melts together in thick, brown crusts. The
solfatara of Danan is situated exactly south of that below, at
the end of the ravine of the Kasiboi. The clay earth, from which
the silicic acid has been washed out by the rains, is carried into
the valley, where it forms a plain, the greater part of which is
occupied by a small lake, Malaksan (sour), slightly impregnated with
sulphuric acid. Its surface, which, by reason of the very flat banks,
is protected against the weather, I found to be about five hundred
paces long and one hundred broad. From the elevation of the solfatara,
a rather large fresh-water lake, surrounded by wooded mountains, is
seen through a gap, exactly south, which is named Jaruanan. The night
was passed in a ruined shed at the south-east of the lake Malaksan;
and on the following morning we climbed the south side of the mountain
ridge and, skirting the solfatara of the Danan, arrived in an hour
and a half at lake Jaruanan.

[Jaruanan Lake.] This lake, as well as the Malaksan, inspires
the natives with superstitious fear on account of the suspicious
neighborhood of the solfatara, and therefore has not been profaned by
either mariner, fisher, or swimmer, and was very full of fish. For the
purpose of measuring its depth, I had a raft of bamboos constructed;
and when my companions saw me floating safely on the lake, they
all, without exception, sprang into it, and tumbled about in the
water with infinite delight and loud outcries, as if they wished
to indemnify themselves for their long abstinence; so that the raft
was not ready before three o'clock. The soundings at the centre of
the basin, which was, at the southern edge, steeper than on the
north, gave thirteen brazas, or over twenty-one meters of depth;
the greatest length of the lake amounted to nearly eight hundred
varas (six hundred and sixty-eight meters), and the breadth to about
half as much. As we returned in the evening, by torchlight, over the
crest of the mountain to our night-quarters at the lake, we passed
by the very modest dwelling-place of a married pair. Three branches,
projecting outwards from the principal trunk of a tree, and lopped at
equal points, sustained a hut of bamboos and palm-leaves of eight feet
square. A hole in the floor formed the entrance, and it was divided
into a chamber and ante-chamber, and four bamboo poles supported,
above and below, two layers of bamboos, one of which furnished a
balcony, and the other a shop in