88 MARTIN. 



or 2.30 two tremendous explosions, not more than one-third or one-half 

 of a second apart, were heard that sounded as if a piece of the heaviest 

 artillery had been fired on the outskirts of Tanauan itself. The immense 

 column of mud throwTi up is estimated to have reached a height of not 

 less than 4 kilometers. The column kept on rising, but soon the winds 

 spread it out over the country, leaving us in total darkness. Wet mud 

 began to fall in Tanauan about twelve minutes after the explosions and 

 kept on falling for not less than half an hour until it covered the ground 

 1 millimeter in depth. 



The next morning I decided to return to the volcano. I reached 

 Bailadero at 8.30 on the morning of January 30 and observed that the 

 mud had killed banana trees and other delicate vegetation about 5 kilo- 

 meters inland. Three weeks later, on going over the same route, I noted 

 that everything was sprouting again on the Banadero road, which was 

 about the last point to the northeastward from the island to suffer from 

 the fall of volcanic mud. Arriving at Baiiadero I found the launch and 

 the house boat grounded by the alleged tidal wave of the previous night; 

 this wave was not over 1.2 meters high. 



At 1 o'clock in the afternoon we started for the island with the 

 repaired launch, reaching the top of the volcano at about 3 o'clock. 

 The crater was full of steam and very active. Mud and stones were 

 thrown up continually toward the western side. 



It was my opinion at the time that no animal life on the island could 

 have withstood the eruption; Taal Island was devastated, not a blade 

 of gi-ass escaping; trees 15 centimeters in diameter were broken, leaving 

 stumps. 0.3 to 0.5 of a meter high ; the ends of these stumps were 

 shredded like whisk brooms by the fall of sand and small stones driven 

 by the force of the emption (See Plate III, fig. 1) ; a large stone weigh- 

 ing not less than 275 kilograms was projected clear on top of the highest 

 ridge. ^ 



A rock was found by Mr. Pratt with its surface fused, giving it the ap- 

 pearance known as bread crust, but I have never seen either fire or red-hot 

 stones ejected. Possibly the heat 'was sufficient to fuse rock, but, of 

 course, from Tanauan I would not have been able to determine this 

 question. While I was on the crater's rim, the most active cone was not 

 throwing up anything that could possibly be called "fiery" even with a 

 strong imagination ; the eruption consisted mainly of mud. 



The trees on the island were lying .in directions radiating from the 

 crater. The fall of the mud, although sufficient to break all the branches 

 could not have broken the trunks 15 to 25 centimeters from the ground; 

 such results were caused by the terrific explosions. 



The whole island has subsided from 2.5 to 3 meters. That this is 



^ A photograph of the latter appears in the article by Wallace E. Pratt in this 

 number of the Journal. 



