J 28 Account of Barren Island [April, 



II. — Account of Barren Island, in the Bay of Bengal, drawn up by 



the late Dr. J. Adam. 



(Read at a meeting of the Asiatic Society.) 



Barren Island, with its volcano, from which the accompanying 

 specimens were obtained*, has been described in the 4th vol. of the 

 Researches by Lieutenant (now Colonel) Colebrooke. That gen- 

 tleman, however, did not visit it himself, but Mas indebted for his 

 description to Captain Blair, who appears to have surveyed the whole 

 cluster of the Andamans. The account is altogether very short, 

 and any further particulars regarding the island, I have conceived, may 

 not prove uninteresting. In this hope, I now beg leave to lay before 

 the Society the following narrative, communicated to me by the same 

 gpntleman who has contributed the specimens. I shall give it in his 

 own words, and I trust need make no apology for so doing. 



" In the month of March last, in the passage from Carnicobar to 

 Rangoon, I had occasion to approach close to Barren Island. It was 

 first visible at daylight, and at 7 A. m. being within 10 or 12 miles 

 of it, I could plainly perceive with my glass, volumes of white smoke 

 issuing from the crater of the volcano. About 9 o'clock, we were very 

 close to it, and being attracted by the singular appearance presented 

 to us, and the wind at the time being adverse, I determined on visiting 

 the island. Accompanied by my chief officer, I pulled for a small bay 

 where, it was supposed, we should have no difficulty in landing. On 

 approaching however to within a hundred yards of the shore, we were 

 suddenly assailed by hot puffs of wind, and on dipping our fingers 

 into the water, were surprized to find it as hot almost as if it had been 

 boiling. The stones on shore, and the rocks exposed by the ebbing 

 of the tide, were smoking and hissing, and the water was bubbling 

 all round them. At this place we had a complete view of the cone, 

 which did not then appear a quarter of a mile distant. Being unable to 

 effect our object here, we pulled a little to the southward, and landed 

 in a cove. We now commenced ascending an almost perpendicular 

 precipice, holding on by the loose grass that grew out of the ashes 

 covering the rocks. With no small danger and difficulty we reached 

 the top of the cliff, and had before us a smooth surface of ashes, extend- 

 ing to what we supposed to be the summit of the island. There being 

 nothing to hold by, and the acclivity very abrupt, we all joined hands, 

 and in this way, at length, succeeded in gaining the top of a ridge. Here 



* These specimens are, or ought to be, in the cabinet of the Asiatic Society. 



