SUMBAWA, a high volcanic island, the third in a direct line east of Java. It is about three times the extent of Bali or Lombok, and divided by a deep bay into two peninsulas. It has three languages, the Sumbawa, the Bhima, and the Tom boro. The two former are written in the Bugis character, but there exists in this island a curious obsolete alphabet, ascribed to the Bliima nation, which has been displaced by that of the Celebes. In Sumbawa, the :Mulianomadans take a high place, and they are largely proselytizing the mountaineers. In Grobagan, at the centre of the . limestone district, is a mud volcano, 16 feet in diameter. The black mud every few seconds bubbles up and subsides ; it rises to a height of 20 to 30 feet, then explodes with a dull noise, scattering a shower of warm black rand in every direction ; round about are warm brine springs, from which salt is extract,ed. Its eruptions are most frequent in the rainy season. It is called Kuwu, the place of abode ; ' and an old legend is that it is the residence of a monster snake, whose writhings cause the eruptions. Mount Tomboro rises to 8940 feet on a peninsula on the N. side of Sumbawa. On the 5th Apri11815 commenced a series of frightful explosions, which lasted five days. They were heard so distinctly at Jokyokarta, in Java, a distance of 480 miles, that troops were sent .out to repel, as was supposed, some attack that had been made. Similar movement of gun boats was made at Sourabaya ; and to the north the reports accompanying the eruption were heard as far as the island of Ternate, near Gillolo, a distance of 720 geographical miles. To the westward, these reports were heard at Moko Moko, a port near Bencoolen, which is in direct line 970 geographical miles. The ashem that were thrown out fell to tho eastward, against the pre vailing wind, as far n.s the middle of Flores, about
210 geographical miles ; and westward on Java, in the mountains of Cheribon, about 270 miles from the volcano. So great a quantity of ashes were thrown out, it is estimated that on the island of Lombok, about 90 miles distant, 41,000 perished in the famine that followed ; and Dr. Junghuhn calculates that within a circle described by a radius of 210 miles, the average depth of the ashes was at least two feet. Ditring tho eruption, Tomboro lost two-thirds of its previous height. A ship approaching tho coast bad to sail through a sea of pitinice. About 7 P.M. of the 10th April, an eye-witness, the raja of Sangir, mentions that three distinct columns of flame burst forth from near the top of Tambov, all of them, seemingly, within the verge of the crater, and on gaining soine height in the air, the flames mingled in a conflised manner. In a short time the whole mountain next Sangir appeared like a body of liquid fire, extending itself in every direction. Towards 8 r.31., at Sangir, stones, some as large as a man's fist, generally of the size of walnuts, fell very thick, and obscured the view of the mountain. Between 9 and 10 r.m., ashes began to fall, and soon after a violent whirlwind ensued, which blew down nearly every house in the village of Sangir, carrying their tops and lighter parts along with it. In the Sangir district next to Totnboro, the whirlwind tore up trees and threw down men, cattle, and houses. In November and December 1836, there were other eruptions. Sum bawa is thinly inhabited since the eruption of Mount Totnboro on llth April 1815.—Bikinore, p. 108 ; Cottrt's Palembang, p. 129.