332 IN STARRY REALMS. 



boats were accordingly put out to render succour, but no 

 vessel was found, as the reports were from Krakatoa, at a 

 distance of 355 miles. At Macassar, in Celebes, explosion* 

 were heard all over the province. Two steamers were sent 

 out to discover the cause, for the authorities did not then 

 know that what they heard came from Krakatoa, 969 

 miles away. But mere hundreds of miles will not suffice 

 to exemplify the range of this stupendous siren. In St. 

 Lucia Bay, in Borneo, a number of natives, who had 

 been guilty of murder, thought they heard the sounds of 

 vengeance in the approach of an attacking force. They fled 

 from their village, little fancying that what alarmed them 

 really came from Krakatoa, 1116 miles distant. All over 

 the island of Timor alarming sounds were heard, and so 

 urgent did the situation appear that the Government was 

 aroused, and sent off a steamer to ascertain the cause. The 

 sounds had, however, come 1351 miles, all the way from 

 Krakatoa. In the Victoria Plains of West Australia the 

 inhabitants were startled by the discharge of artillery 

 an unwonted noise in that peaceful district but the artil- 

 lery was at Krakatoa, 1700 miles distant. The inhabi- 

 tants of Daly "Waters, in South Australia, were rudely 

 awakened at midnight on Sunday, August 26, by an 

 explosion resembling the blasting of a rock, which lasted 

 for a few minutes. The time and other circumstances 

 show that here again was Krakatoa heard this time at the 

 monstrous distance of 2023 miles. But there is undoubted 

 testimony that to distances even greater than 2023 miles 

 the waves of sound conveyed tidings of the mighty con- 

 vulsion. Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, is 2267 

 miles from Krakatoa, but the thunders traversed even this 



