NETHERLANDS INDIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 175, 7 June 1862, Page 5

NETHERLANDS INDIA.

320 LIVES LOST ; 15 VILLAGES BURIED. By way of Singapore we have Batavian papers to the Ist of March. The journals continue to be filled with accounts of the heavy Jail of r;iin, which had been very general in Java and the neighboring islands, and which, besides injuring the crops, had done much damage to roads, bridges, embankments, &c. At Banyurnus the river began to rise rapidly, and it was feared that there would be a repetition of>the disasters caused by the inundations last year. Many of,-the natives have left their houses and fled to the higher grounds. The rain, however, fortunately ceased, and the floods soon subsided. The following additional particulars regarding the volcanic eruption on the Island of Makian are taken from the Java Courant :—r" Two days previous to the eruption, the inhabitants of Makian noticed that the mountain was apparently n motion, while they heard a frightful subterranean noise, which filled every one with fear and anxiety,-and caused many to flee to the neighboring islands. Thereafter the mountain burst, as it were, in three, and threw out great masses of lava, ashes, and sand, in all directions, the result of which was that fifteen villages were wholly or partly buried. According to accounts received up to the present time, 320 jiersons were killed and 47 wounded by this catastrophe, while the greater part of the population of Makian, which was at least 0,000 persons, has taken refuge in the neighboring islands. By the care of the Sultan of Ternate some hundreds of destitute persons have been brought to Ternate from Motir, where his Highness has sent) all the vessels he could dispose of to afford assistance to the unfortunate fugitives. The fate of many is still unknown, but it is almost certain that a great many persons lost their lives in the sea after their rapid flight from the doomed island. The beautiful island of Makian, which might almost be styled the storehouse of Ternate, where tobacco grew so well, and irom whence Indian corn, fowls, and kanari oil were exported in great abundance for the supply of the neighboring islands, has been wholly laid waste. Thick clouds of smoke still continuously rise from the crater, and the lava overflows the island so that it is still impossible to approach it. On Tidore and Halmahira much damage was done by the showers of ashes and sand which fell there. Seventy-three dwellings were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, while the young crops were buried under these showers. The island of Bachian was not much damaged by the sand and ashes which fell there, and the fugitives from Makian, who had reached to the number of 1,100, ,w«re being well caxed for I*/ tii« Mtir* Mrthoritiw.