OFF THE TRACK

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1933, Page 9

OFF THE TRACK

ADVENTURE IN JAVA

CLIMBING A VOLCANO

TERRIFYING COUNTRY

Java showed herself during a recent visit to be a land of amazing surprises once we left _the beaten track. After negotiating almost impenetrable belts of tropical jungle wo reached the Itjcn Plateau, six thousand feet up the volcano Merapi, which—majestic, aloof, and haunted—lies behind Banjoewangi, in southern JaVa. This stretch of parklike country is studded with Englishlooking trees, but it is the resort of wild horses, deer, and a variety of game; also the wilder beasts which prey on them for food, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age." It was from this point that we were to explore Merapi's burnt-out crater, and in its utter loneliness spent the night, feeling very insignificant with our only security the tiny, windowless grass hutt, black against the stars. Scattered about in the vicinity were white skeleton bones —sinister enough in the moonlight— but merely the remains of those unfortunate denizens of the wild who had come to an untimely end on this isolated stamping ground. Above our heads the cone of the sleeping monster rose—menacing and uneasy—with plumes of steam from a deep dent in its side. At short intervals, and with the monotonous regularity of clockwork, there came the rumble of its dreaming. Something prehistoric seemed to hold the place in thrall. There was not even the sound of an owl or nightjar. Once we woke to the sound of a crash—the. headman's voice assured us that it was but a tree falling, ten miles away. Needless to say, our slumbers were' not particularly sound—apart from the fact that we were tired and keyed-up It became so cold in the middle of the night that, sleeping in all our clothes, including boots —and with all the rugs we had brought with us, wo were fain to cover ourselves -with some of tho handy grass which formod our bed. The Javanese—one and'all —sat and shiver--1 ed round a huge fire, much too terrified of spirits, which are supposed to haunt these regions, to think of sleep. AN EARLY START. We made a five o'clock, start up a gradual slope. At first through a belt • of tjmara, or tropical pines, and then , along the very top of one of the razorlike ridges. In most • places the way was not six feet wide—path there was none. My mode of conveyance, a long chair tied to poles, became very soon ■ almost impossible, for the ascent was so steep that six men behind held mo sky . high, while the two in front crawled on their hands and knees. Many times I shut my eyes, for a false step would have hurled me into eternity. However, nothing would induce the coolies to give up, and the headman was determined to do what he had promised. I began to suffer .from the unaccustomed altitude, and would not have been able to go on otherwise, for I had still half a mile to climb up the cone itself. But -eventually we came to the end of the rid t ge. ./.*.- At this point there was an iron hut in which we took refuge for a short rest, but after that, when we turned a sudden corner, we found that a Tecent fire had swept away every vestige of vegetation that had formerly bound .the volcanic ash together. The pony had been left on the plateau, but the difficulty was for me to leave the chair. There was no getting out at the side, for there was nothing but space—the alternative was scrambling out in front •while tho bearers literally hung on with their toes. From now on the three of us ■ went in single file. I caught hold Of the belt of my companion's jacket and looked religiously •at the ground, for on either side there was, nothing to break the slope of thousands of feet. The bearers,, grateful no doubt to bo excused, returned to the hut^ AT THE CRATER. In half an hour we reached the crater of Merapi —a burnt-out, but still festering sore on the face of the .earth. In the centre is a boiling lake' of green water from which rose sulphur fumes. Billowing ■up sides 1000 feet deep, they reach the nostrils with an overpowering and disgusting odour. The colouring of the surroundings of this terrifying place are of every conceivable shade of yellow and green, with a dull purple slashing it as though it was putrefying flesh that lay below. ■ There was not : a sound, but every half-hour the outburst of steam in one -corner, being more than the funnel can: •hold, shoots hundreds of feet into the air with the noise we had heard below • during tho night. ■ i Not even a hungry bird flies across it. In one corner the wall had broken away to let free its poisonous water, which devastates everything it touches on. the lowlands, and leaves it covered with a film of white, acid decay^ For this reason it has become necessary to build a sluice to carry the overflow in the rains safely downfto the ocean. All around the edges are piled masses of sulphur, spurts of angry vapour • curling across it. It seemed a region of lost souls— truly forgotten of God-f-a mile across. No wonder the Javanese are afraid to come near it. -There is no vegetation —nothing but a low-growing plant with' a broad leaf on which aro pimple-like elevations containing a poisonous thorn in the centre —so deadly that, if stung, water-cannot be borne on the affected part for weeks. I was only saved from picking a. specimen by the ever-watchful ' headman clutching at: my hand. From, this point, where I was forced to remain, a narrow track on the broken wall, only a foot wide, leads down to the water's edge, which my companion • —anxious to secure- a specimen of this water, which has been-proved to contain every mineral known to science— safely negotiated-with the headman's help, and in stockinged feet; MAGNIFICENT SIGHT. From this nine thousand feet the view is' superb. The Raun—always sending forth its white plume of smoke and steam —was next to us, the Banti farther away; but each three volcanoes rising from a plain stretching for miles. This, in turn, is surrounded by a wall of lower mountains —the surface of the plain itself being dotted over with small, burnt-out craters, like empty barnacles filled with pine trees. Even in the brilliant sunshine one cannot escape the , feeling that this place is the abode of unknown and monstrous shapes —for grotesque mirages hover at the far side in the slowly-curling steam. The journey back was not particularly soothing to the nerves, for this time it was the coolies behind who crept on their haunches, the ones in front holding me above their heads; so that I felt for several miles that I was flying through tho air on a magic carpet, for tho clouds had enveloped us now, and there was nothing to be seen but their white masses on cither side. Arriving at tho hut on tho Itjen Plateau to pick up the rest of the party, we went down in good time, for wo kept to tho track we had blazed on the way up, and reached Litjen at 1000 feet, well pleased with our expedition —but I was not unduly so when my friends assured me that a golden fruit which I had picked and carefully treasured was edible, and when I bit into it there oozed forth liquid gutta percha, wljrh stuck to my lips, jaws, and fing'ev^rtogether—much to their joy and that" of my husband. Fortunately I did not own removable teeth 1