THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4537, 20 July 1883, Page 3

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH.

i A valley surpassing in reality of horror the" fabled reiai^n of the Upasree wns 1 found in the island of Java. This is Volcanic, and in one spot the emanations from the interior of the earth are so deadly that the place is called the_ Valley of Death. As the trareller approaches he is attacked by nanusea and giddiness. He also notices a suffocating smell. As he advance!* these symptoms disappear, so that, after passing through- the belt of fetid sir which guards the valley, the visitor is able to examine with less risk the spectacle before him. A re- ; cent traveller describes the valley as ■ being an oval, about one mile in circum- > ference, and from 30 to 40 feet below the level of the surrounding land. The floor of the valley is flat, dry, without any ..vegetation, and scattered all over it are ;f'the. skeletons of men. tigew, wild boars. - birds,..and *tags lying among large, block* of stone., No steam or smoke is to he „ seen, nor is any crevicp apparent iv the \ earth, which appears to be as hard as rock. The hills which hem in this valley of • desolation ar«» clothed from base to sum v mit with healthy trees jand bushes. The traveler whom we already quoted descended the side of ooe hill, with the aid >' of a bamboo stick, to about 18 feet from the bottom, and he compelled a dog to ; go down on the plain. Tn five seconds the animal fell on its motionless, .although = ' it continued to breathe for eighteen minutes. Another dog died in ten militates "' and a fowl only resisted the deadly air for ' a minute and a halt, and was dead before it reached the bottom. It is believed that . the human jskeletors are tbose of male- - factors w*hb . have. sought refuge.there, < > - ignorant of the fatal influence of the air . they went to breath p. The neighboring mountain* are volcanic, but they neither •mit sulphurous odourt, nor do they pre- ' * sent any indications of recent eruptions.