A GREAT SEA-WAVE. 227 



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 onward far beyond these 

 islands. 



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

 from Arica, an enormous wave poured in on August 

 14th, 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 trav- 

 elled 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 enor- 

 mous undulation in the course of a few hours. 



More complete details reach us from the Southern 

 Pacific. 



