CH. m ON BOARD H.M.S. 'FLYING FISH' 45 



of Tagulandang. The presence of atolls and barrier reefs 

 in the neighbourhood of active volcanoes is by no means a 

 common occurrence, and Darwin was inclined to believe that, 

 as volcanoes are usually situated in regions of elevation, 

 this fact was consistent with his famous theory that atolls 

 and barrier reefs are only formed during subsidence of the 

 land. For many reasons which I cannot enter into now I 

 am persuaded that the subsidence theory is not sufficient to 

 account for aU the facts, and that the presence of such an 

 atoU as the Passiac so close to a region of quite recent and 

 considerable volcanic activity is difficult to account for under 

 this theory. 



But, as I have spoken so frequently of the volcanic energy 

 of the Euang, I may be allowed to digress here a little, to 

 relate the story of the recent eruptions as told me by Mr. 

 Kelling, the missionary at Tagulandang. The first recorded 

 eruption was in the year 1811, but that and another in 1835 

 seem to have done but little damage. On March 3, 1871, 

 there was a terrible explosion, the top of the mountain being 

 blown into a thousand atoms. This was accompanied by 

 a terrible seaquake, the water rising over fourteen fathoms, 

 sweeping away several villages on the coasts of the islands, 

 and followed by a shower of stones and ashes which de- 

 stroyed many lives and the greater part of the crops. It 

 was said that over 400 persons lost their lives by drowning 

 and by the showers of hot stones and ashes. Finally, there 

 was an eruption in 1874, when another fall of stones 

 ruined many of the trees and huts, but no lives were lost. 



It is very probable that during the eruption of 1871 the 

 whole of the forest on the Euang was completely destroyed, 

 for there are now none of the large forest trees standing, such 

 as those found growing over every one of the neighbouring 

 islands. The stones and ashes thrown out by the volcano, upon 

 falling again on the mountain slopes, were arranged by the 



