SUMATRA 
163 
took place, other craters having opened in the centre 
of the island. On' the 11th August the island was 
approached upon its north-east side by Captain Ferzenaar, 
of the topographical staff of Bantam, who discovered that 
no less than three large and eleven secondary craters 
were in action. The whole island was covered with a 
thick white dust, and the forests and vegetation utterly 
destroyed. 
On Sunday the 26th August the volcano entered 
upon its paroxysmal and culminating stage of eruption. 
From the commanders of two or three vessels w T hich 
were then passing through the strait, and in some 
remarkable manner escaped destruction by the frightful 
wave that submerged the villages on its shores, we have 
full accounts of the phenomena presented at this period. 
The various craters appear to have united, and the 
mountain was vomiting forth enormous columns of smoke 
which, according to one observer, presented the appear¬ 
ance of “ an immense wall with bursts of forked lightning 
like large serpents rushing through the air.” Chains of 
fire appeared to ascend between the volcano and the sky, 
while on the south-west side huge white-hot fragments of 
lava rolled down the sides of the peak. On the ships 
the yard-arms and mast-heads were studded with “ corpi- 
sctnti,” and the entire deck and rigging were covered with 
brilliant phosphorescence, due to showers of warm mud 
which fell at times at the rate of six inches of depth in 
ten minutes. Occasionally a peculiar pinky flame ap¬ 
peared to come from the clouds and touch the mast¬ 
heads and yard-arms; and the sounding-lead was hot 
when brought to the surface. A strong wind was 
blowing at the time, hot and choking, with a pungent 
sulphurous smell. The explosions, which began on the 
afternoon of Sunday, continuing at intervals of ten 
