42 A FEARFUL SIGHT. 



There was a great loss of life ; many houses were 

 washed into the sea, and many junks carried up 

 one two miles inland and dashed to pieces on the 

 shore. The day was beautifully fine, and no warn- 

 ing was given of the approaching convulsion : the 

 sea was perfectly smooth when its surface was 

 broken by the first wave." 



Monster waves of this kind occur at regular 

 intervals, among the islands of the Pacific, once and 

 sometimes twice in the year ; and this without any 

 additional influence of an earthquake, at least in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the islands, though it 

 is quite possible that earthquakes in some remote 

 part of the world may have something to do with 

 these waves. 



One such wave is described as breaking on one of 

 these islands with tremendous violence. It appeared 

 at first like a dark line, or low cloud, or fog-bank, 

 on the sea-ward horizon. The day was fine though 

 cloudy, and a gentle breeze was blowing; but the 

 sea was not rougher, or the breaker on the coral 

 reef that encircled the island higher, than usual. It 

 was supposed to be an approaching thunder-storm; 

 but the line gradually drew nearer without spread- 

 ing upon the sky, as would have been the case had 

 it been a thunder-cloud. Still nearer it came, and 

 soon those on shore observed that it was 'moving 

 swiftly towards the island ; but there was no sound 

 until it reached the smaller islands out at sea. As 

 it passed these, a cloud of white foam encircled each 



