588 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN MALAYSIA AND ASIA, 



was everything in this arid basin. From the further end a 

 winding track or road can be seen descending the hill-sides and 

 crossing the floor of the crater. This is the Probolingo road 

 which joins our road at the rest-house. I need not say that 

 there are no trees or even a blackened, stunted bush. Scattered 

 tufts of sedges grow here and there, but not sufficient to 

 redeem the general aspect of sterility. The whole reminds one of 

 unfinished excavations on a stupendous scale. In the middle of 

 the floor is a steep conical hill, some 1,000 feet high, clothed with 

 timber and yet scored by rains so as to leave deep ruts, crevices, 

 and gullies of white or grey ash. Half hidden by this hill is 

 Bromo. It is a lower cone, truncated, and wide. It is absolutely 

 destitute of vegetation, and of a uniform whitish grey, darker 

 than snow, and yet somehow bringing it to mind. The ci'ater is 

 backed by a higher and more rugged mountain with a still colder 

 wintry aspect. The view is cheerless, indeed, as there is not a sign 

 of life, either animal or vegetable. From the centre of Bromo 

 rises a thick white smoke. It rises rapidly as if impelled by heat, 

 and is thin or dense according as the bubbling noise of the crater 

 is faint or uproarious. It is nearly 3 miles from where we stood, 

 and we could feel the vibration very distinctly under our feet. 

 Fortunately there were neither ashes nor stones ejected on that 

 day, so we could make the ascent safely. 



Five hundred feet of a descent on a bridle path, which 

 made short zigzags in loose ash, brought us to the floor of 

 the sand sea. Nothing but a Javanese pony would keep 

 his foot upon it. Not that one could ride down. Blondin 

 might, but all mankind are not so gifted in preserving a 

 balance. It is no use troubling my readers with the process 

 of staggering knee - deep in ash, which rises round one 

 abuost to suffocation. There are yJaces where a false step might 

 be fatal, but we did not manage to fall over these, yet falls we had 

 plenty., and so must anyone, for there is no way of getting down 

 except by slitling and falling. 



But just before we left the platform the mist had rolled away 

 from Semeru. It now appeared a grand mountain rising close to 



