have been in activity in more recent times. The most remarkable
eruption was that of the mountain named Papandayang, which occurred
in 1772. During this convulsion the greater part of the mountain,
which was formerly one of the largest in the island, was completely
swallowed up in some great underground gulf.

On the night between the 11th and 12th of August of that year, the
mountain appeared to be wholly enveloped in a remarkable luminous
cloud. The inhabitants fled in consternation; but before they could
all escape, the mountain began to totter, and the greater part of
it tumbled down and disappeared. The crash with which it fell was
dreadful, the noise resembling the discharge of volleys of
artillery. Besides that part of the mountain which thus fell in, a
large extent of ground in its neighbourhood was ingulfed. The space
measured fifteen miles in length and six in breadth. The ground for
many miles round this space was covered with immense quantities of
ashes, stones, cinders, and other substances thrown out by the
volcano. These were, on many parts of the surface, accumulated to
the height of three feet; and even at the end of six weeks, the
layers thus deposited retained so much heat as to render the
mountain inaccessible. By this dreadful occurrence forty villages
were destroyed, some ingulfed with the ground on which they stood,
others buried under the loose materials which had been ejected. Not
far short of three thousand of the inhabitants perished.

Another of the volcanoes of Java, called Galoen-gong, burst into
eruption in 1822, commencing with a terrible explosion of stones,
ashes, &c., followed by a stream of hot mud, which overspread a
large tract of ground. This eruption proved still more fatal to
human life, about four thousand persons having been destroyed.