54 DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 



mile back from the town, where a few cocoanut and 

 other trees were standing. Mud and ashes adhered to 

 the limbs to the very tops ; branches were found 

 broken off at an estimated distance of at least thirty 

 feet from the ground, and as these trees were on a 

 higher level than the town, we judged that the tidal 

 w^ave must have reached a height at this point of fifty 

 feet. I was assured by the Dutch authorities at Batavia 

 that the wave rushed up one of the valleys on the 

 Sumatra side until it reached the base of a house which 

 was 105 feet above the level of the sea by actual 

 measurement. Before leaving the site Lieut. M. A. 

 Shufeldt, U. S. N., took several photographs of the 

 ruins. 



From Anjer w^e steamed to Thwartway and anchored 

 for the night. The next morning I went on shore ac- 

 companied by some of the officers. The tidal wave had 

 swept through the depressions or valleys on the island, 

 uprooting all the trees within its reach and washing 

 them, together with every particle of soil and vegeta- 

 tion, into the sea. The bed of the valley was composed 

 of stones, coral, and boulders, with occasional patches of 

 driftwood which had been caught therein when thai 

 waters subsided. 



Portions of the southern and western sides of the 

 island gave evidence of more or less extensive land- 

 slides. No trees remained except on the tops of the 

 hio-h portions of the island which had not been reached 

 by the tidal wave, thus giving such a peculiar appear- 



