Coast of Sumatra.

1801. Way, and the high land of Sumatra, round Jan. Acheen Head; where we experienced little else than a succession of violent squalls of wind, with deluges of rain;-in the night, thunder and lightning in an awful degree. The effects of the latter are very dreadful all through the straits of Malacca, Banca, and Sunda; ships being frequently struck, and sometimes blown up by lightning, as was the case with the Resistance, of 44 guns, when only three or four of the whole crew survived that dreadful event!

11.

21.

During this day we kept beating to windward, under the high land of Sumatra, between Acheen Head and Diamond Point, The weather was dark and gloomy, with vivid flashes of lightning at intervals; while the loud claps of thunder reverberating among those stupendous mountains, that seemed congregated up to the clouds, gave the surrounding scenery a kind of awful and solemn cast. As the wind continued to blow obstinately from the eastward, we were obliged to beat all along the coast of Sumatra to Diamond Point; making a very small daily progress, on account of the currents, which were likewise against us. In fine weather we kept close to the shore, and were often gratified with the most romantic prospects, especially on the coast of Pedir, where there are many beautiful and fertile spots, that seem from the sea to be well cultivated.

It was not till the 21st of January that we could reach Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island, situated at the entrance of the straits of Malacca, and two or three miles distant from the

Pulo Penang-Waterfall.

Malay coast. As our stay was limited to three 1804. days, we contented ourselves, for the present, Jan. with exploring only a part of this interesting island, which we intended again to visit. Our principal excursion was to a waterfall about five miles from the town, which is well worth the attention of any traveller, who wishes to see Nature sporting in her own wild romantic shapes, and clothed in that splendid livery which she assumes in the torrid zone.

We started from the town at day-break, and rode a few miles through pepper-plantations, groves of the cocoa nut, betel, &c., highly delighted with the fragrance of the air, which at this time of the day is strongly impregnated with the grateful odours that rise with the exhaling dews, from the trees, shrubs, and flowers. At the foot of the mountain, however, we were obliged to dismount, and proceed on foot up a winding path, that led through a forest of trees, of the most gigantic size; which, meeting over head, almost excluded the day, involving us in a kind of pleasing gloom, the effect of which was heightened by the distant noise of the waterfall.

"I hear the din
Of waters thund'ring o'er the ruin'd cliffs.
What solemn twilight, what stupendous shades,
Enwrap these infant floods! Through ev'ry nerve
A sacred horror thrills. A pleasing fear
Glides o'er my frame. The forest deepens round;
And, more gigantic still, th' impending trees
Stretch their extravagant arms athwart the gloom."

The latter part of our journey was steep, rugged, and narrow, and so overshadowed with the

Waterfall.

Jan.

It is

1804. thick woods, that we could see nothing of the
fall, until we came to the bason into which the
water tumbles; when all at once this fairy glen
opened to our view, and displayed a slender and
beautiful cascade of water, clear as crystal, and
issuing as it were from the middle of a tuft of
trees, about one hundred feet above our heads.
The stream is twice intercepted in its descent,
by thin ledges of rock that run across the fall,
and by splitting it into thinner sheets of water,
add greatly to the beauty of the cascade.
at length precipitated into a bason of solid rock,
from one side of which it glides off into a steep
and rugged channel, that forms a series of other
little cascades all the way down to the foot of
the mountain. The bason is bounded on each
side by craggy precipices, over-hung with lofty
pines; some of which have occasionally given
way, and their trunks are seen lying in various
directions at the bottom, split and torn by the
fall. The harsh notes of birds screaming among
the woods, the noise of the waters foaming over
the rocky fragments, and a transient thunder-
storm that happened to pass over our heads at
the time, brought to my mind the following
lines; which, had they been written on purpose,
could scarcely have given a better sketch of the
place where we now sat.

"On cach side of the dell a rude precipice frown'd,
Whose banks were with deep tangl'd thickets embrown'd;
O'er the dale a chill horror the pine branches shed,
While the loud peals of thunder oft roll'd over head ;
Oft was heard, from its ayry, the hawk's piercing scream,
While o'er the rock's fragments loud dash'd the wild stream."

Barren Island.

Jan.

After enjoying our little cold collation in this 1804. romantic spot, and bathing in its cool and refreshing waters, we reluctantly took our departure, and retraced our steps back to the town, admiring the beautiful natural scenery of this island; a sketch of which I shall have a better opportunity of giving hereafter. Vide Chap.

IX.

We this morning weighed and made sail once 24 more for Bengal; and as the north-east monsoon was now in its height, we were obliged to keep close along the Malay coast, which is high and much diversified in its outline features, from the great variety of forms which the mountains as

sume.

We this evening got sight of Barren, or Vol- 30. cano Island, which at this time was burning very fiercely; the eruptions taking place every eight or ten minutes, with a hollow rumbling noise. This is a small circular island, lying almost in sight of the east Andaman, between it and the Malay coast: it appears to be a perfect cinder, or at least covered in every part with lava, without the smallest vestige of vegetation: it is of considerable height, and the volcanic opening or crater in the centre of the island. We passed within little more than a mile of it; and as the winds were trifling, we observed the eruptions for three days and nights successively.

While standing in one day to the Andaman shore, the man at the mast head perceived a white coral rock close ahead of the ship; we instantly tacked, and while in stays conjectured that we had just touched it. This was the Minerva

Coral Reefs.

1804. Shoal, which lies in lat. 12° 10′ N., at no great Jan. distance from the shore; and on which the

Minerva frigate was once nearly lost. These coral reefs are very dangerous, as they grow and branch out like trees, which will punch a hole through a ship's bottom very readily *.

The inhabitants of these islands (Andamans) are a most wretched race of mortals; they go entirely naked, live principally upon fish, and 'tis said are cannibals when they can procure human flesh. They have no form, nor hardly any idea of government, religion, or social order; indeed they are scarcely a degree removed from the level of the brute creation, having few other houses or habitations than caverns or the hollows of trees. When an English settlement was formed on the Great Andaman, called Fort Cornwallis, the natives could not be prevailed upon to have any regular intercourse with the Europeans, and we were therefore obliged to relin

*These coral rocks, it is supposed, owe their origin to the labours of that order of marine worms, called by Linnæus zoophyta. These little animals, in a most surprising manner, construct their calcareous habitations under an infi nite variety of forms, yet with that order and regularity, each after its own manner, which to the minute inquirer is discernible in every part of the creation. It is difficult for the human mind to conceive the possibility of insects so small being endued with the power of constructing the immense fabrics, which in almost every part of the Pacific Ocean, between the tropics, are met with in the shape of detached rocks, or reefs of great extent. The eastern coast of New Holland is almost wholly girt with reefs and islands of coral rock, rising perpendicularly from the bottom of the

@cean."

Barrow's Voyage to Cochin China. ·