824 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



INSECT UFE 



The fauna of Zanzibar is meager. In 

 1873 an hippopotamus dropped in from 

 German East Africa ! and whatever ex- 

 ists in the way of wild cat or pig to the 

 north of the island is quite as continental 

 in origin. On a small and neighboring 

 island a very peculiar rodent exists, for 

 which I have never heard even a native 

 name. But the insects of Zanzibar, al- 

 though rarely venomous, possess a va- 

 riety that is as extraordinary as their ac- 

 tivity. There is the "breaker of sauce- 

 pans," a green thing, terrible to behold, 



and an army of ants, in different regi- 

 mentals, the mosquito in its more harm- 

 less phase, and an occasional centipede. 



The house-fly is almost unknown. 



Zanzibar is perhaps the most interest- 

 ing town to the negro that the world af- 

 fords ; plenty of old slaves, who haven't 

 seen it for 20 years, dream ceaselessly of 

 it, when a 12-mile walk would bring 

 them to its market-place. And we, who- 

 have known European kindness and 

 African quaintness within its far-away 

 borders, turn to our memories of it after 

 months of absence and acknowledge it to 

 be a place of happy dreams. 



VOLCANOES OF ALASKA 



DURING the first week in June 

 Katmai Volcano, in southwestern 

 Alaska, which had been gener- 

 ally believed to be an extinct volcano, 

 unexpectedly burst into violent eruption 

 and continued active for three days. 

 Vast quantities of dust, pumice, and 

 stones were ejected aloft. So dense was 

 the cloud cast into the heavens that the 

 people in the village of Kadiak, about 

 100 miles distant, were in total darkness 

 for two days. All the crops on Kadiak 

 Island were destroyed by the ashes ; the 

 fish in the sea and in the rivers were 

 killed and all water supplies were poi- 

 soned. Through the courtesy of two 

 members of the National Geographic So- 

 ciety, Capt. -Commandant E. P. Bertholf, 

 U. S. R. S., and Mr. W. J. Erskine, of 

 Kadiak, this Magazine publishes a very 

 unusual series of views of the remarka- 

 ble fall of dust and ashes after the erup- 

 tion of Mt. Katmai. As all the photo- 

 graphs were taken at least 100 miles 

 from the volcano, the reader can infer 

 the tremendous nature of the cataclysm 

 which could deposit such enormous 

 quantities of dust and ashes so far away. 

 In the pictures Kadiak and vicinity 

 appear wrapped in a mantle of snow, 

 but the white covering in reality is the 

 white volcanic dust. At the time of 

 year the photographs were taken this 

 region is always as green in vegetation 

 -and foliage as any part of the United 



States. All the land was covered with 

 grasses, plants, and shrubs, whose luxu- 

 riant green is buried under the heavy 

 fall of ashes, and a beautiful landscape 

 changed to a scene of desolation. 



EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF CAPT. K. W. 

 PERRY, U. S. R. S., ON BOARD THE 



REVENUE CUTTEP "manning" 



On June 6, 1912, the U. S. R. S. 

 steamer Manning lay moored at the 

 wharf at St. Paul, Kadiak Island, taking 

 coal. About 4 p. m., while standing on 

 the dock, I observed a peculiar-looking^ 

 cloud slowly rising to the southward and 

 westward, and remarked to a friend that 

 it looked like snow. Later distant thun- 

 der was heard, and about 5 p. m. I no- 

 ticed light particles of ashes falling. At 

 6 o'clock the ashes fell in considerable 

 showers, these gradually increasing. The 

 cloud bank had spread past the zenith 

 when I observed another bank to the 

 northward, and the two met about 3Q' 

 degrees above the northern and eastern 

 horizon. Thunder and lightning had be- 

 come frequent at 7 o'clock, very intense 

 at times, and though lacking two hours^ 

 of sunset a black night had settled down. 

 It was impossible, owing to electrical 

 conditions, to use the wireless appara- 

 tus ; consequently no information could 

 be sent out. This was also found to be 

 true of the Woody Island naval wireless 

 station. Specimens of the deposit were 



