THE ISLAND OF FIRE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 27, 2 April 1907, Page 2

THE ISLAND OF FIRE.

JAVA'S WONDERFUL' LAKE OF BOILTNG MUD AND SLIME..

Tho greatest natural wonder in .lava, if not in the entire world, is tho justly celebrated Gheko Kamdka Gumko, or ''Home of tho Hot Devils," kuown to the world as the "Island of Fire," This geological singularity is really a lake of boiling mud, situated at about the centre of the Plains of (Jrobogana, and is called an island because tho great emerald sea of vegetation which surrounds it gives it that appearance.

The island is about two miles in circumference, and is situated at a distance of almost exactly 50 miles from Solo. Near the centre of this geological freak immense columns of soft hot mud may be seen continually rising and falling like great timbers thrust through the boiling substratum by giant, hands and then again quickly withdrawn. Besides the phenomenon of boiling mud columns there are scores of gigantic bubbles of hot slime that fill up like huge balloons and keep up a series of constant explosions, the intensity of the detonations varying with the size of the bubble.

lii times past, so the Javanese authorities say, there was a tall, spire-like column of baked mud on tho west side of the, lake which constantly belched a pure stream of cold water, but this has long been obliterated, and everything is now a seething mass of bubbling mud and slime, a marvel to the visitors who come from great distances to see it.