chap, xx.] VOLCANIC DISTURBANCES. 4G1 



The ground where we were swelled like a wave in the sea, 

 but near us we had no hurt done." There are also 

 numerous records of eruptions of a volcano on the west 

 side of the island. In 1674 an eruption destroyed a 

 village. In 1694 there was another eruption. In 1797 

 much vapour and heat w T as emitted. Other eruptions 

 occurred in 1816 and 1820, and in 1824 a new crater is 

 said to have been formed. Yet so capricious is the action 

 of these subterranean fires, that since the last-named epoch 

 all eruptive symptoms have so completely ceased, that I 

 was assured by many of the most intelligent European 

 inhabitants of Amboyna, that they had never heard of any 

 such thing as a volcano on the island. 



During the few days that elapsed before I could make 

 arrangements to visit the interior, I enjoyed myself much 

 in the society of the two doctors, both amiable and well- 

 educated men, and both enthusiastic entomologists, though 

 obliged to increase their collections almost entirely by 

 means of native collectors. Dr. Doleschall studied chiefly 

 the flies and spiders, but also collected butterflies and 

 moths, and in his boxes I saw grand specimens of the 

 emerald Ornithoptera priamus and the azure Papilio 

 ulysses, with many more of the superb butterflies of this 

 rich island. Dr. Mohnike confined himself chiefly to the 

 beetles, and had formed a magnificent collection during 

 many years' residence in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Japan, 



