KRAKATAU. 89 



ashes and piimice was estimated at as much as 630 billions of cubic feet. The 

 whole terrestrial atmosphere would even appear to have been charged with the 

 impalpable volcanic dust as far as the upper limits of the aerial spaces, at least 

 according to Norman Lockyer's theory, attributing the marvellous afterglows of 

 the following autumn months to the igneous particles ejected by Krakatau on 

 August 2Gth, 1883.* The seas also were agitated around the whole circumference 

 of the globe, as attested by the readings of the mareographs at various oceanic 

 stations, and in the Indian Ocean by the great marine wave which in thirteen 

 hours was propagated as far as the Cape of Good Hope. 



The reports of the fugitives from the threatened villages and of the crews of 



Fiar. 32. — Steamer borne on the Krakatau Wave inland to Telokh-Betong. 



vessels near the scene of the disturbance created an impression that the field of 

 destruction had even been still more widespread. But after the ashes were 

 dispersed, and skippers could again venture into the Sunda Strait, the spectacle 

 revealed to them seemed none the less harrowing and bewildering. The coast 

 towns of Anjer and Tjaringi on the Javanese side, Beneawang and Telokh-Betong 

 on that of Sumatra, had disappeared, while no trace remained of the numerous 

 villages lately dotted along both shores. The cocoanut forests which fringed the 

 seaboard to the foot of the hills had been swept clean away ; a huge wave 100 to 

 120 feet hio-h, caused by the sinking of the volcano, had dashed against the coast, 



* Times, December 8th, 1883. 



