The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-06

last summer, from Dundee, nave retufh@l
with two whales only, thus making loss Of
f1O0 600.
The surprising variations Of the Gulf Stream
have long been noticed to be increasing annu-
ally: until, during the last year, our Ameri-
can mariners have made it a subject Of special
report.
An eloquent French writer Octave Giraud)
speaks of the Gulf of Gasoony as a vast NEGRO
polls, in which one may sail over the ruins OF
former cities The ancient town of Novio-
magus was there engulfed in the year $50;
and, when the sea is calm, the walls aud
gables of its buildings can still be seen deep
under water. Where the poet Ansonne once
fshed and wrote verses, the waves roll iathOms
high. The rock of CordOuan, with its light
house, now three leagues from the beach, once
touched IL. Between 1873 and 1880 the water
gained 100 yards; and from 1880 to lS42, about
300 yards. From 1S42 to 1S45, IL enoroached
100 yards--550 yards in twenty-five years, on
a high shore.
On the coast of Normandy, near to Regne-
ville there stood, in the Middle Ages, a hand
some commercial mart which is now sub
merged; and, in fine, the whole littoral France
presents similar indications. It was but the
other day that the port of France had to be
strengthened, at a cost of s65, 600 francs. On
the 10Th of March, the tide rushed in for hun
dreds of yards beyond the former limits of the
coasts Of the Channel near Ponterton.
- On the island of WalchereD, during the
foundations of 1647, 164S, 1857, and 1906 the
downs were swept bare, and the sands carried
away by the rage of the billows, leaving un-
covered far below quantities of statues, urns,
houses and tombs, with inscriptions pointing
to the highest antiquity
: In 1904 the eastern coast of England was
inundated and lost considerable territory. In
the Gulf OF Bothnia, between Sweden and Fin
land, the depth of water has greatly dimi-
rtfa1 1,a1 and dc hory Cd hon
within one hundred years. but on the western
coast of the Swedish Peninsula the sea con-
tinues to gain.
On our side of the globe, the Bank of New
foundland is swiftly rising, to reunite, one
day, with the mainland; our seaboard cities
are getting farther away from the open water;
the bed Of the Mississippi is rising, and the
Gulf Of Mexico filling. In Australia, fresh
islands are continually cropping up, and,
within twelvemonth, the discolOratiOn of
large patch of the Pacific in the route Of the
San Francisco and Hong Kong steamers, has
indicated the early appearance of new island
there.
Of the coast Of the East Indies, on the
other hand, the natives point out to strangers
the remains of the ancient city of Mahabali-
pores, long hidden by the ocean, but still
showing, at low water pagodas and palaces
that were occupied ages ago.
After contemplating these facts, we may
find the asserted fate of Tortola less surprising
than it seemed at first, if it has, indeed, been
submerged. Since we have not only this en-
croachment of the sea, long working silently
and gradually, then sweeping all before it at
last, but
VOLCANIC ACTION
sufficient to account for it. In April, 1919,
the Island of Sumbava, in the East Indies,
became the scene of volcanic eruption, which
lasted for months, and was heard 1000 miles
in one direction and 750 in another or over a
diameter Of 1850 miles in all. The sea
from two to twelve feet along the entire coast,
and the Bank of Bima, which had been six
fathoms below water was left dry, while in
the opposite direction the waves rushed to the
very foot of the volcano, overwhelming the
town of TOmboro and the whole adjacent
country. They left depth of eighteen feet
of water where none at all was seen before,
and of Il, 600 inhabitants on the island only
"A escaped.
On the 18th of March, 1865, the ship Veritas,
in 20 degrees and 35 minutes north latitude,
and 140 degrees minutes east longitude, saw
new and magnificent island-volcano in mid
ocean. crater with four vents shot fire,
ashes, and lava thousands of feet into the air,
Offering a spectacle of appalling sublimty at
midnight. 1t was on the Both of January,
1866 that the tremendous volcanic eruption
commenced, which lasted until the end of
March with awful violence, and threw up three
new islands in the roadstead of Santorino, in
the Greek Archipelago, the trio finally uniting
and forming promontory to the adjacent
land.
Similar eruptions have occurred elsewhere
in all ages Strabo, the historian, speaks OF
one in his time on the Island Of Methone. In
more modern times, among the grandest have
been that of Sckapta, in Iceland, in 1888,
which covered the sea with cinders for hundreds
of miles and caused an island crater to spring
up amid the waves. The eruption and APP
pearance of a new island among the Azores,
June Is, 1871, had a crater mile wide and
threw out volumes of soalding water above
cone two hundred feet high. 1t disappeared
the next October, and by February, 1912,
nothing could be seen of it but a cloud OF
vapor arising from the spot. In 1888, 1851,
17l9, and 1857, there had been similar erup-
tions in the same group--the one that left its
crater longest visible dating an island exist
| ence Of three years. In 1876 an island rose
| out of the sea in the Aleutian group near
| 0umnak, aud continued to increase -Four
years afterwards it emitted smoke and vapor,
/ and in 1906 was still so hot that man could
not land on it. II was q miles in length, and
| $50 feet high, and threw off pleasant odor Of
| petroleum.
By-the-way, Sthis peculiar odor was men
| toned by ancient hstorians-Was noticed at
the earlier eruption of Santorino in 1850, and at
| the great eruption of VesuVius in 1905. 1t
| gives a hint as to the probable connection of
| the volcanic fires with the interior reservoirs
| of naptha, suggesting at the same time a very
easy way by which Gas Professor LOOMS
L L v-,h Il = I