298 Notice of Active and Extinct Volcanos. 



eter ; after rising to the height of twenty or thirty feet in a 

 perfectly regular manner, as if it were pushed by a force be- 

 neath, it suddenly explodes with a dull noise, and scatters black 

 mud in every direction ; this phenomenon is repeated at in- 

 tervals of from two to five seconds, and is attributed to the 

 general causes of volcanic action existing in the island. 

 These explosions are never violent ; they are attended by a 

 smell like naptha. The Javanese have a tradition, and their 

 records even assign the date of the events, that Java, Suma- 

 tra, Bali, and Sumbawa, were once united. However this may 

 be, the volcanos of Java and of the Philippine groupe ap- 

 pear almost connected with one another, through the medi- 

 um of those which exist in Sumbawa, Flores, Daumer, Ban- 

 da, and the Moluccas. 



" That of Tomboro in the Island of Sambawa is perhaps one 

 of the most considerable in the world, according to the descrip- 

 tion given of it by Sir Stamford Raffles. 



" Almost every one, says this writer, is acquainted with the 

 intermitting convulsions of Etna and Vesuvius, as they appear 

 in the descriptions of the poet, and the authentic accounts of 

 the naturalist, but the most extraordinary of them can bear no 

 comparison, in point of duration and force, with that of Mount 

 Tomboro in the Island of Sambawa. This eruption extended 

 perceptible evidences of its existence, over the whole of the 

 Molucca Islands, over Java, a considerable portion of Celebes, 

 Sumatra, and Borneo, to a circumference of a thousand statute 

 miles from its centre, by tremulous motions and the report of 

 explosions ; while, within the range of its more immediate activ- 

 ity, embracing a space of three hundred miles around it, it pro- 

 duced the most astonishing effects, and excited the most alarm- 

 ing apprehensions. In Java, at the distance of three hundred 

 miles, it seemed to be awfully present. The sky was overcast 

 at midday with clouds of ashes, the sun was enveloped in an 

 atmosphere, whose " palpable density" he was unable to pene- 

 trate ; a shower of ashes covered the houses, the streets, and the 

 fields, to the depth of several inches, and amid this darkness, ex- 

 plosions were heard at intervals, like the report of artillery, or 

 the noise of distant thunder. 



" At Sambawa itself three distanct columns of flame appear- 

 ed to burst forth, near the top of the Tomboro mountain, (all of 

 them apparently within the verge of the crater,) and after as- 

 cending separately to a very great height, their tops united in 

 the air in a troubled, confused manner. In a short time, the 

 whole mountain next Sang'ir appeared like a body of liquid fire, 

 extending itself in every direction. 



