The island of Ternate is but seven leagues round, and is only the summit of a mountain; it gradually ascends from the shore to the middle of the island, where the volcano rises to a considerable height, to the top of which it is very difficult to attain. Many rills of sweet water descend along the ridge of this mountain, and when the air is calm, and the season mild, this burning gulph is in less agitation than during storms and high winds.[M] This confirms what I have said in a former article, and seems to prove that the fire of volcanos does not proceed from any considerable depth, but from the top, or at least not far distant from the summit of the mountain; for if it was not so, the high winds could not increase their combustion. There are other volcanos in the Malaccas. In one of the Mauritius islands, 70 leagues from the Malaccas, there is a volcano, whose effects are as violent as those of Mount Ternate. Sorca island, one of the Malaccas, was formerly inhabited. In the middle of this island there is a lofty mountain, with a volcano at the top. In 1693 this volcano vomited bitumen and inflamed matters in such a great quantity as to form a burning lake, and which covered the whole island.[N] [M] See the Travels of Schuten. [N] See Phil. Trans. ab. vol. 11 page 391. At Japan, and in the adjacent islands, there are several volcanos, which emit flames during the night and smoke in the day. At the Philippine islands there are also burning mountains. One of the most famous volcanos of the islands in the Indian ocean, and the most recent, is that near the town of Panarucan, in the island of Java; it opened in 1586, and at the first eruption, it threw out an enormous quantity of sulphur, bitumen, and stones. The same year Mount Gounapi, in the island of Banda, which continued only seventeen years, opened and ejected, with a frightful noise, rocks and matters of every kind. There are also some other volcanos in India, as at Sumatra, and in the north of Asia, but those are not considerable. In Africa, there is a mountain, or rather a cavern, called Beniguazeval, near Fez, which always emits smoke, and sometimes flames. One of the islands of Cape de Verd, called the Fuogo, is only a large mountain which burns continually; this volcano throws out cinders and stones; and the Portuguese, who have attempted several times to erect habitations in this island, have been constrained to abandon the project through dread of the volcano. The Peak of Teneriffe, considered as one of the highest mountains of the earth, throws out fire, cinders, and large stones; from its top rivulets of melted sulphur flow across the snow, where it forms veins that are distinguishable at a great distance.