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Show 404 ERUPTION OF TOMBORO IN SUMBAWA ' 1815. d seventy geoO'rap hI. ca1 miles in a direct line; and atd T edrn atde a· n ppos1. te dl:t? ree t'w n, a t the distance of seven hun re an In an ° .1 0 t f a population of twelve thousand, only twenty mi es. u 0 • 1 d v· 1 t 1 . l t ty S.I X I.n dl' VI'd ua1 S SU rvi'ved on the IS an . to en w m-wwinend s c-arri.e d up men, horses ' cattle ' and what1ev er else camb e w.t thm. the.u. .m fl uence, 'nto the ait· tore up the argest trees y 1 ' • fl . . b * the roots an d covere d the whole sea with oatmlg tim er f. Great tr'a cts of l an d we re covered by lava, severa ·s treamsh od . l . 'nO' from the crater oftheTomboro mountam, reac e whiC 1, IssuSI ol as the fall of ashes, that they broke into the sea o 1eavy w . f h 1 the Re·s t. dent , s h ouse a t Bima ' forty miles eas.t o t· e hv o cano, and rendere d I. t, as we1 1 as many other dwellmgs m t e t·o dw n, um.n habt. tab l e. 0 n t11 e side of Java' the ashes wehr e cda rnde tod the d1. stance o f three hundred mil.e s, and tw· o und rek anh seventeen towar d s Celebes ' in suffic1ent quantity to ar £e n t de . The floating cinders to the westward of Sumatra or~e air. l lGltl f April a mass two feet thick, and severa.l mtles on t 1e N 1 .o ·m 1 ~ d th . extent, through which ships with d! cu ty .lOrce :tr way. ~he darkness occasioned in the daytm~e by the ash:s m Ja~a was so proi~o und ' that nothinOo' equal to It . was everh wit.n e~s slel d m the darI < est m.g h t · AlthouO0 'h this volcam•c dusbtl w en· Ith .le hw as . 1 bl der it was of considera e weig t, w en an Impa pda e ~o~ f 'it weighing twelve ounces and three compresse ~o~~n th~ sea-coast of Sumbawa, and the adjacent q· ulcasr tctr l1se. sea rose suddetlly to the height. of from two to dtwd elv1e IS ' 1 . 0' the estuaries, and then su en y feet, a great wave rus 1Ino up. . t'll durin()' the b . d. no· Although the wmd at Bnna was s I o su si I o· 11 d . upon the shore, and filled the whole time, the sea ro ~it~ water a foot deep. Every prow !o~e~~:tr~:: ::,~c:~~;~m the anchorage, and driven on s~or: an On the 19th of April, says one .of Raffles's correspon en:' '' we grounded on t h e b an I< 0 f Btma town. The arn:r chuonrdaoede at Bima must have altered conside~abl~, as where w; oro nths the Ternate crm.s er l ay a t anc hor m six fathobm s ah .i1cehw wmeo may b e . , Unfortunately no facts are stated Y, w l f e.1ot e. . h 1 · 1 ng a c 1ange o . d I'th certainty whether tlus s oa ' Imp YI 1 t' n J u ge w d b n accumu a 10 depth of more than thirty ~eet, wa~ c~us~ y t the sea. It is of ashes, or by an upheavmg of t e ot om o • RafHes's Java, vol. i., P· 28. EARTHQUAKE OF CUTCII IN BOMBAY, 1810. 405 stated, however, that the surrounding country was covered with ashes. On the other hand, the town called Tomboro, on the west side of the volcano, was overflowed by the sea, which encroached upon the shore at the foot of the volcano, 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 very 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 one thousand 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*. We may conclude, by reminding 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 required all the residents in the various districts under his authority to send in a statement of the circum. stances which occurred within their own knowledge; but, valuable as were their communications, they are often calculated to excite rather than to satisfy the curiosity of the geologist. They mention that similar effects, though in a less degree, had about seven years before accompanied an eruption of Carang Assam, a volcano in the island of Bali, west of Sumbawa; but no particulars of this catastrophe are recorded t· Cutch, 1819.-A violent earthquake occurred at Cutcl1, in Bombay, on the 16th of June, 1819. The principal town, Bhooi, was converted into"a heap of ruins, and its stone buildings thrown down. The shock extended to Ahmedhabad, where it was very destructive; and at Poonah, four hundred miles farther, it was feebly felt. At the former city, the great mosque erected by Sultan Ahmed nearly four hundred and fifty years before, fell to the ground, attesting how long a period had elapsed since a shock of similar violence had visited that point. At Anjar, the fort, with its towers and guns, was hurled to the ground in * Raffles's Hist. of Java, vol. i., p. 25.-Ed. Phil. Joum., vol. iii., p. 389. t Life o.u<l Servi.ces. of Sir Stamford Raffles, p. 241. _Loudon, 1830. |