volcanic action. Timor itself consists of ancient stratified
rocks, but is said to have one volcano near its centre.

Going northward, Amboyna, a part of Bouru, and the west end of
Ceram, the north part of Gilolo, and all the small islands around
it, the northern extremity of Celebes, and the islands of Sian
and Sang-air, are wholly volcanic. The Philippine Archipelago
contains many active and extinct volcanoes, and has probably been
reduced to its present fragmentary condition by subsidences
attending on volcanic action.

All along this great line of volcanoes are to be found more or
less palpable signs of upheaval and depression of land. The range
of islands south of Sumatra, a part of the south coast of Java
and of the islands east of it, the west and east end of Timor,
portions of all the Moluccas, the Ke and Aru Islands, Waigiou,
and the whole south and east of Gilolo, consist in a great
measure of upraised coral-rock, exactly corresponding to that now
forming in the adjacent seas. In many places I have observed the
unaltered surfaces of the elevated reefs, with great masses of
coral standing up in their natural position, and hundreds of
shells so fresh-looking that it was hard to believe that they had
been more than a few years out of the water; and, in fact, it is
very probable that such changes have occurred within a few
centuries.

The united lengths of these volcanic belts is about ninety
degrees, or one-fourth of the entire circumference of the globe.
Their width is about fifty miles; but, for a space of two hundred
miles on each side of them, evidences of subterranean action are