nd six or eight feet in height were at the same time thrown up on
these lands.[644]

We must not conclude without alluding to a _moral_ phenomenon connected
with this tremendous catastrophe, which we regard as highly deserving
the attention of geologists. It is stated by Sir A. Burnes, that "these
wonderful events passed _unheeded_ by the inhabitants of Cutch;" for the
region convulsed, though once fertile, had for a long period been
reduced to sterility by want of irrigation, so that the natives were
indifferent as to its fate. Now it is to this profound apathy which all
but highly civilized nations feel, in regard to physical events not
having an immediate influence on their worldly fortunes, that we must
ascribe the extraordinary dearth of historical information concerning
changes of the earth's surface, which modern observations show to be by
no means of rare occurrence in the ordinary course of nature.

Since the above account was written, a description has been published of
more recent geographical changes in the district of Cutch, near the
mouth of the Koree, or eastern branch of the Indus, which happened in
June, 1845. A large area seems to have subsided, and the Sindree lake
had become a salt marsh.[645]

_Island of Sumbawa_, 1815.--In April, 1815, one of the most frightful
eruptions recorded in history occurred in the province of Tomboro, in
the island of Sumbawa (see Map, fig. 39, p. 351), about 200 miles from
the eastern extremity of Java. In April of the year preceding the
volcano had been observed in a state of considerable activity, ashes
having fallen upon the decks of vessels which sailed past the
coast.[646] The eruption of 1815 began on the 5th of April, but was most
violent on the 11th and 12th, and did not entirely cease till July. The
sound of the explosions was heard in Sumatra, at the distance of 970
geographical miles in a direct line; and at Ternate, in an opposite
direction, at the distance of 720 miles. Out of a population of 12,000,
in the province of Tomboro, only twenty-six individuals survived.
Violent whirlwinds carried up men, horses, cattle, and whatever else
came within their influence into the air; tore up the largest trees by
the roots, and covered the whole sea with floating timber.[647] Great
tracts of land were covered by lava, several streams of which, issuing
from the crater of the Tomboro mountain, reached the sea: So heavy was
the fall of ashes, that they broke into the Res