1832.] 
ISLAND or JAVA. 
313 
eighteen hundred and six ; that of Gunter, in Priangin, in eigh- 
teen hundred and seven. The Papondayang, in the western part 
of Cheribon, was formerly one of the largest volcanoes in the 
island ; but the greatest part of it, according to Dr. Horse- 
field, was swallowed up in the earth, after a short but very 
severe combustion. Many of the flying inhabitants were in- 
gulfed with it. 
There are, likewise, extensive ranges of mountains of an infe- 
rior elevation, sometimes connected with the larger series, and 
sometimes not, which are also volcanic. The whole country is 
traversed by ridges of hills, in various directions ; and is every- 
where undulating and uneven. 
Although the width of the island does not admit the formation 
of very large rivers, still Java can boast of some of respectable 
magnitude. There are as many as fifty, on which, in the wet 
season, rafts of timber, and other rough produce of the country, 
are floated to the coast ; and not less than half a dozen of these 
are navigable several miles into the interior. There are no lakes 
of any considerable size on the island, although in the wet season 
many extensive swamps assume that appearance. Although the 
northern coast is in many parts flat and uninteresting, the interior 
and southern provinces are mountainous, and present a picture 
of much diversified and romantic scenery. The prospects from 
the highlands, in many places, may challenge the world to pro- 
duce any equally subhme and beautiful. 
Unlike her divorced partner, Sumatra, the constitution of Java 
is unfavourable to metals, and neither diamonds nor precious 
stones of any description are to be found on the island. Many 
minerals of the schorl, quartz, potstone, feldspar, and trap kind, 
however, exist in the mountains of secondary elevation, towards 
the southern shores of the islands, sometimes in extensive veins. 
Prase, hornstone, flint, chalcedony, hyalite, jasper, jasper-agate, 
obsidian, and porphyry, are found in various situations. 
The climate of Java is various ; being hot and sultry along the 
seacoast, but cool and pleasant further inland. In penetrating the 
interior from the city of Batavia, we feel, at the end of every five 
miles we advance, a sensible improvement in the atmosphere and 
climate ; at every step, we breathe a purer air and survey a 
brighter scene. On reaching the highlands in the neighbourhood 
