286 



BJNDJ. 



[CBAP. XI l. 



and brilliant green vegetation, indicating that we Jiad 

 p.issed beyond tlie ranj^e of the hot dry winds from the 

 pi uns of l-entrul AustraHa, Buuda is a lovely little spot, 

 it«s three inlands enclosing a secnre harbour from whence 

 no outlet is visible, and with water so transparent, that 

 living corals and even the minutest objects are phiiidy 

 seen on the volcanic sand at a depth of seven or eight 

 fathoms. The ever smoking volcano rears its bare cone 

 on one side, while the two larger islands are clotlied with 

 vegetation to the summit of tlie liill^. 



Going on shore, I walked up a pretty path which leails 

 to the liighest point of the island ou which the town is 

 situated, where there is a telegxiiph station and a magni- 

 ticeut view. Celow lies the little town, with its ueat red- 

 tiled wldte houses and the tluitched cottages of the natives, 

 hounded on one side by the old Portuguese fort. Beyond, 

 about hulf a mile distant, lies the larger island in the 

 shape of a horseshoe, formed of a range of iiVirupt liills 

 co'v^ered with fine forest and nutmeg gardens ; while close 

 opposite the town is the vtdeano, forming a nearly perfect 

 cone, the lower part only covered with a liglit green bushy 

 vegetation. On its north side the outline is more uneven, 

 and there is a slight lioUow or chasm about one-fifth of the 

 way down, from which constantly issue two columns of 

 smoke, as well as a good deal from the nigged surface 

 around and from some spots nearer the summit A white 

 ettiorescence, probably .sul|ihur, is thickly spread over the 

 upper part of the muuntain, marked by the narrow black 

 vertical lines of water gullies. The smoke unites as it 

 ri >i!S, and forms a dense cloud, which in calm damp weather 

 spreads out into a wide canopy hiding the top of the 

 mountain. At night and early morning it often rises up 

 straight and leaves the whole outline clear. 



It. is only when actually gazing on an active Tolcano 

 that one can fnlly realize its awfulness and grandeur. 

 Whence comes that inexhaustible fire whose dense and 

 sulphureous smoke for ever issues from this bare and deso- 

 late peak ? Whence the mighty forces that produced that 

 peak, and still from time to time exhibit themselves in the 

 earthquakes that always occur in the vicinity of volcanic 

 veuU? The knowledge from childhood, of the fact that 



