112 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
is observed, consisting of black earth mixed with water, 
about sixteen feet in diameter, rising to the height of 
20 or 30 feet in a perfectly regular manner, and, as it 
were, pushed up by a force beneath, which suddenly 
explodes with a dull noise, and scatters about a volume 
of black mud in every direction. After an interval of 
two or three, or sometimes four or five seconds, the 
hemispherical body of mud or earth rises and explodes 
again. In the same manner this volcanic ebullition goes 
on without interruption, throwing up a globular body of 
mud, and dispersing it with violence through the 
neighbouring plain. The spot where this occurs is 
nearly circular and perfectly level. It is covered with 
the earthy particles impregnated with salt which are 
thrown up from below. Its circumference is about half 
a mile. A strong, pungent, sulphurous smell, somewhat 
resembling that of petroleum, is perceived on standing 
near the explosion, and the mud recently thrown up 
possesses a degree of heat greater than that of the 
surrounding atmosphere. During the rainy season these 
explosions are more violent, the mud is thrown up much 
higher, and the noise is heard to a greater distance/ 5 
On the southern coast, not far from the meridian of 
Surakarta, is the curious phenomenon known as Gunong- 
gunong Sewu—the Thousand Mountains—a plateau 
covered by innumerable and closely approximated white 
limestone hills which are from 100 to 200 feet in 
height. A perfect labyrinth of narrow winding valleys 
and innumerable small lakes are thus formed, the milky 
waters of the latter being in many cases drained by 
subterranean channels into the sea, where they may be 
seen staining the water in patches at some distance from 
the shore. This district is spoken of by Junghuhn as 
one of the most beautiful in Java. 
