TAAL VOLCANO AND ITS DESTRUCTIVE ERUPTION 
317 
having a diameter of one mile, more or 
less. After the conflagration had be- 
come extinct, I myself saw this island 
from a place near Tanauan. It is com- 
posed entirely of rocks with an admix- 
ture of other materials ejected during 
the eruption, without any earth what- 
ever. The rocks, subject to the action of 
fire ever since their formation, clearly 
reveal the hand which placed them there. 
This all-consuming fire made the water 
boil, cooked the fishes, and left the im- 
press of its fierceness on the very rocks." 
In spite of the violence of this erup- 
tion, no damage was done to the neigh- 
boring towns. 
On August II, 1749, there began a 
very violent outburst. It has been most 
graphically described by an eyewitness, 
Father Buencuchillo, who says : 
PYRAMIDS OF ASHES 
"During the night of that day the top 
of the mountain burst out with tremen- 
dous force from the same crater which 
since ancient times used to emit fire and 
rocks. The course of events was this: 
At about II o'clock of the night I had 
noticed a rather extensive glare over the 
top of the island ; but entirely unaware 
of what this might portend, I paid no 
special attention to it and retired to rest. 
Around 3 o'clock in the morning of the 
1 2th, I heard something like heavy artil- 
lery fire and began to count the reports, 
taking it for granted that they came 
from the ship which was expected to ar- 
rive from New Spain [Mexico] and 
which, according to an ancient custom, 
on entering Balayan Bay saluted Our 
Lady of Caysasay. I thought it strange, 
however, when I found that the number 
of detonations already exceeded one 
hundred, and still they did not cease. 
This caused me to rise with some anxiety 
as to what could be the matter ; but my 
doubts were quickly dispelled, as at this 
moment there appeared four excited na- 
tives who shouted : 'Father, let us leave 
this place! The volcano has burst out 
and all this noise and racket comes from 
it!' 
"By this time it began to dawn, and 
we saw the immense column of smoke 
which rose from the summit of the 
island, while several smaller whiffs 
issued from other openings. I confess 
that the spectacle, far from frightening- 
me, rather delighted my eves, especially 
when I noticed that also from the water 
there arose enormous colunms of sand 
and ashes, which ascended in the shape 
of pyramids to marvelous heights and 
then fell back into the lake like -illumi- 
nated fountains. 
"Some of the pyramids surged toward 
north, others toward east, the sight last- 
ing until 9 o'clock of the morning. At 
the latter hour there was felt a furious 
earthquake which left nothing movable 
in its place within the convento. This 
forced me to flee to higher ground, es- 
pecially as I noticed that some of the 
horrid pyramids shooting forth from the 
water were coming toward the town and 
pla^e where we were. When they 
reached that part of the lake's shore 
which was known as 'tierra destruida' 
[waste land?], they ruined that tract en- 
tirely, and with a second earthquake, not 
less fierce than the one shortly preceding, 
it sank into the lake. To this very day, 
the branches of the trees buried beneath 
the water can be seen from the distance. 
"During these terrible convulsions of 
the earth fissures opened in the ground 
amid horrifying- roars, said fissures ex- 
tending from the northern and north- 
eastern beach of the lake as far as the 
neighborhood of the town of Calamba. 
Here, as well as elsewhere, the whole 
shore of Lake Bombon has been dis- 
turbed. The entire territory of Sala and 
part of that of Tanauan have been ren- 
dered practically uninhabitable : the wa- 
ter-courses have been altered, former 
springs have ceased to flow and new 
ones made their appearance ; the whole 
country is traversed by fissures, and ex- 
tensive subsidences have occurred in 
many places. 
"During my flight I saw a great many 
tall trees, such as cocoanut and betel- 
nut palms, either miserably fallen or so 
deeply buried that their tops were within 
reach of my hands. I likewise saw sev- 
eral houses which formerly, in accord- 
ance with Philippine custom, had their 
