732 ON THE VOLCANO OF TAAL, 



of this shower. There was not much time given them to observe 

 it, for the whole scene was soon enveloped in an extremely dense 

 and thick cloud, which in an instant shut everything out of view 

 with so thick a darkness that absolutely the people could not see 

 their hands. All was horror and fright. It was impossible to 

 light a fire or a torch ; in an instant it was extinguished by the 

 copious shower of mud that fell. We are reminded in reading 

 this of the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and of the 

 palpable darkness described by Pliny. We can well understand 

 the Padre saying that all was the saddest image of night that one 

 could ever behold, all were sunk in despondency while the Indians 

 toiled unceasingly to free the roofs of their houses from the mud, 

 lest they should be bui-ied alive under them. No one thought of 

 eating or sleeping, but only longed for something to dissipate the 

 darkness so that they might take to flght. Others stood free and 

 yet prisoners, for no fetters ever bound the feet so effectually as 

 this thick obscurity. There was not the slightest ray of light 

 visible, and thus in the midst of the day it was the deepest night. 

 At four o'clock in the afternoon the rain of mud ceased somewhat, 

 and at four leagues from the laguna in the sanctuary of Caysasay 

 it was found to have accumulated to a depth of about four feet, 

 while in places nearer to the volcano it was nine feet in dej^th. 



On the 1st of December this dreadful rain of mud and ashes 

 ceased ; but, to fill up the measure of the poor Indians' misfortunes, 

 on the next day a teri'ible hurricane broke over the island, laying 

 in waste and in ruins all that the volcano had spared. 



To this awful eruption succeeded a long period of quiet, or at 

 most of very slight disturbance. Fifty-four years after what we 

 have just related, in the month of February, 1808, there was 

 another manifestation of extraordinary enei'gy which continued 

 until the month of April of the same year. The eruption was 

 confined to a discharge of cinders, but without any disastrous 

 consequences to the people dwelling on the margins of the lake, 

 which have been almost entirely re-populated though the towns 

 of Sala, Lipa, Tamanang, and Taal, have never been rebuilt. 

 There is a town of Taal, but it is much nearer the sea. 



