LAKE MEXDJER. 211

immediately at the foot of the Gunong Sorodjo, which rises three hundred feet above it. The sides of this mountain abound in caves both large and small, looking dark and gloomy in the dis- tance.

The aspect of the lake, which is nearly two miles in circumference, is sombre and dreary. Its depth, we were told, is unfathomable. To the left of the lake is seen, at the foot of a chalky escarp- ment, a large, deep hole, serving as an outlet to the water, mIucIi ^^ould otherwise overflow during the rainy season.

Xo (jiie," said the Mandoer, who had accom- panied us as guide, in a low, mysterious tone, "but Tuan Allah can tell where the water <2;oes to from

CD

tliis hole."

Tliis lake, in all probabilitv, has at one time been an active volcano, which, when the fire was extinct, becanu' gradually filleil with water.

About two thousand feet aliove the Mendjer

r 2

�� �