12 ERUPTION OF 



two small mineral springs, and one of naphtha, but this 

 will not be thought sufficient to prove the present 

 existence of subterranean fires. 



Coal is exceedingly abundant in Pulo Labuh-au, 



requiring them to transmit to the Government a statement of the 

 facts and circumstances connected with it, which occurred within 

 their own knowledge. From their replies, the narrative drawn 

 up by Mr. Assey, and printed in the ninth volume of the Batavian 

 Transactions, was collected; the following is an extract from 

 that paper. 



" ' The first explosions were heard on this island (Java) in the 

 evening of the 5th of April : they were noticed in every quarter, 

 and continued at intervals until the following day. The noise 

 was, in the first instance, universally attributed to distant cannon ; 

 so much so, that a detachment of troops was marched from 

 Djocjocarta, under the" apprehension that a neighbouring post 

 had been attacked ; and along the coast boats were in two in- 

 stances despatched in quest of supposed ships in distress. On the 

 following morning, however, a slight fall of ashes removed all 

 doubt as to the cause of the sound ; and it is worthy of remark, 

 that as the eruption continued, the sound appeared to be so close, 

 that in each district it seemed near at hand, and was generally attri- 

 buted to an eruption either from the mountains Merapi, Klut, or 

 Bromo. From the 6th the sun became obscured ; it had every- 

 where the appearance of being enveloped in a fog. The weather was 

 sultry and the atmosphere close, and still the sun seemed shorn 

 of its rays, and the general stillness and pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere seemed to forbode an earthquake. This lasted several days. 

 The explosions continued occasionally, but less violently and less 

 frequently than at first. Volcanic ashes also began to fall, but in 

 small quantities, and so slightly as to be hardly preceptible in the 

 western districts. This appearance of the atmosphere continued, 

 with little variation, until the 10th of April ; and till then it 

 does not appear that the volcano attracted much observation, or 

 was considered of greater importance than those which have occa- 

 sionally burst forth in Java. But on the evening of the 10th, 



