92 
JAVA 
cone, which gradually becomes a rolling pillar of pinkish smoke ; the pillar slowly rises and 
unrolls itself, gradually growing, and wonderfully spreads itself out until clear of the crater— 
rising and still spreading until it has become a simple cloud, to be dispersed by the winds 
in the higher air, and to fall in fine powder over the surrounding country; but slowly as 
this little pillar seems to ascend in the distance, it is leaving the brink of that mighty crater 
with a velocity and roar greater than mere words can express, accompanied by huge masses 
of rock and ash, which fall again into the crater’s mouth, securely blocking it up, to be 
blown skywards again when sufficient steam-power has been accumulated. This explosion 
takes place at intervals of a quarter of an hour. After standing for some while struck with 
the beauty of this scene, we rode on towards the crater of the Bromo, which lay to our left. 
On the path were tracks of Peafowl, one of which we flushed, but it disappeared too 
quickly for me to obtain a shot. After a few miles we arrived at the edge of the ancient 
crater of the Bromo, and from this point of vantage one of the most wonderful sights in the 
world may be contemplated. A thousand feet below you is a great level sandy desert, 
surrounded on all sides by barren mountains of volcanic ash, scarred and deeply furrowed in 
all directions ; here and there numerous small craters have burst up, piling up huge 
fantastically formed mounds of ash : one of these mounds, several hundred feet high, 
resembles a gigantic cooking-mould, fluted all round with deep gullies equidistant from 
each other; this crater is called the Batok. The curious colouring of the landscape adds 
much to the Avonder of the scene, the walls of the crater being of various shades of grey, 
the numberless deep scars on its surface casting shadows from blue to deep purple in the 
early morning sunlight, the atmosphere being so Avonderfully clear at this time that the 
smallest irregularities of outline are distinctly visible. After descending the steep side of 
the crater Ave traversed the sandy desert, covered sparsely Avith patches of rank grass, the 
only animal life I noticed being a Pipit (Antlius rvfuliis). After a ride of some consider¬ 
able distance across the desert, the base of a long hill composed entirely of soft ash is 
reached; this desert was at one time the active crater of the Bromo, but is noAv as it Avere 
roofed over by an even plain of lava, Avhich is hollow beneath, the ground echoing with 
every footfall. At the base of the hill mentioned the ponies were left; the ascent of this 
hill is greatly facilitated by steps and hand-rails. On the way up steaming fissures in 
which sulphur has bubbled out may be noticed. This Ioav hill of ash is noAv the only active 
crater of the Bromo, which in remote ages must have had an active crater of perhaps some 
tAventy or tAventy-five miles in circumference. 
On reaching the rim of the crater, a narroAv path leads almost round it, from which 
you can look doAvn into the depths of a pit, the bottom of which is obscured by the ever- 
rising steam, which rolls over and over, seldom rising to the summit of the crater, accom¬ 
panied by a dull roar like the boiling of a huge caldron; but to-day is a quiet day Avith 
the Bromo, for goodly-sized blocks of larva, streAved for hundreds of yards around on the 
sandy plain, testify to the fearful force at times exerted by this apparently harmless giant. 
It is only by seeing such sights that one is able to form an idea of the wonders of volcanic 
force, which at times have altered this Avorld’s surface over areas many miles in extent. A 
few months before I visited Tosari, the landlady of the hotel lost one of her sons, Avho was 
