TIMOR ISLAND. 927 
which I have described as situated near Viqueque is the so-called 
voleano of Bibiluto of this report. It may have “erupted” as 
a result of earthquakes which also caused damage in Viqueque. 
However, it should be noted that there is a reference in earlier 
writings, which Perrey cites,° to a voleano “en ignition” 
situated in the native kingdom of Bibiluto. This may reason- 
ably be explained as another gas vent, since it is a well-known 
fact that there is an occurrence of oil and gas in Bibiluto on 
the south coast of the western part of Portuguese Timor, but 
according to my informant there is no such mud cone there as 
is found near Viqueque. 
The original publication concerning the so-called eruption of 
Floen Bano is evidently a note published in the Javasche 
Courant, May 9, 1857, as is shown in the article to which — 
Perrey refers and which consists of a number of notes con- 
cerning earthquakes. It reads as follows: 
The 26th or 27th of December, 1856, the mountain Iloen Bano in the 
western part of Timor erupted causing the death of two persons struck by 
stones which the volcano threw out. The account from which we are bor- 
rowing these details is all the more remarkable since it is the first notice 
of an eruption of a volcano in Timor, or at least in the western part of the 
island. 
(It will be noted that the name has been misspelled by Mer- 
calli and also by those who have taken their information from 
him.) It is my opinion that this is another case in which earth- 
quake phenomena have been misinterpreted and ascribed to a 
volcanic eruption. 
I was pleased to find in Perrey’s article “Le Bibiluto” a 
reference *° to what is probably the original source of the state- 
ments made by Scrope concerning a volcano in Timor. The 
literal translation from the Latin is as follows: 
There was also, in the island of Timor, a mountain so high that its 
flaming summit was said to be visible three hundred miles at sea. In the 
year 1638 when its foundations were shattered by a terrible earthquake, 
together with the island, it was absorbed, leaving only a great lake in its 
place, as the annals of the Society of Jesus record. 
It is useless to conjecture as to what may have been the basis 
for this statement. It may be remarked that the later state- 
ments which have been made on the strength of this passage 
show certain variations and additions which give them in the 
connection in which they appear greater apparent scientific 
*M. de Freycinet, Voyage de |’Uranie, part hist., pp. 536, 546, et 566. 
*Th. Ittig, De Montium incendiis, Lipsiae, 1671 in 8° voy., p. 120. 
