A GREAT SEA-WAVE. 207 



duced by an earthquake taking place so far away from 

 them. But on the night between August 13 and 14, 

 the sea around this island-group rose in a surprising 

 manner, insomuch that many thought the islands were 

 sinking and would shortly subside altogether beneath 

 the waves. Some of the smaller islands, indeed, were 

 for a time completely submerged. Before long, how- 

 ever, the sea fell again, and as it did so the observers 

 ( found it impossible to resist the impression that the 

 islands were rising bodily out of the water.' For no 

 less than three days this strange oscillation of the sea 

 continued to be experienced, the most remarkable ebbs 

 and floods being noticed at Honolulu, on the island of 

 Woahoo. 



But the sea-wave swept onwards far beyond these 

 islands. 



At Yokohama, in Japan, more than 10,500 miles 

 from Arica, an enormous wave poured in on August 14, 

 but at what hour we have no satisfactory record. So 

 far as distance is concerned, this wave affords most 

 surprising evidence of the stupendous nature of the 

 disturbance to which the waters of the Pacific Ocean 

 had been subjected. The whole circumference of the 

 earth is but 25,000 miles, so that this wave had 

 travelled over a distance considerably greater than 

 two- fifths of the earth's circumference. A distance 

 which the swiftest of our ships could not traverse in 

 less than six or seven weeks had been swept over by 

 this enormous undulation in the course of a few 

 hours. 



