The Eastern Congo 



Sir Alfred Sharpe has a tale to tell about this in his account 

 of the eruption, in the Field of December, 1913. He speaks 

 of the convulsion in the following terms : — 



" Its site was previously flat ground covered with grass 

 and stunted trees. ... It began with an earthquake and 

 immediately afterwards smoke was seen issuing from great 

 rents in the ground. This was followed by fire and explosions, 

 and twenty-four hours later a full-fledged crater was pouring 

 out a column of fire, ash and lava. A broad river of swiftly 

 flowing lava poured into the Kabino inlet at the north-west 

 comer of Lake Kivu, three miles from the volcano, and had 

 already heated the water of that part of the lake to boiling 

 point. 



" When crossing the lake, occasionally whirlwinds of steam 

 would form and stretch upwards for three hundred or four 

 hundred feet, like waterspouts. What with the roar of the 

 volcano, occasional deafening explosions, the vast columns 

 of steam and smoke, and the lurid gloom all around, it was a 

 striking scene. For miles in every direction the country 

 was black ; there was not a green leaf or blade of grass to be 

 seen. We found many birds and small mammals, killed by 

 falling stones, some of which measured two inches in diameter. 

 We did not sleep that night. We had several sharp earth- 

 quake shocks, a hurricane of wind raged with appalling 

 lightning, our tents were nearly blown away and for two hours 

 a heavy fall of ash and stones threatened to bury our small 

 camp. The roar from the volcano was incessant — a steady 

 deafening roar ; the whole country below us was lit up by 

 the column of fire, lava and red-hot stones, which were shot 

 up thousands of feet. 



" Some idea of the fierceness of this outbreak while it 



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