THE BURNING MOUNTADT. 



219 



rapidly brought us nearer to tliem over the quiet, 

 glassy sea, Tliis is Pulo Ai on our right. It is 

 only ii'oiii three hundred to iive hundred feet high, 

 and, as we see irom the low cliffs on its shores, is 

 mostly composed of coral rock. This is also said 

 to l)€ the case with the other islands outside of the 

 first circle we have already describedj and we notice 

 that, like it, they ai'e all comparatively low. Now 

 changing our course to the east, we steam up under 

 the high, steep Gnnong Api On its north-northwest 

 side, about one-foxirtb of the distance fi'om its sum- 

 mit down to the sea, is a deep, wide gulf, out of 

 which rise thick, opaque clouds of white gas, that 

 now, in the still, clear air, are seen rolling grandly 

 upward in one gigantic, expanding column to the 

 sky. On its top also thin, veil-like clouds occasion- 

 ally gather, and then slowly float away like cumuli 

 dissohdng in the pure ether. These cloud-masses 

 are chiefly composed of steam and sulphurous acid 

 gas, and, as they pour out, indicate w^hat an active 

 laboratory Nature has established deep within the 

 bowels of this old volcano. 



The western horn of crescent-shaped Loiitar is 

 before us. Its shore is composed of a series of 

 nearly perpendicular crags fi'om two to thi'ee hun- 

 dred feet high, but particulai'ly on the northern or 

 inner side the luxuriant vegetation of these tropical 

 islands does not allow the rocks to remain naked, 

 and from their crevices and upper edges hang down 

 broad sheets of a bright • gi*een, unfading verdure. 

 The western entrance to the road, the one through 

 which we are now passing, is between the abnipt, 



