Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/227

Rh 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 distance.

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 escarpment, a large, deep hole, serving as an outlet to the water, much could otherwise overflow during the rainy season.

"No one," said the Mandoer, who had accompanied us as guide, in a low, mysterious tone, "but Tuan Allah can tell where the water goes to from this hole."

This lake, in all probability, has at one time been an active volcano, which, when the fire was extinct, became gradually filled with water.

About two thousand feet above the Mendjer