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sion. Among other phenomena, are mineral wells 
of various temperature and impregnation ; W'ells of 
naphtha or petrolium ; and rivers arising in a few' 
cases from the craters of volcanoes impregnated 
with sulphureous acid. From these and all other 
investigations yet made, the constitution of Java 
appears to be exclusively volcanic ; it may, indeed, 
be considered as the first of a series of volcanic 
islands, which extend nearly eastward from the 
Straits of Sunda for about twenty-five degrees. 
“At what period (says our author) the island 
assumed its present shape, or whether it was once 
joined to Sumatra and Bali, is matter for conjec- 
ture. The violent convulsions which these islands 
have so often suffered, justify a conclusion that the 
face of the coimtry has frequently changed, and 
tradition mentions the periods when Java was sepa- 
rated from those islands ; but the essential diffe- 
rence which has been found in the mineralogical 
constitution of Java and Sumatra, would seem to 
indicate a different origin ; and to support the 
opinion that those two islands were never imited. 
Whether at a period more remote, the whole archi- 
pelago formed part of the continent of Asia, and 
w’as divided from it, and shattered into islands ; 
whether they were originally distinct from the main- 
land ; or whether they were formed at the same 
time or subsequently, are questions we cannot re- 
solve. Yet when we reflect on the violence of 
those dreadful phenomena which have occurred in 
