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MAP SHOWING AREA Of DEVASTATION BY THE LAST ERUPTION OF TAAL VOLCANO, 
AND ALSO THE TOWNS DESTROYED BY PREVIOUS ERUPTIONS 
On September 24, 17 16, there occurred 
a violent eruption, which has been de- 
scribed by Father Manuel de Arce as 
follows : 
FISHES COOKED BY THE BOILING LAKE 
"On September 24, 1716, at about 6 
o'clock in the evening, a great number of 
detonations were heard in the air, and 
shortly after it became plain that the vol- 
cano in Lake Bombon had burst on its 
southeastern side, which faces Lipa, so 
that the whole point called Calauit ap- 
peared to be on fire. Later on the erup- 
tion seemed to spread into the lake, in 
the direction of Mount Macolod, which 
rises opposite the volcano on the south- 
eastern shore of the lake. Great masses 
of smoke, water, and ashes rushed out 
of the lake, high up into the air, looking 
like towers. Simultaneously there was a 
great commotion in the earth which 
stirred up the water in the lake, forming 
immense waves which lashed the shores 
as though a violent typhoon were rag- 
ing. Their fury was such that in front 
of the Convento of Taal, and in other 
places of the beach, a strip of more than 
10 brazas [16.7 meters] in width was 
engulfed by the water, and the church 
was endangered. 
"On the following days, Thursday, 
Friday, and Saturday, things continued 
in the same way, but by Sunday all the 
combustible material appears to have 
been consumed. This eruption killed all 
the fishes, large and small, the Vv^'aves 
casting them ashore in a state as if they 
had been cooked, since the water had 
been heated to a degree that it appeared 
to have been taken from a boiling cal- 
dron. There was an all-pervading, pes- 
tilential stench of sulphur which greatly 
nwlested the inhabitants of the towns 
surrounding the lake. 
"Sunday morning the sun broke 
314 
