Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

82 AUSTRALASIA.the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Barisan Mountains, as the Suraatranranges are collectively called, begin to the north of Atjeh with the islet of PuloBrass (2,300 feet), on which has been erected the beacon known to mariners as the"Sumatra Lighthouse." Eastwards stands the insular mass of Pulo Wai (1,370feet), beyond which on the mainland rises the volcanic Selawa Janteu (5,650 feet),known to the Dutch as the Goudberg, or " Gold Mountain." This imposing andalmost completely isolated cone is followed along the north coast by other crests,for the most part less elevated, and indicating the border of the still unexploredAchinese plateau. The range terminates near Diamond Cape (Jambu Ajer) in aTafelberg, or Table Mountain, whose highest terrace stands at an altitude of 5,300feet above the sea. Bej'ond the hills on the coast is seen the summit, 4,000 feethigh, of the still unvisited Samalanga volcano.But the main range, which has its origin to the west of the Goudberg and ofthe Atjeh valley, develops a much loftier series of crests along the oceanicseaboard. Here the Abong-Abong and Luseh, said to be volcanoes but not yetexplored, are reported to attain the respective elevations of 11,300 and 12,200feet.South of these lofty summits, whose cones rest on a crystalline formation some3,000 or 4,000 feet high, the mean altitude of the highlands is considerablyreduced, and here the system branches into parallel chains enclosing the Tobaplateau, and tao, or " sea," of like name. This basin, called also Silalahi, forms alake of clear water 500 square miles in extent, whose shores are studded withhundreds of Batta villages. In its waters are mirrored the cones of extinct orstill active volcanoes, one of which, the Dolok Simanabum, emitted dense vapoursin 1881. On its flanks, as well as on those of a neighbouring volcano, may bedistinguished from below a broad belt of a golden colour, consisting probably ofcrystallised sulphur. The Pusuk Bukit, another cone on the western margin ofthe lake, also possesses extensive sulphur deposits, whence the Battas draw theirsupplies.The island rising in the centre of the basin was itself a volcano, whichhas been attached by eruptive scoria) to the mainland and to the Pusuk Bukit.Lake Toba stretches in the direction from north-west to south-east, parallel withthe main Simiatran axis. Its overflow is discharged to the south-east, towardsthe strait of Malacca.The amphitheatre of hills, whose spurs branch off towards the east coast, againconverges south of the Toba plateau in a single main range, which resumes itsnormal direction parallel with the west Sumatran seaboard. In this part of theBarisan highlands some volcanic or other peaks exceed 5,000 feet in height.From one of the cones are emitted wreaths of sulphurous vapours, and anotheris pierced by a crater whose walls are lined with a ycllo-\\- incrustation of.sulphur.The range is flanked on the west by superb lateral spurs, which from adistance seem to be the dominant summits.Such are the Malintang (5,000 feet),and the Pasomau, which European geographers have named Mount Ophir, not onaccount of its gold mines, which have no existence, but in allusion to the natural