In a calm sea, we passed still during the night the Kei islands, part of the Maluku islands, to the Northwest of Wammar and part of the group of the South Easter islands. In the morning we saw the Watoe Bella islands, especially Tivor that apparently has the same characteristic scenery as the Aru islands.
The Banda Sea we were now crossing made itself felt by its great heat. Towards noon a South-east monsoon arrived. The weather may have been rainy but at least we were spared stronger winds during the day. But dark clouds loomed over all the islands that we passed out of which lightning flashed constantly.
The evening view upon the Banda islands was very pretty. They are of volcanic origin and covered with a very dense vegetation and especially famous for their intensive cultivation of nutmeg. This industry is said to cover at the moment nearly all the area open to cultivation. From those lovely islands sweet aromatic smells were drifting towards us despite the distance of multiple miles. Moon after moon flowers and fruits blossom in sweet unity — how much will it flower and be fragrant there when the tropical spring reaches the chalices!
Mightily rises the island volcano Goenoeng Api out of the sea with its pointed 670 m high cone. This fire mountain is, even if not currently, still active and a few years ago a heavy eruption has caused terrible damage on the nearby inhabited Banda islands of Xeira and Banda Lontar which claimed many human lives.
Links
- Location: Banda islands
- ANNO – on 27.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
- The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Der Unterstaatssekretär“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.