The Castle Walls Were Rent
Asunder In Several Places, And We Thought That It And All The
Houses Would Have Fallen Down.
The ground where we were swelled
like a wave in the sea, but near us we had no hurt done." There
are also numerous records of eruptions of a volcano on the west
side of the island.
In 1674 an eruption destroyed a village. In
1694 there was another eruption. In I797 much vapour and heat was
emitted. Other eruptions occurred in 1816 and 1820, and in 1824 a
new crater is said to have been formed. Yet so capricious is the
action of these subterranean fires, that since the last-named
epoch all eruptive symptoms have so completely ceased, that I was
assured by many of the most intelligent European inhabitants of
Amboyna, that they had never heard of any such thing as a volcano
on the island.
During the few days that elapsed before I could make arrangements
to visit the interior, I enjoyed myself much in the society of
the two doctors, both amiable and well-educated men, and both
enthusiastic entomologists, though obliged to increase their
collections almost entirely by means of native collectors.
Dr. Doleschall studied chiefly the flies and spiders, but also
collected butterflies and moths, and in his boxes I saw grand
specimens of the emerald Ornithoptera priamus and the azure
Papilio Ulysses, with many more of the superb butterflies of this
rich island. Dr. Mohnike confined himself chiefly to the beetles,
and had formed a magnificent collection during many years
residence in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Japan, and Amboyna.
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