1 
19S RecordK of the Ueoloyical Siirvei/ of India. | vnL. xi, 
the “boiling” spoken of was doubtless the escape of gas. The orifice must 
of course have been of considerable dimensions during the eruption on the 6th 
of February. Subsequently to that date, when the violent stage of the eruption 
was over, a mud cone, similar to those described above, was probably quietly 
built up over the spot, with a crater of the size mentioned. 
Between the 26th and 29th of July 1843, an eruption took place “at a 
distance of about thirty bamboos ” south of False Island, which a few months 
afterwards was described as follows by natives of Oheduba and Flat Island to 
Captain Russell, commanding the H. C. steamer Oatujes: “ About our morning 
meal, or 7 or 8 o’clock on the morning of the first day, we heard a great noise, and 
saw fire rising out of the sea, which continued for four days ; on the second day 
we saw a small island newly formed in the sea, between ‘ Flat Rock ’ and 
‘ Round Rock,’^ about the size of the sandbank called False Island. 
“ We saw the newly formed island for a month, but could not approach it 
on account of the boisterous sea on the coast. We felt an earthquake before 
we saw the fire in the sea ; in the month of October we came out in our boats | 
to look for the island, but saw nothing. The rocks, as they now lay, are of | 
the same number and position as before the appearance of the new island.’ ® 
Captain Russell found two and a half to thi-ee fathoms of water over the spot j 
where the island had been, with a rocky bottom. The ejecta during such erup- J 
tions being exclusively mud and stones, none but the largest among the lattoi' I 
would have any power of resisting the waves during the south-west monsoon. ; 
“ On the night of the 2nd of January 1845,” Ensign G. Hankin, 66th Native 
Infantry, wrote, the day after the occurrence:—“ Between the hours of 6 and 7, 
a very interesting and singular phenomenon was observed off the coast of Kyauk 
Phyu. The sky on the horizon was ohsei’ved to brighten up as when illuminated 
by the rays of the setting sun, except that the light more resembled the flicker- ; 
ing of a fire than the gradual descent of that luminary. It continued in this ; 
way for half an hour or so, when all of a sudden immense volumes of flame were 
seen to issue as it were from the depths of the ocean, presenting the most sub- a 
lime yet awful spectacle to the beholders. The general idea entertained was, a 
that a ship had caught fire; but this was soon dispelled by a low continuous j 
rumbling, which seemed to sound from the bowels of the earth, and was re-echoed 
by the surrounding hills. Previous to this, however. Captain Howe, the Marine 
Superintendent, had with the greatest promptitude set off in H. C. schooner 
“ Petrel,” intending to render assistance to the supposed unfortunates of the burn¬ 
ing ship; he returned without seeing anything, and it is thought that the whole 
was the result of some hidden volcanic agency; one of the neighbouring hills 
possessing that extraordinary property, and from which flames have been seen to 
issue before. The weather at the time was still and serene, hardly a breath dis¬ 
turbed the air: it was in fact, as some one observed, a very earthquaky day.”“ 
According to Captain Williams’ account “ the reflection of the flame was made 
on a dark bank of clouds, west of the station, on the track of ships from hence 
' Not to be confounded with Flat and Round Islands. 
^ Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, XII, 832, 1116. 
^ Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, XIV, 1845, Proceedings for February. 
