156 



AUSTRALASIA. 



ground canal which drained a neighbouring marshy valley. In one of the caves 

 Junghuhn even discovered a Hindu inscription, which, however, has not yet been 

 deciphered. The importance of the architectural works attests the presence of a 

 considerable population in these uplands during the period of Sivaite civilisation. 

 But the volcanic eruptions, aided perhaps by the zeal of Mussulman propagandists, 

 spread desolation over the Dieng plateau, which reverted to a state of nature till 

 the beginning of the present century, when the first attempts were again made to 

 bring: it under cultivation. 



South of this district follow the superb cones of Sindoro (10,400 feet) and 



Fig. 60.— Dieng. 

 Scale 1 : 90,000. 



7°l s 

 IC ' 



Af'/'sKi,' 



y^ e. .^ 



7 \ 



109° 50- 



/1 *^ * 



109° 55 Last oP Greenwich 



3,300 Yards. 



Sumbing (11,000), known to navigators in these waters as the " Two Brothers." 

 Sindoro, that is " Majestic," is the finest of all the Javanese volcanoes, with per- 

 fectly regular outlines and truncated cone, as if the summit had been cleaved by 

 the stroke of a sword. The lavas flowing uniformly down its flanks have pene- 

 trated northwards into the breached crater of Telerep, and southwards to the 

 more precipitous slopes of Sumbing. Although higher than Sindoro, Sumbing is 

 less symmetrical ; but it is specially distinguished by the surprising regularity of 

 the ridges radiating in all directions from the summit to the base with intervening 

 ravines excavated by the running waters to depths of from 250 to 300 feet. The Two 

 Brothers appear to be all but extinct, the only indication of activity being a few 



