VOLCANO IN EASTERN JAVA.
They ascertained that, if they had the time to spare, they could go to the eastern capitals of Java along good roads, and through a succession of mountains and plains. They would see volcanoes, both active and silent, and might possibly have a practical acquaintance with an earthquake, or an eruption of one of the burning mountains. Frank was a little doubtful of the safety of such a journey when he learned that one volcano had thrown out, in a single night, ashes and scoriæ to the depth of fifty feet over an area of several miles, destroying forty villages and three thousand people; and another volcano had overwhelmed everything within twenty miles of it, and caused the deaths of twenty thousand persons. But the Doctor assured him that the eruption of a volcano was not so sudden that those who wished to get away could not do so, and the majority of the burning mountains of the world were accustomed to give warning weeks and sometimes months ahead.
RUINS NEAR SOURABAYA.
The eastern capitals of Java are Samarang and Sourabaya, but they are capitals only of the provinces of the same names. Both of them are important commercial points; and there is a railway from Samarang which is intended in course of time to unite with the one from Batavia. Samarang is about two hundred and fifty miles from Batavia, or nearly half-way from one end of the island to the other; while Sourabaya is close to the eastern extremity, and not far from the island of Madura. The country around Sourabaya is quite flat, and very fertile; and the roads sometimes run for miles in perfectly straight lines. Back towards the interior, when the hilly region is reached, there is a magnificent forest, where tigers abound; and the hunter is rewarded by frequent shots at the beautiful Java peacock. The country is full of ruins of temples and palaces; and there are many evidences that it was once occupied by a people greatly advanced in architecture and the fine arts.
"But what should we find if we went beyond Java?" Fred asked.