on the coast, vessels 

 were despatched to afford relief. Superstition, on the other hand, 

 on the minds of the natives, was busily at work, and attributed 

 the reports to an artillery of a different description to that of 

 pirates. All conceived that the effects experienced might be 

 caused by eruptions of some of the numerous volcanos on the 

 island ; but no one could have conjectured that the showers of 

 ashes which darkened the air, and covered the ground of the 

 eastern districts of Java, could have proceeded from a mountain 

 in Snmbawa, at the distance of several hundred miles. Conceiving 

 that it might be interesting and curious to preserve an authentic 

 and detailed account of the information that could be gained of 

 this wonderful phenomenon, while the event was still recent and 

 fully remembered, I directed a circular to the different residents, 



