JAVA. 155 



and which is always strewn with the carcases of wild cats, squirrels, snakes, birds, 

 and at times even tigers and rhinoceroses, suffocated by the carbonic acid, and pre- 

 served from putrefaction. But the emanations vary considerably in quantity and 

 even in quality, and occasionally the district may be traversed without risk. 



The other volcanoes of this region, such as Tjikurai (9,350 feet), and Sawal 

 (5,860 feet), have been quiescent throughout the historic period, and no igneous 

 phenomena occur on the chain of hills falling gradually eastwards down to the 

 Tanduwi delta. 



The elevated Bandong plain, which stretches north of the Preang volcanoes, and 

 in which are collected the headstreams of the Tarum, is dominated on the north by 

 a volcanic system running west and east. Burangrang (6,840 feet), the first link 

 of the chain, forms a trachytic mass whose eruptions were antecedent to all history ; 

 but it is followed by Tangkuban Prahu (6,900 feet), which is still active. Tampomas 

 (5,600 feet), at the eastern extremity of the system, seems to be also extinct, although 

 some sulphurous gases still escape from a fissure in its flank. 



Gunong Tjerimai (10,200 feet), near Cheribon Bay, and also called Mount 

 Cheribon from the town at its foot, has a perfectly regular crater some hundred 

 yards deep, inhabited by thousands of swallows. Beyond this point Java is con- 

 tracted between two gulfs, which formerly penetrated much farther inland than 

 at present. Here the main waterparting falls to about 3,000 feet ; but in the 

 neighbourhood Mount Slamat, a recent and perfectly regular cone, rises in isolated 

 majesty to a height of 11,400 feet. Its slopes are forest-clad to within 2,500 feet 

 of the crater, which ejects with the roar of a cataract a dense column of vapours, 

 which the upper atmospheric currents always carry westwards. 



The volcano, of which Prahu (8,420 feet) is but a lateral ruin, was in prehistoric 

 times probably the culminating point of Java. But the upper cone was blown 

 away during former eruptions, leaving nothing but fragments of its periphery, 

 Prahu on the north, Pakuoejo on the east and Wisma on the south side. All the 

 intermediate space is occupied by the irregular plateau of Dieng, a term often 

 applied to thewhole group. This plateau, on which stands the highest village in 

 Java, in the midst of tobacco plantations, presents some of the most remarkable 

 igneous phenomena in the island. Here are grouped in close proximity eruptive 

 craters, lava streams, hot lakes saturated with chemical substances, solfataras, thermal 

 springs, rivulets of boiling water, gases and vapour jets. Here also, in a depres- 

 sion between two streamlets, lies the Pakaraman, or Gruwa UjDas, that is, " Valley 

 of Death," described by some travellers as a desolate plain, on which no one dares 

 to venture except at imminent peril. Yet it is nothing but a simple cavity a few 

 yards broad, whence is occasionally emitted a little carbonic acid gas. Its celebrity 

 is doubtless due to the religious traditions associated w^ith the Dieng plateau, 

 which was formerly much frequented by the worshippers of Siva, god of destruc- 

 tion. Even on the terminal crest of Prahu, not far from the summit, are still seen 

 abandoned temples, while other sanctuaries are scattered round about. Structures 

 have also been recognised which served as refuges for the pilgrims, besides a gigantic 

 flight of steps by which the faithful reached the edge of the plateau, and an under- 



