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On approaching the village of Kuhoo, we saw, tween two trees in a plain, an appearance like the surf breaking over rocks, with a strong spray falling to leeward. The spot was completely surrounded by huts for the manufacture of salt, and at a distance looked like a large village. Alighting, we went to the Bludugs, as the Javanese call them. They are situated in the village of Kuhoo, and by Europeans are called by that name. We found them to be on an elevated plain of mud about two miles in circumference, in the centre of which immense bodies of salt mud were thrown up to the height of from ten to fifteen feet, in the form of large globes, which bursting, emitted volumes of dense white smoke. These large globes or bubbles, of which there were two, continued throwing up and bursting seven or eight times in a minute by the watch. At times they threw up two or three tons of mud. We got to leeward of the smoke, and found it to smell like the washing of a gun-barrel. As the globes burst, they threw the mud out from the centre, with a pretty loud noise occasioned by the falling of the mud upon that which surrounded it, and of which the plain is composed. It was difficult and dangerous to approach the large'globes or bubbles, as the ground was all a quagmire, except where the surface of the mud had become hardened by the sun; upon this we approached cautiously to within fifty yards of the largest bubble, or mud-pudding, as it might very properly be called, for it was of the consistency of a custard-pudding, and of a very considerable diameter; here and there, where the foot accidentally rested on a spot not sufficiently hardened to bear, it sunk, to the no small distress of the walker.

We also got close to a small globe or bubble (the plain was full of them of different sizes) and observed it closely for some time. It appeared to heave and swell, and when the internal air had raised it to some height, it burst and fell in concentric circles, in which shape it remained quiet until a sufficient quantity of air was again formed internally to raise and burst another bubble. This continued at intervals from about one half to two minutes. From various other parts of the quagmire round the large globes, or

bubbles, there were occasionally small quantities of mud shot up like rockets to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and accompanied by smoke. This was in parts where the mud was of too stiff a consistency to rise in globes or bubbles. The mud in all the places we came near was cold on the surface, but we were told it was warm beneath. The water which drains from the mud is collected by the Javanese, and by being exposed in the hollows of split bamboos to the rays of the sun, deposits crystals of salt. The salt thus made is reserved exclusively for the Emperor of Solo. In dry weather it yields thirty dudjins of one hundred catties each, every month, but in wet or cloudy weather less. In the afternoon we rode to a place in a forest, called Ramsam, to view a salt lake, mud hillock, and various boiling or rather bubbling pools.

The lake was about half a mile in circumference: of a dirty looking water, boiling up all over in gurgling bodies, but more particularly in the centre, which appeared like a strong spring; the water was quite cold, and tasted bitter, salt, and sour, and had an offensive smell. About thirty yards from the lake stood the mud hillock, which was about fifteen feet high from the level of the earth. The diameter of its base was about twenty-five yards, and its top about eight feet, and its form an exact cone. The top is open, and the interior keeps constantly working and heaving up mud in globular forms, like the Bludugs. The hillock is entirely formed of mud which has flowed out at the top; every rise of the mud was accompanied by a rumbling noise from the bottom of the hillock, which was distinctly heard for some seconds before the bubbles burst. The outside of the hillock was quite firm. We stood on the edge of the opening and sounded it, and found it to be eleven fathoms deep. The mud was more liquid than at the Bludugs, and no smoke was emitted from the lake. hillock, or pools.

Close to the foot of the hillock was a small pool of the same water as the lake, which appeared exactly like a pot of water boiling violently; it was shallow, except in the centre, into which we thrust a stick twelve feet long, but found no bottom. The hole, not being perpendicular, we could not sound it with a line.

About two hundred yards from the lake were several large pools or springs, two of which were eight and ten feet in diameter. They were like the small pool, but boiled violently, and smelt excessively. The ground around them was hot to the feet, and the air which came from them quite hot, so that it was most probably inflammable; but we did not ascertain this. We heard the boiling thirty yards before we came to the pools, resembling in noise a water-fall. The pools did not overflow; of course the bubbling was occasioned by the rising of the air alone. The water of one of the pools appeared to contain a mixture of earth and lime, and from the taste to be combined with alkali. The water of the Bludugs and the lake is used medicinally by the Javanese, and cattle drinking of the water are poisoned.

ELECTRIC EEL OF SURINAM.*

AT the beginning of the year 1797, Mr. Norderling, Justiciary in Stockholm, received an electric eel (Gymnotus electricus, L.) from the waters of Surinam. The fish was, while living, twenty-seven English inches in length, and about seven inches in circumference. It was in a vessel of about two feet in diameter, filled with fresh water every three days to the height of about half a yard. In this vessel it lived upwards of four months, tolerably easy, without shewing any marks of decay, until the last week of its life, when both its appetite and motion began to decrease. In the same proportion its electric force also decreased, and entirely ceased with its life, nor was any electricity observable at the dissection of the fish.

From the small size of the stomach of this fish, its hunger was soon satisfied; but as digestion proceeded rapidly, it repeated its meals several times a day. Two or three small live fishes, about two inches long, were its favourite food; yet it disdained not other nourishment, consisting of boiled or raw meat, and fish. Living fishes it would generally approach with a stroke, the effect of which was always commensurate to the size of the offering; and the eel was but See also Pocket Magazine, Vol. I, p. 266.

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seldom deceived in its judgment, since one stroke generally sufficed to overcome the resistance. Had hunger much sharpened its appetite, it would also sometimes apply a stroke to the fingers or the arm of the feeder. In the day time the fish was seldom quiet. Its time of rest was early in the morning, and then it kept near the surface of the water, probably in order to be able to raise its head for breathing without much trouble.

When in the water the fish was of a dark grey-blue colour, excepting the lower parts of the head and belly; the colour of which was light grey, with darker spots, irregularly scattered. When for any length of time it was taken out of its element for electrical experiments, the colour of its body changed somewhat to purple, with scattered black spots of unequal size. The electric force of the fish, when in water, was apparently equal to a charge of Kleist's phial, with twenty-seven square inches coating, of 10 to 15o, according to Adams's quadrant electrometer, and was consequently sufficient to communicate the shock to several persons placed in a circle, and brought in contact either by their hands or conductors. Yet the shock was more powerful when the contact was effected by means of a brass wire, than when by a chain; and most so when the fish was touched at the fins with a silver or brass conductor by the two persons at the end of the chain; the shock was weakest, if one touched the fish, and the other the water.

If the fish were touched with one hand only, it produced a shock equal to the effect of electricity remaining in a phial after the first discharge. The shock was somewhat stronger, if with one hand the neck of the fish was touched, and with the other its tail, The latter shock was preferred by those who visited the fish either from mere motives of curiosity, or in order to be cured of rheumatic complaints. As long as the fish remained in its element all endeavours to draw from it an electric spark proved fruitless.

If the fish were put into a copper vessel, the water of which was brought into connexion with a Leyden phial by means of a chain, it did not exhibit the least mark of uneasiness, while the machine was turned, although during this operation sparks could be drawn from the

water by a conductor. It would generally keep itself quiet, during the experiment, in the middle of the water; but if it accidentally touched the chain at the moment of the discharge, or a spark were drawn from its head at the moment when the fish held it out of the water, a convulsive contraction of the body followed; I, therefore, ventured but seldom on this experiment, lest I should hurt or kill the fish.

When out of the water, the electric force was considerably greater, and nearly equal to a charge of the above-mentioned phial of 20% to 25. This rendered the handling of the fish extremely unpleasant, especially as no kind of insulation, or any other method within my knowledge, was sufficient to shelter from the violent shock, him who intended to make experiments with the fish in this manner. During these experiments the electric light became also visible in the dark, when through the hands of two persons, or by means of other conductors, both extremities of a narrow piece of tinfoil, fastened to a glass, and separated by a small distance, were brought into contact with the fish.

The electric powers of the fish gradually decreased, probably on account of its confinement, perhaps also on account of its food, not fitted to support the electric matter. A short time before its death, it became necessary to irritate the fish in order to obtain electricity, which before it was very ready to communicate. Its appetite was, nevertheless, very good, and it was seemingly very well until a few days before its death.

Few animals, and no fish, that I know, possess in proportion to the size of their body, larger nerves than this eel. The great number of nerves connected with the electric organ, deserve peculiar notice. The third and fourth pair, which may be truly called the electric part, proceed from the extremities of the cerebellum, where they join the dorsal pith. Another peculiar quality of the electricity of this fish is, that hitherto it has not been possible to observe any attraction or repulsion; this, however, may perhaps proceed from the circumstance, that bodies in which both electricities saturate each other, cannot manifest any sign of electricity, and that the equipoise of both in the fish is so perfectly restored after each shock, that their existence cannot be perceived without a new touch.