chap, i.] PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 7 



or less injury to life and property, are sure to happen, in 

 one part or another of this district, almost every year. In 

 many of the islands the years of the great earthquakes form 

 the chronological epochs of the native inhabitants, by the 

 aid of which the ages of their children are remembered, 

 and the dates of many important events are determined. 



I can only briefly allude to the many fearful eruptions 

 that have taken place in this region. In the amount of 

 injury to life and property, and in the magnitude of their 

 effects, they have not been surpassed by any upon record. 

 Forty villages were destroyed by the eruption of Papanda- 

 yang in Java, in 1772, when the whole mountain was blown 

 up by repeated explosions, and a large lake left in its place. 

 By the great eruption of Tomboro in Sumbawa, in 1815, 

 12,000 people were destroyed, and the ashes darkened the 

 air and fell thickly upon the earth and sea for 300 miles 

 round. Even quite recently, since I quitted the country, 

 a mountain which had been quiescent for more than 200 

 years suddenly burst into activity. The island of Makian, 

 one of the Moluccas, was rent open in 1646 by a violent 

 eruption, which left a huge chasm on one side, extending 

 into the heart of the mountain. It was, when I last 

 visited it, in 1860, clothed with vegetation to the summit, 

 and contained twelve populous Malay villages. On the 

 29th of December, 1862, after 215 years of perfect in- 

 action, it again suddenly burst forth, blowing up and com- 



