240 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAif ARCUIPELAGO. 



commotioTi in tlie open ocean, and cei-tainly there 

 was no liigli wave or bore, or it would liave risen on 

 tlie shores of tlie neigliboring islands. There are 

 three entrances or straits which lead from the road 

 out to the open sea Two of these are wide and one 

 is narrow. When the whole top of the old volcano, 

 that is, Banda Neira, Gimong Api, Lontar, and the 

 area they enclose, was raised for a moment, the 

 water steamed out from the crater through these 

 straits, causing only strong currentSj hut as the land 

 instantly sank to its former level, the water poured 

 in, and the streams of the two wider straits, meeting 

 and uniting, rolled on toward the inner end of the 

 narrow strait. Here they all met, and, piling up, 

 spread out over the adjoining low village, causing a 

 great destruction of life. At the Resident's house, a 

 few hundi-ed yards east of Fort Nassau, the water only 

 rose some ten or iifteen feet above high- water level, 

 and farther east still less. The cause assigned above, 

 though the principal one, may therefore not have 

 been sufficient in itself to have made the sea rise 

 so high over the southwestern part of Banda Neira 

 and the opposite part of Gunong Api, and I bus- 

 pect that an additional cause was that the land 

 there sank for a moment below its proper level, 

 Valentyn thus describes another less destructive 

 earthquake wave: "In the year 1629 there was a 

 great eaitliquake, and half an hour aftei-wai-d a fiood 

 which was very great, and came in calm weather. 

 The sea between ^eica and Selam ^' (on the western 

 part of Lontar) " rose up like a high mountain and 

 stmck on the right side of Fort Nassau, where the 



