558 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN MALAYSIA AND ASIA, 



island, in which I somewhat briefly and hurriedly described the 

 journey and some of the sights and scenes of the island. I need 

 do no more than summarize what was written, adding such 

 observations as were then omitted. 



Banjuwangi. — Banjuwangi or more properly speaking Banu- 

 wangi (the n in the first syllable being a nasal ng sound) meaning 

 in Malay fragrant, water or river, is the name of a sub-district on 

 the eastern end of the island, probably its wildest and least 

 populous portion. It is only an assistant residency, being subject 

 in its administration to the Resident of Besuki. Though to a 

 stranger, who has not seen much of Java, it appears thickly 

 populated, in reality it is not so. The town is built on the alluvial 

 flats of the river Tambong which descends through a valley of 

 lava on the slopes of the great slumbering volcano Ijen, which 

 according to the Dutch engineers is 3,053 metres above sea level, 

 or say in round numbers about 10,000 feet. It is an immense 

 oblong crater or valley of subsidence, connected with a crater 

 9 or 10 miles in its greatest length from noith-east to south- 

 west, and 5 or 6 in its greatest width, with a large opening or 

 gorge on the south-east side down which the river Tambong flows. 

 East and west of this valley there are two crater lakes on the 

 summit of the mountains : Ijen (10,000 feet), and Rawun 

 (10,300 feet). The first name signifies alone, and the latter a 

 morass or lake. Ijen is said to be filled with water containing a 

 strong infusion of sulphuric acid, and once during an eruption 

 the terrors of the inhabitants were vastly increased by great 

 sti'eams of this acid water pouring down over the slopes causing 

 wide-spread death and destruction. Both these lakes are worth an 

 attentive study, as they are distinct craters with a large number 

 of lava streams dependent upon them. These form ridges and 

 mountain crests, extending more than 40 miles from the moun- 

 tains. It would be too long a t^sk to attempt to describe these 

 mountains in detail. It will be sufficient to say that the two 

 volcanoes and the immense extinct crater between them form the 

 nucleus of the mountain system of this end of Java. All the 



