vessel.
At last the Tomboro mountain hove in sight. We passed it about six
miles off. The summit was not visible, being enveloped in clouds of
smoke and ashes. The sides were, in several places, still smoking,
evidently from the lava which had flowed down them not yet having
cooled; and one large stream was discernible from the smoke arising from
it, and which had reached all the way from the summit to the sea.
Beating along the coast, we entered a bay where there was good
anchorage, and on going on shore we heard sad accounts of the ruin the
irruption had caused. The whirlwind had destroyed whole villages,
rooted up trees, and thrown the vessels and prahus at anchor in the
harbour on the shore, aided by the sea, which rose at the same time;
while the ashes had ruined the crops, and the stones, and rocks, and
streams of lava had killed many thousands of the inhabitants.
Afterwards I learned that the explosions had been heard at Sumatra, 970
miles from Tomboro, and that the ashes had fallen thickly near Macasa,
217 miles from the mountain. The unfortunate inhabitants of the island
suffered afterwards greatly from famine, their yearly supply of food
being totally lost.

The wind coming more from the northward, we shaped our course for Dilli,
in Timor, on the chance of there hearing of the _Emu_. We kept a
constant look-out night and day for her, but not a sail hove in sight.
In five days we reached Dilli, which is a Portuguese settlement on the
north-west coast of Timor. A Portuguese naval officer boarded us in the
outer roads, and piloted us through a narrow channel to the inner roads.
It is a wretched-looking place; and the houses, small, dirty, and
ruinous, were scattered without any order or symmetry in all directions.
Van Graoul, who could speak Portuguese, landed with me, as I wished to
pay my respects to the Governor. On each side of the town were two
half-ruinous forts, on which were mounted some old iron guns of small
calibre. The sentinels were but a quarter clothed, and certainly not in
uniform, for not two were alike. The only point in which most agreed,
was in being destitute of shoes. Some had one shoe and a boot, others
had sandals, and others wore wisps of straw wrapped round their feet,
but the greater number stood on their bare soles. Many were without
jackets, some had no trousers, a sort of kilt serving the purpose, made
of every variety of material. Military hats or caps were a rarity.
S