ident's house at Bima,
forty miles east of the volcano, and rendered it as well as many other
dwellings in the town uninhabitable. On the side of Java the ashes were
carried to the distance of 300 miles, and 217 towards Celebes, in
sufficient quantity to darken the air. The floating cinders to the
westward of Sumatra formed, on the 12th of April, a mass two feet thick,
and several miles in extent, through which ships with difficulty forced
their way.

The darkness occasioned in the daytime by the ashes in Java was so
profound, that nothing equal to it was ever witnessed in the darkest
night. Although this volcanic dust when it fell was an impalpable
powder, it was of considerable weight when compressed, a pint of it
weighing twelve ounces and three quarters. "Some of the finest
particles," says Mr. Crawfurd, "were transported to the islands of
Amboyna and Banda, which last is about 800 miles east from the site of
the volcano, although the southeast monsoon was then at its height."
They must have been projected, therefore, into the upper regions of the
atmosphere, where a counter-current prevailed.

Along the sea-coast of Sumbawa and the adjacent isles, the sea rose
suddenly to the height of from two to twelve feet, a great wave rushing
up the estuaries, and then suddenly subsiding. Although the wind at Bima
was still during the whole time, the sea rolled in upon the shore, and
filled the lower parts of the houses with water a foot deep. Every prow
and boat was forced from the anchorage, and driven on shore.

The town called Tomboro, on the west side of Sumbawa, was overflowed by
the sea, which encroached upon the shore so that the water remained
permanently eighteen feet deep in places where there was land before.
Here we may observe, that the amount of subsidence of land was apparent,
in spite of the ashes, which would naturally have caused the limits of
the coast to be extended.

The area over which tremulous noises and other volcanic effects
extended, was 1000 English miles in circumference, including the whole
of the Molucca Islands, Java, a considerable portion of Celebes,
Sumatra, and Borneo. In the island of Amboyna, in the same month and
year, the ground opened, threw out water, and then closed again.[648]

In conclusion, I may remind the reader, that but for the accidental
presence of Sir Stamford Raffles, then Governor of Java, we should
scarcely have heard in Europe of this tremendous catastrophe. He
re