286 



EAETHQUAKES AND VOLCANIC DISTURBANCES IN 1883. 



tagnone and their trachytic deposits, as well 

 as the lavas of Arso. The wave passing from 

 the inelastic clayey soil into the trachytes was 

 greatly diminished in violence, which explains 

 the slightness of the damage in Ischia, while 

 its recoil was destructive to the buildings of 

 Casamicciola. 



Erupt Km of Etna. An eruption of Mount Etna 

 began March 20th, attended by ninety-two 

 shocks of earthquake the first day, followed by 

 slighter waves, and then, on the 22d and 23d, 

 by three severe shocks at Nicolisi. The prin- 

 cipal crater poured forth a dense cloud of smoke 

 and fine ashes and a column of fire. After 

 the shocks felt at Nicolisi, eleven new mouths 

 opened above that place, which emitted sand, 

 scoriae, lapilli, and smoke, accompanied by loud 

 roarings. Other shocks were felt, but the new 

 craters, after discharging a great quantity of 

 gas, became quiescent by the 30th. Earth- 

 quake convulsions continued intermittently for 

 several days. 



Krakatoa Ernptton. The activity of the Javan 

 volcanoes in August produced one of the most 

 terrific and disastrous convulsions of nature 

 known to history. The populous and produc- 

 tive island of Java is, as a seat of volcanic phe- 

 nomena, remarkable among all the volcanic re- 

 gions of the globe. There are forty-five active 

 craters on the island, besides those on the 

 adjoining volcanic isles of the Straits of Sunda, 

 the largest of which islands are Krakatoa, op- 

 posite the town of Anjer, and Sebocke and 

 Sebesie near the coast of Sumatra. On Kraka- 

 toa the Dutch Government maintained a fort 

 and garrison. The other small islands are un- 

 inhabited. There are multitudes of hot springs 

 and other forms of volcanic activity besides the 

 volcanoes themselves, notable among which are 

 the mud-volcano at Grobogan, the gas-fountains, 

 called the " holy fires," at Melati Derat, and the 

 Fakaraman or Guiva Upas (" Valley of Death"). 



Earthquakes and eruptions are of frequent 

 occurrence. The inhabitants experienced sev- 

 eral appalling disasters before the crowning ca- 

 tastrophe of 1883.* 



On the night of Aug. 26th detonations from 

 the island of Krakatoa were heard at Batavia 

 and as far as Soerakerta. forty-five miles dis- 

 tant. In a few hours showers of stones and 

 ashes began to fall at Jogjakerta, Serang, Sou- 

 rabaya, and Samar.-mg. Red-hot stones fell 

 all through the night, and ashes shrouded the 

 towns in darkness. In Batavia there were al- 

 so showers. The bridges were destroyed and 

 all communications cut off with Anjer. 



By morning the disturbance had extended 

 beneath the waters of the strait. The sea be- 



* In 1878 there were sixteen distinct earthquakes registered 

 throughout the island. In 1843 Mount Guntur flung forth 

 80,000,000 tons of ashes and sand. By the great eruption of 

 Mount Galung-gung in 1822 no fewer than 114 villages were 

 laid waste, and 4,000 persons killed. In 1S67 an earthquake 

 caused the death of 1,OCO people of the town of Jogjakerta 

 alone. The eruption in 1S72 of Merapi, one of the most ac- 

 tive of the sixteen principal volcanoes, proved fatal to thou- 

 sands of the inhabitants of Kadu. In 1879 the Preanger Re- 

 gencies were con<njlsed by several severe shocks. 



gan to boil and hiss, and huge waves were 

 dashed upon the opposite coast of Java. The 

 temperature of the water rose twenty degrees. 



The rumblings became louder and more dis- 

 tinct in Java. At noon an eruption burst from 

 the Maha Meru, the largest of the Javan volca- 

 noes. Gunung, the crater of which is the 

 largest in the world, being four miles in diame- 

 ter, was soon involved. The eruptions extend- 

 ed to the Gunung Guntur and the minor cones, 

 until more than a third of the active craters 

 were in a state of eruption or gave signs of 

 breaking out. 



The Gunung Guntur was wrapped in a lumi- 

 nous cloud just before dusk, and began direct- 

 ly to emit enormous jets of white acid and sul- 

 phurous mud, with smaller quantities of lava. 

 Detonations were heard in rapid succession. 

 After each explosion great volumes of ashes 

 and huge pieces of rock were hurled a great 

 distance in the air, and fell in the valleys on 

 all sides, covering the whole country and de- 

 stroying a vast number of people in their habi- 

 tations. The sea rose in great banks of water, 

 in response to the outburst of the volcanoes. 

 The clouds were surcharged with electricity, 

 and not fewer than fifteen large water-spouts 

 were witnessed at one time. 



The eruption of the Gunung Tengger formed 

 an impressive scene. Above its top, which is 

 6,000 feet in altitude, stood a towering pillar 

 of flame. This volcano has been dormant since 

 1800, when an eruption buried 120 square 

 miles of country under a sheet of the white 

 sulphurous mud peculiar to the Javan volca- 

 noes. This crater now sent forth a constant 

 succession of glowing bowlders which hailed 

 down on the dwellings of the Chinese fish- 

 ermen and native agriculturists, destroying ev- 

 ery living thing. 



The sides of the mountains opened in long 

 fissures, and great chasms appeared here and 

 there in the valleys. The showers of stones, 

 mud, and lava did not overwhelm the elevated 

 plains of Kediri and Bandong so completely 

 as they did the lower portions of the island. 

 The forests which covered a considerable por- 

 tion of northern Java were fired by the volca- 

 noes. The fields of coffee, rice, sugar, indigo, 

 and tobacco were covered with mud, stone, 

 and lava. Not a single crop was saved. As 

 the volcanoes became more violent, the sea 

 surged more tumultuously. The lava, as it 

 reached the shore and poured over the crags into 

 the sea, was congealed by the waves in fantas- 

 tic forms of variegated bright colors. 



The large town of Telokbetong, in Sumatra, 

 was submerged by the tidal wave, and anni- 

 hilated with all its inhabitants. The fortress 

 and settlement of Anjer was overwhelmed by 

 the tidal wave which followed the eruption 

 of Krakatoa, and 200 white people were lost. 

 Of the 3,500 Europeans and Americans in Ba- 

 tavia, several hundred lost their lives; of the 

 25,000 Chinamen who lived along the shore in 

 front of the town, the greater part were swept 



