222 



EARTHQUAKES. 



EAST AFRICA. 



Pelee, accompanied by an enormous discharge of 

 steam and hot water, even greater than in the 

 case of the earlier eruptions. As there were no 

 large rivers or lakes to supply water in sufficient 

 quantity to produce the phenomenon, it is sup- 

 posed that the sea got in by some fissure and, 

 reaching the fire feeding the volcano, was blown 

 out at the top. Much alteration was discovered 

 in the bed of the sea near the volcanoes ; the cable- 

 repair ship reported that the depth had increased 

 in some places a half-mile. TJ nprecedented dif- 

 ficulties were encountered in the endeavor to re- 

 pair the cables between St. Lucia and St. Vincent, 

 and St. Lucia and Grenada. The section between 

 St. Lucia and St. Vincent was buried in mud. On 

 the night of Aug. 30 Mont Pelee again sent out 

 one of its extraordinary explosions of hot water 

 and red-hot dust, and the pretty little village ^of 

 Morne Rouge, which had barely escaped the St. 

 Pierre disaster, was engulfed and 1,500 persons 

 were killed. 



On Aug. 27 Gen. Chaffee reported from the 

 Philippine Islands a series of earthquakes in the 

 Lake Linao country in the Moro section of the 

 island of Mindanao. Up to that time 400 shocks 

 had been felt since Aug. 21. Severe earthquake 

 shocks were also reported from the island of 

 Guam. A volcanic eruption was also reported in 

 August from Tori Shima, and a vessel that was 

 sent out to investigate the disaster in that island 

 returned to Yokohama on Sept. 1, and reported 

 that Tori Shima was in a state of utter ruin, and 

 that its population of 150 had all been destroyed. 

 The island was found buried beneath the debris 

 of a volcanic eruption that was still in progress. 

 The disturbance was distinctly visible from a dis- 

 tance of 25 miles. The vessel drew as near the 

 island as possible, but at the distance of about a 

 mile it was thought dangerous to go any nearer. 

 Tori Shima is in 30 28' 26" north latitude, 

 140 14' 20" east longitude, and rises 1,200 feet 

 above sea-level. It is about 1J mile long by 1 

 mile wide. About a mile south of Tori Shima 

 a submarine volcano was reported sending up 

 huge columns of mud and water to a height 

 of about GOO feet at intervals of ten and fifteen 

 minutes. 



On Oct. 30 a cable despatch to Castle Brothers, 

 coffee importers in San Francisco, announced the 

 eruption of one of Guatemala's many volcanoes, 

 Santa Maria. Only meager details were given, 

 but the despatch said that the entire coffee zone 

 if western Guatemala had been buried in ashes, 

 and that the flames from the volcano threat- 

 ened every living thing in the vicinity. This vol- 

 cano is between Retalhulue and Quezaltenango, 

 and is about 50 miles from the Pacific coast, 

 near the center of the earthquake zone that de- 

 M roved those towns in April last. The volcano 

 had been quiet for many years. Additional de- 

 tails from Guatemala were that it began to erupt 

 on Oct. 25, and continued active till Nov. 9. 

 The country within 30 miles was rendered a deso-^ 

 late waste, and every vestige of life was destroyed.' 

 The loss of human life was placed at 7,000, mo'stly 

 Indians, and 10 villages, with populations varying 

 from 50 to 5,000, were wiped out, the Indian huts 

 being buried beneath tons of volcanic dtbrls. 

 Porfirio Herrera, who owned a valuable coffee 

 plantation 7 miles from the volcano, reported 

 that when the eruption ceased, on Nov. 9, he 

 went to his plantation and found it buried 11 

 feet under ashes, mud, and sand. Everything 

 was in ruins, the residence was destroyed, and of 

 his 112 laborers, all but 7 had perished. These 

 happened to be away when the eruption began 

 and they took refuge in a cave. 



On Dec. 5 it was reported at Honolulu that 

 the inhabitants of Savii, the most southern of the 

 Samoan group, had been removed to other islands 

 of the group, owing to a volcanic eruption and 

 continued excitement of the people, who feared 

 a repetition on a smaller scale of the Martinique 

 disaster. Earthquakes shook the little island with 

 great violence and were of exceptional duration. 

 Great stones were sent rolling down the volcano's 

 sides, blocking roads and damaging groves and 

 fields. Great yawning chasms opened in the earth, 

 extending long distances and to an unknown 

 depth. Panic-stricken, the entire population de- 

 serted the vicinity of the mountains and fled to 

 the seashore, where they were picked up by the 

 German authorities, who ordered the evacuation 

 of the island till such time as the disturbances 

 should subside. 



EAST AFRICA. The strip of coast over 

 which the Sultan of Zanzibar formerly exercised 

 sovereign rights was leased by him to Germany, 

 Great Britain, and Italy, and these three powers 

 subsequently made agreements dividing among 

 themselves the Hinterland as far as the borders 

 of the Congo State and the equatorial provinces 

 of Egypt. German East Africa extends from the 

 Umba river southward to the Rovuma river, 

 which is the northern boundary of the Portu- 

 guese possessions on the east coast. British East 

 Africa extends from the Umba northward to the 

 Juba, where the Italian sphere begins, and in the 

 interior borders on Abyssinia. Zanzibar itself 

 was declared a British protectorate in 1890. 



German East Africa. The German protec- 

 torate has an area estimated at 384,180 square 

 miles and is supposed to have a population of 

 8,000,000. It is divided into 9 districts, in each 

 of which is an administrator assisted by a coun- 

 cil. At the head of the administration is the 

 Imperial Governor, Graf von Gotzen, who resides 

 at Dar-es-Salam. A decree was issued in Novem- 

 ber, 1901, for the mitigation of slavery and its 

 ultimate abolition. The military force consisted 

 in 1901 of 176 German officers and sergeants and 

 1,692 native troops, the police force of 20 Ger- 

 man officers and 570 Askaris. The number of 

 Europeans on June 30, 1900, was 1,139, of whom 

 872 were Germans. Native planters cultivate 

 bananas, corn, and pulse. German settlers have 

 planted coconut-palms, coffee, vanilla, tobacco, 

 cacao, rubber-trees, and various fiber plants. 

 Many tropical plants have been tried in the Gov- 

 ernment experiment stations, and nrvv breeds of 

 cattle have been introduced as well as asses, 

 mules, and camels. The natives raise goats and 

 some cattle, hogs, and sheep. Dar-es-Salam and 

 Bagamoyo have about 13,000 inhabitants each; 

 Pangani, Saadani, and Kilwa, 10,000; Lindi, 

 Mikindani, and Tanga, 5,000. A railroad from 

 Tanga to Muhesa, 54 miles, has been continued 

 to Mombo, 28 miles farther, and thence to Ko- 

 rogwe, through which pass the two main trade 

 routes to the lake country. Another will run 

 from Dar-es-Salam to Mrogoro, and a telegraph- 

 line to Kilossa. The seaports are connected with 

 each other by telegraph-lines and with Zanzibar 

 by a cable. The expenditure for 1903 is esti- 

 mated at 9,601,496 marks, of which 2,186.-J'M; 

 marks are covered by the estimated local reve- 

 nue, and 6,415,200 marks are contributed by the 

 Imperial Government. The total value of im- 

 ports in 1900 was 11,430,500 marks. The value 

 of exports was 4,293,600 marks. Imports of 

 provisions were 776,600 marks in value: textile 

 goods, 3,649,700 marks; hardware and iron 

 manufactures, 1,897,300 marks; rice, 1,353,200 

 marks. Rubber was exported to the amount of 



