Mareh And
Motir Are Of This Character, The Outline Of The Latter Giving It
The Appearance Of Having Been A True Volcano, And It Is Said By
Forrest To Have Thrown Out Stones In L778.
The next day (Oct.
12th), we coasted along the island of Makian, which consists of a
single grand volcano.
It was now quiescent, but about two
centuries ago (in 1646) there was a terrible eruption, which blew
up the whole top of the mountain, leaving the truncated jagged
summit and vast gloomy crater valley which at this time
distinguished it. It was said to have been as lofty as Tidore
before this catastrophe. [Soon after I' left the Archipelago, on
the 29th of December, 1862, another eruption of this mountain
suddenly took place, which caused great devastation in the
island. All the villages and crops were destroyed, and numbers of
the inhabitants killed. The sand and ashes fell so thick that the
crops were partially destroyed fifty miles off, at Ternate, where
it was so dark the following day that lamps had to be lighted at
noon. For the position of this and the adjacent islands, see the
map in Chapter XXXVII.]
I stayed some time at a place where I saw a new clearing on a
very steep part of the mountain, and obtained a few interesting
insects. In the evening we went on to the extreme southern point,
to be ready to pass across the fifteen-mile strait to the island
of Kaiķa. At five the next morning we started, but the wind,
which had hitherto been westerly, now got to the south and
southwest, and we had to row almost all the way with a burning
sun overhead.
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