The eruption soon spread to Gunung Guntur and other
mountains, until more than a third of the forty-five craters of Java
were either in activity or seriously threatening it.
"Just before dusk a great cloud hung over Gunung Guntur, and the crater
of the volcano began to emit enormous streams of white sulphurous
mud and lava, which were rapidly succeeded by explosions, followed by
tremendous showers of cinders and enormous fragments of rock, which were
hurled high into the air and scattered in all directions, carrying death
and destruction with them. The overhanging clouds were, moreover, so
charged with electricity that water-spouts added to the horror of the
scene. The eruption continued all Saturday night, and next day a dense
cloud, shot with lurid red, gathered over the Kedang range, intimating
that an eruption had broken out there.
"This proved to be the case, for soon after streams of lava poured down
the mountain sides into the valleys, sweeping everything before them.
About two o'clock on Monday morning--we are drawing on the account of
an eye-witness--the great cloud suddenly broke into small sections and
vanished. When light came it was seen that an enormous tract of land,
extending from Point Capucin on the south, and Negery Passoerang on the
north and west, to the lowest point, covering about fifty square miles,
had been temporarily submerged by the 'tidal wave.' Here were situated
the villages of Negery and Negery Babawang. Few of the inhabitants of
these places escaped death.
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