Considerably to the eastward of Sumbáwa lies the Island of Timor, in which there was for a long time a volcanic peak, whose perpetual fires served as a lighthouse to mariners navigating those seas. But in the year 1637 there took place a great eruption of the mountain, which ended in its being gobbled up whole and entire, leaving nothing behind it but a lake, in which its fires were quenched, and which now occupies its place. To the north of Timor lie the Molucca Islands, several of which are volcanic. In one of them, named Machian, there occurred in the year 1646 an extraordinary event. A mountain was rent from top to bottom, sending out great columns of fire and dense vapours. The two parts now remain two distinct mountains. In the Island of Sangir, another of the Moluccas, there was a violent eruption in March 1856. A large portion of the mountain fell down, and tremendous floods of water issued forth. The destruction that ensued was dreadful, upwards of two thousand persons having perished. In another part of the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar, lies the little Isle of Bourbon, containing the volcano Salazes, which occasionally throws out the curious thready substance already mentioned, so strongly resembling spun glass. CHAPTER XI. Mud and Air Volcanoes--Luss--Macaluba--Taman--Korabetoff--New Island in the Sea of Azof--Jokmali--Fires of Baku--Mud Volcano in Flank of Etna--Air Volcanoes of Turbaco, Cartagena, and Galera-Zamba. The curious mud volcano in the Island of Java, described in the preceding chapter, although presenting some peculiar features, is not the only one of the kind in the world. Mud, as you have learned, is often thrown out in great quantities, along with boiling water, even by true volcanoes, which at other times eject ashes and lava. But there are some volcanoes that never throw out anything else than mud and water, gas and steam. Such are called mud volcanoes or salses. The most remarkable assemblage of mud volcanoes in the world exists in the district of Luss, lying at the south-east corner of Beloochistan. They extend over a very large area, and are exceedingly numerous. The cone of one of them is no less than four hundred feet high, and the crater at the top is ninety feet in diameter. The mud in the crater is quite liquid, and is constantly disturbed by bubbles of gas, and occasionally by jets of the mud itself. More familiarly known is the mud volcano of Macaluba, near Girgenti, in Sicily. It is situated in a country much impregnated with sulphur and other inflammable matters. The top of the hill is covered with dry clay, in which are numerous basins full of warmish water mixed with mud and bitumen. From these small craters bubbles of gas arise from time to time; but at long intervals they become much more active, and throw up jets of wet mud to the height of nearly two hundred feet. This mud smells strongly of sulphur.