Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Geological Contrasts
One of the chief volcanic belts upon the globe passes through the Archipelago, and produces
a striking contrast in the scenery of the volcanic and non-volcanic islands. A curving line,
marked out by scores of active and hundreds of extinct volcanoes, may be traced through
the whole length of Sumatra and Java, and thence by the islands of Bali, Lombock, Sum-
bawa, Flores, the Serwatty Islands, Banda, Amboyna, Batchian, Makian, Tidore, Ternate,
and Gilolo, to Morty Island. Here there is a slight but well-marked break, or shift, of about
200 miles to the westward, where the volcanic belt again begins, in North Celebes, and
passes by Siau and Sanguir to the Philippine Islands, along the eastern side of which it con-
tinues, in a curving line, to their northern extremity. From the extreme eastern bend of this
belt at Banda, we pass onwards for 1,000 miles over a non-volcanic district to the volcanoes
observed by Dampier,
*
in 1699, on the north-eastern coast of New Guinea, and can there
trace another volcanic belt, through New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon Islands, to
the eastern limits of the Archipelago.
In the whole region occupied by this vast line of volcanoes, and for a considerable
breadth on each side of it, earthquakes are of continual recurrence, slight shocks being felt at
intervals of every few weeks or months, while more severe ones, shaking down whole vil-
lages, and doing more or less injury to life and property, are sure to happen, in one part or
another of this district, almost every year. In many of the islands the years of the great earth-
quakes form the chronological epochs of the native inhabitants, by the aid of which the ages
of their children are remembered, and the dates of many important events are determined.
I can only briefly allude to the many fearful eruptions that have taken place in this region.
In the amount of injury to life and property, and in the magnitude of their effects, they have
not been surpassed by any upon record. Forty villages were destroyed by the eruption of
Papandayang in Java, in 1772, when the whole mountain was blown up by repeated explo-
sions, and a large lake left in its place. By the great eruption of Tomboro in Sumbawa, in
1815, 12,000 people were destroyed, and the ashes darkened the air and fell thickly upon the
earth and sea for 300 miles round. Even quite recently, since I quitted the country, a moun-
tain which had been quiescent for more than 200 years suddenly burst into activity. The is-
land of Makian, one of the Moluccas, was rent open in 1646 by a violent eruption, which
left a huge chasm on one side, extending into the heart of the mountain. It was, when I last
visited it, in 1860, clothed with vegetation to the summit, and contained twelve populous
Malay villages. On the 29th of December, 1862, after 215 years of perfect inaction, it again
suddenly burst forth, blowing up and completely altering the appearance of the mountain,
destroying the greater part of the inhabitants, and sending forth such volumes of ashes as to
