CHAPTER 

 \N ASTRONOMER'S THOUGHTS ABOUT KRAKATOA. 



AN event like the great eruption of Krakatoa can only 

 be studied properly when placed in suitable perspective. 

 Accordingly years have been required before sufficient 

 data could be collected to enable us to take an ade- 

 quate view of the several incidents of the explosion. 

 The eruption of Krakatoa in August, 1883, was not only a 

 mighty and appalling incident in the neighbourhood of the 

 Straits of Sunda. It was there no doubt that the fatal aspects 

 of the disaster were exclusively developed. It was along 

 the shores of Sumatra and Java that the inundations took 

 place in which 36,380 lives are said to have been lost. 

 But the phenomena of Krakatoa, which give it a peculiar 

 interest, are of an innocuous type, and have had a far 

 wider range than those of a tragical character. The shock 

 given to our globe was such that the influence of the 

 explosion has extended in some degree to almost every 

 part. To appreciate all that Krakatoa implies it is there- 

 fore not sufficient merely to gather the information which 

 can be procured at the seat of the volcano itself ; we must 

 extend our inquiries much farther afield. We have to- 



