PERILOUS DESCENT. 



m 



rifles one liundred and twenty feet higher than on the 

 eastern side. The top, therefore, partly opens toward 

 the east, and from some of the higher parts of Lontar 

 most of the area on the summit of this truncated 

 cone can be seen. In the western part were many fis- 

 sures, out of which rose sheets and jets of gas. When 

 we had reached the highest point on the northwest 

 side, we leaned over and looked directly down into 

 the great active crater, a quarter of the distance from 

 the summit to the sea. Dense volumes of steam and 

 other gases were rolling up, and only now and then 

 could we distinguish the edges of the deep, yawning 

 abyss. Here we rested and lunched, enjoying mean- 

 while a munificent view over the whole of the Banda 

 group when the strangling gas was not blown into 

 our faces. Again we continued around the northern 

 side, and came down into an old crater, where was a 

 large rock with " ^tna," the name of a Dutch man-of- 

 war, carved on one of its sides, and our captain bu- 

 sied himself for some time cutting Telegraph," the 

 name of our yacht, beneath it. Great quantities of 

 sulphur were seen here, more, the governor said, than 

 he had nctticed on any mountain in Java, for the 

 abundance of sulphur they all yield is one of 

 the characteristics of the volcanoes of this archipela- 

 go. It was now time to descend, and we called our 

 guide, to whom some one had given the classical 

 prajnomen of Apollo (a more appropriate title at 

 least than Mercuiy, for he uever moved with winged 

 feet) ; but he could not t^ll where we ought to go, 

 every thing appeared so very different when we looked 

 downward. I chose a place where the vegetation 



