Travels in the East Indian archipelago

by Albert S. Bickmore

Soon we came to the “Lookout,” known here, however, by the Malay name Orang Datang, “The people come,” for it is a peculiarity of that language, instead of naming a place like this subjectively, as we do, that is from one’s own action, to name it objectively, that is, from the result of that action. The lookout is placed on the edge of the interior wall, and is about six hundred feet above the sea. From this point most of the Bandas are distinctly seen in a single glance, and the view is undoubtedly one of the most charming to be enjoyed among all the isles of the sea. Before us was Banda Neira, with Neira its pretty village, and to the left of this the dark, smoking volcano; and beyond both, on the right, Banana Island, where the lepers live in solitary banishment; and still farther seaward, Ship Rock, with the swell chafing its abrupt sides, while, on our left, in the distance, were Pulo Ai and Pulo Run, all rising out of the blue sea, which was only ruffled here and there by light breezes or flecked by shadows of the fleecy clouds that slowly crossed the sky.

The next day we again went over to Lontar, and followed along the narrow band of low land between the base of the old crater-wall and the bay, visiting a number of the residences of the “Perkenniers,” as the proprietors of the parks are styled. Each of these consisted of a rectangular area of a eighth or a quarter of an acre, enclosed by a high wall. The side next the sea is formed by the park-keeper’s house, and on the other three sides of the great open yard are rows of store-houses, and the houses of the natives who work on that plantation. Near the place where we landed was a small area where all the mace is white when the fruit is ripe and not red. From the west end of the island we followed most of the distance round its outer shore, and then crossed to our landing. In the early morning, while we were leaving on our excursion, preparations were made in Fort Nassau for the execution of the Javanese we had brought the day before from Amboina, whither he had been taken to be tried for his capital crime. Long lines of natives, most of them women, were seen hurrying along to witness the shocking sight, apparently with exactly the same feelings they would have if they were on their way to some theatrical show.

As the governor had now finished his duties as inspector, he proposed that we try to reach the top of the volcano! As we looked up toward its high, dark summit, then but partially lighted by the fading sunset, the thought of such a dangerous undertaking was enough to make one shudder, and, indeed, even while we were sitting on the broad veranda, and discussing the dangers we must incur on the morrow, there was a sudden jar—everybody darted instantly down the steps—it was an earthquake, and no one knew that a shock might not come the next instant so severe as to lay the whole house in ruins. These frightful phenomena occur here, on an average, once a month, but, of course, no one can tell what moment they may occur or what destruction they may cause. Such is the unceasing solicitude that all the inhabitants of these beautiful islands have to suffer. The governor had ascended fifteen volcanoes on Java, some of them with the famous Dr. Junghuhn, and such a slight earthquake could not shake his decision. But our party had to be made up anew. I promised the governor he should not go alone, though I could not anticipate the ascent without some solicitude. The captain of our yacht then volunteered, also a lieutenant, and finally, as no other shock disturbed us, the excursion became as popular as before, and a number asked permission “to go with His Excellency,” a favor the governor was quite ready to grant, though I noticed a good-natured smile on his countenance to see such devotion and such bravery.

There was only one man, a native, who had ever been to the top and “knew the way,” though from a distance one part of the mountain seemed as dangerous as another. That man was engaged as our “guide,” and also some ten others whose duty it was to carry a good supply of water in long bamboos. Early next morning the coolies were ready, but only the four of us before mentioned appeared at the appointed hour; the daring of the others had evidently been dispelled by portentous dreams. From the western end of the village we crossed “the Strait of the Sun” to the foot of the mountain. Some coolies had preceded us, and cleared away a path up the steep acclivity; but soon our only road was the narrow bands where large masses of rocks and sand, which had been loosened from some place high up the mountain, and shot down in a series of small land-slides, ploughing up the low shrubbery in their thundering descent. As long as we climbed up among the small trees, although it was difficult and tiring, it was not particularly dangerous until we came out on the naked sides of the mountain, for this great elevation is not covered with vegetation more than two-thirds of the distance from its base to its summit. This lack of vegetation is caused by the frequent and wide land-slides and by the great quantity of sulphur brought up to its top by sublimation and washed down its sides by the heavy rains. Here we were obliged to crawl up on all fours among small, rough blocks of porous lava, and all spread out until our party formed a horizontal line on the mountain-side, so that when one loosened several rocks, as constantly happened, they might not come down upon some one beneath him. Our ascent now was extremely slow and difficult, but we kept on, though sometimes the top of the mountain seemed as far off as the stars, until we were within about five hundred feet of the summit, when we came to a horizontal band of loose, angular fragments of lava from two to six inches in diameter. The mountain-side in that place rose at least at an angle of thirty-five degrees, but to us, in either looking up or down, it seemed almost perpendicular. The band of stones was about two hundred feet wide, and so loose that, when one was touched, frequently half a dozen would go rattling down the mountain. I had got about half-way across this dangerous place, when the stones on which my feet were placed gave way. This, of course, threw my whole weight on my hands, and at once the rocks, which I was holding with the clinched grasp of death, also gave way, and I began to slide downward. The natives on either side of me cried out, but no one dared to catch me for fear that I should carry him down also. Among the loose rocks, a few ferns grew up and spread out their leaves to the sunlight. As I felt myself going down, I chanced to roll to my right side and notice one of them, and, quick as a flash of light, the thought crossed my mind that my only hope was to seize that fern. This I did with my right hand, burying my elbow among the loose stones with the same motion, and that, thanks to a kind Providence, was sufficient to stop me; if it had broken, in less than a minute—probably in thirty or forty seconds—I should have been dashed to pieces on the rough rocks beneath. The whole certainly occurred in a less space of time than it takes to read two lines on this page. I found myself safe—drew a long breath of relief—thanked God it was well with me—and, kicking away the loose stones with my heels, turned round and kept on climbing. Above this band of loose stones the surface of the mountain was covered with a crust formed chiefly of the sulphur washed down by the rains, which have also formed many small grooves. Here we made better progress, though it seemed the next thing to climbing the side of a brick house; and I thought I should certainly be eligible to the “Alpine Club”—if I ever got down alive. At this moment the natives above us gave a loud shout, and I supposed of course that some one had lost his footing and was going down to certain death. “Look out! Look out!—Great rocks are coming!” was the order they gave us; and the next instant several small blocks, and one great flake of lava two feet in diameter, bounded by us with the speed of lightning. “Here is another!” It is coming straight for us, and it will take out one of our number to a certainty, I thought. I had stood up in the front of battle when shot and shell were flying, and men were falling; but now to see the danger coming, and to feel that I was perfectly helpless, I must confess, made me shudder, and I crouched down in the groove where I was, hoping it might bound over me: and at that instant, a fragment of lava, a foot square, leaped up from the mountain and passed directly over the head of a coolie a few feet to my right, clearing him by not more than five or six inches. I took it for granted that the mountain was undergoing another eruption, and that in a moment we should all be shaken down its almost vertical sides; but as the rocks ceased coming down we continued our ascent, and soon stood on the rim of the crater. The mystery concerning the falling rocks was now solved. One of our number had reached the summit before the rest of us, and, with the aid of a native, had been tumbling off rocks for the sport of seeing them bound down the mountain, having stupidly forgotten that we all had to wind part way round the peak before we could get up on the edge of the summit, and that those of the party who were not on the top must be directly beneath him.

The whole mountain is a great cone of small angular blocks of trachytic lava and volcanic sand, and the crater at its summit is only a conical cavity in the mass. It is about eighty feet deep and one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards in diameter. The area on the top is elliptical in form, about three hundred yards long and two hundred wide. This, on the eastern side, is composed of heaps of small lava-blocks, which are whitened on the exterior, and, in many places, quite incrusted with sulphur. Through the heaps of stones steam and sulphurous acid gas are continually rising, and we soon hurried around to the windward side to escape their suffocating fumes, and in a number of places we were glad to run, to prevent our shoes from being scorched by the hot rocks. On the western side of the crater the rim is largely composed of sand, and in one place rises one hundred and twenty feet higher than on the eastern side. The top, therefore, partly opens toward the east, and from some of the higher parts of Lontar most of the area on the summit of this truncated cone can be seen. In the western part were many fissures, out of which rose sheets and jets of gas. When we had reached the highest point on the northwest side, we leaned over and looked directly down into the great active crater, a quarter of the distance from the summit to the sea. Dense volumes of steam and other gases were rolling up, and only now and then could we distinguish the edges of the deep, yawning abyss. Here we rested and lunched, enjoying meanwhile a magnificent view over the whole of the Banda group when the strangling gas was not blown into our faces. Again we continued around the northern side, and came down into an old crater, where was a large rock with “Ætna,” the name of a Dutch man-of-war, carved on one of its sides, and our captain busied himself for some time cutting “Telegraph,” the name of our yacht, beneath it. Great quantities of sulphur were seen here, more, the governor said, than he had noticed on any mountain in Java, for the abundance of sulphur they all yield is one of the characteristics of the volcanoes of this archipelago. It was now time to descend, and we called our guide, to whom some one had given the classical prænomen of Apollo (a more appropriate title at least than Mercury, for he never moved with winged feet); but he could not tell where we ought to go, every thing appeared so very different when we looked downward. I chose a place where the vegetation was nearest the top, and asked him if I could go down there, to which, of course, he answered yes, as most people do when they do not know what to say, and must give some reply.

I had brought up with me an alpen-stock, or long stick, slightly curved at one end, and with this I reached down and broke places for my heels in the crust that covered the sand and loose stones. For hundreds of feet beneath me the descent seemed perpendicular, but I slowly worked my way downward for more than ninety feet, and had begun to congratulate myself on the good progress I was making. Soon, I thought, I shall be down there, where I can lay hold of that bush and feel that the worst is past, when I was suddenly startled by a shout from my companions, who were at some distance on my right. “Stop! Don’t go a step farther, but climb directly up just as you went down.” I now looked round for the first time, and found, to my astonishment, that I was on a tongue of land between two deep, long holes or fissures, where great land-slides had recently occurred. I had kept my attention so fixed on the bush before me that I had never looked to the right or left—generally a good rule in such trying situations. To go on was to increase my peril, so I turned, climbed up again, and passed round the head of one of these frightful holes. If at any time the crust had been weak, and had broken beneath my heels, no earthly power could have saved me from instant death. As I broke place after place for my feet with the staff, I thought of Professor Tyndal’s dangerous ascent and descent of Monte Rosa. At last I joined my companions, who had found the way we had come up, and after some slips and sprains, and considerable bruising, we all reached the bottom safely, and were glad to be off the volcano, and, landing on Banda Neira, feel ourselves on terra firma once more.

ASCENT OF BURNING MOUNTAIN; BANDA.

For a few days I could scarcely walk or move my arms, but this lameness soon passed away; not so with the impressions made on my mind by those dangers: and even now, when I am suddenly aroused from sleep, for a moment the past becomes the present, and I am once more on the tongue of land, with a frightful gulf on either hand, or I am saving myself by grasping that fern.