Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

One of these volcanoes,the Malabar, or Rose Mountain (7,800 feet), no longer retains its conic shape;154 AUSTRALASIA.Here the crater is flooded witli an " alum lake," tliat is, with water saturated withsulphur and alum, at the normal atmospheric temperature.But a few miles to thenorth-east, at the source of the Chi Widei, lies a cirque of hot mud emitting acidvapours of a sulj)hurous odour, which are disintegrating the surrounding rocks.East of Patuha the volcanic cones follow in great apparent disorder, connectedwith each other by elevated ridges, and enclosing upland valleys, whence thestreams flow through narrow outlets to northern river basins.its crater is almost effaced, and its former activity is indicated only by two thermalsprings. But farther south. Mount "Wajang (7,200 feet) still preserves on itswest flank a magnificent solfatara, a little geyser with a jet of 10 feet, recurringat intervals of two or three minutes, and a stream of sidphur and alum waters.Stdl more active is Papandajan, or the "Forge" (8,700 feet), whose breachedcrater contains nearly all the elements of volcanic laboratories, sulphurous swampsat boiling point, mud cones, snorting, groaning, and ejecting mud and stones, hotsprings and jets rushing out with a hissing sound. All the voices of the volcanoare merged in one deafening yet rhythmic uproar, suggesting a vast workshop withthe voice of a thousand hammers mingling with its hissing jets of vapour. Arivulet which enters the " Forge " pure and limpid, emerges boiling and saturatedwith sulphur.In 1772, Papandajan was the scene of one of tie most tremendouseruptions of modern times, but at that time the district had been visited by noEui'opean naturalist, and the reports of the natives are of a contradictorj^ character.North of Papandajan, but forming part of the same group, stands the GunougGuntur, or " Thunder Mountain " (7,450 feet), which, unlike all the other Javanesemountains, is absolutely bare from base to summit.It forms a huge greyishblack mass jDresenting a uniform surface broken only by the lava blocks half buriedin the scoria.During eruptions the whole cone has been illumined by the burningashes ejected from its crater, forGuntur ranks with Lamongan as the most activevolcano in Java.The surrounding plantations have often been covered with theashes ejected during its outbursts. In 1843 Junghuhn estimated at ten milliontons the quantity of sands thrown to a height of 10,000 feet, and for a time darkeningthe face of the sun ;yet this was only a minor display.Galimgung, or the " Cymbal Mountain" (7,400 feet), although less active thanGuntur, was the theatre of two terrific outbm'sts in 1822, when the din was heardover the whole island. The showers of stones and ashes were on both occasionsaccompanied by a deluge ofmud, the pent-up reservoirs overflowing on the surroundingplains, and covering villages, rice fields, coffee plantations, and forestswith a layer of greyish blue mud in some places 50 feet thick. All vegetationhad disappeared for a space of over 12 miles, and 114 villages, with a totalpopulation of 4,000, were completely inundated. Magnificent forests have sinceI'esumed possession of the flanks of the volcano and surrounding district. Alittle to the west lies the Telaga Bodas, or " White Lake," where the sulphurousclays are kej)t at boiling point by incessant jets of vapour.In the neighbourhoodis the famous Pajagalan, or "Field of Slaughter," which emits deadly exhalations,