The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-06-11
VOLCANIC PHENOMENA.
A Scene of Terrific Magnifoence I'm
surpassed in the History Of
the World.
The Earth Rocked and the Air fflled
With Overwhelming Thunders.
The Tremendous and Destructive Eruption
of the Skapta Joku1 in Iceland.
New York Evening POST


state of dismay. The latest reports from
Catania are to the effect that the food of
lava is very extensive. 1t Is said to be
streaming toward the River Alcansra, and to
have devastated the village of Mic. That the
general apprehension is well founded is only
too true. 1t is possible that the eruption
may cease at any moment, but on the
other hand it may last for months or
even years. The duration and extent of
volcanic phenomena are absolutely in
calculable. All that experience teaches
is that when a volcano has been dormant
for long time its eruption, when it comes
at last, is likely to be fierce one. But it
may be short as well as fierce, like the
memorable outbreak of Vesuvius that
changed the face of the Campagna, and
swallowed up Stabia Hereulsneum, and
Pompeil; or it may be protraoted like the
eruption of Jurullo, in the Mexican province
of Valladolid or Mechuacan, that lasted from
June, 1750, until February, 1850. Humboldt
describes this famous eruption of Jurullo as
having been continuous between the dates
we have named. But its progress was at
tended by some ebullitions of extraordinary
fury. On the night of the 2Sth- 10Th of
September, 1850, a scene was presented by
the volcano which tor terrific magnifcence
has, perhaps, not been surpassed in the
history of the world. 1t was witnessed from
the neighboring mountain OF Aguazanco,
and Humboldt got his account from those
who were on the spot. He says that the
flames spouted up over an area nearly q
league square. The waters of two rivers,
the San Pedro and the Cuitimba, plunged
into gaping rents that were torn
through the earth, and actually disappeared.
| Thousands of small volcanoes burst forth
over q wide tract of country, and vomited
smoke and sulphurous flames. Six large
cones also sprang up, rivaling the original
crater, and yielded torrents of fire, lava and
basall. Whirlwinds packed with colored
ashes flew over hundreds of square miles.
The earth rocked, and the air was filled with
overwhelming thunders The simple Indians,
| who. not unnaturally, thought the end of
| the world was at hand, fled in mad terror
| and confusion. 1t was long before the sur
| vivors ventured back into the region once
filled with smiling and prolific 'haciendas,"
| but now a black and desolated waste. Those
| who returned looked for the once familiar
rivers that had watered and enriched the
surrounding plain; they had vanished, and
were seen no more. But wandering natives
| profess to this day to hear the ravished
streams creeping like Ilyssus in Lingering
labyrinths," far below the surface OF the
| engulfng earth.
The cra;ers of vesuvius at B. G. 70 had
| slept for time immemorisl. The gladiators
| who fled from the Roman pretor and hid in
| the assures of the volcano had no fear of
nature, whatever they might have of man.
| When they burst from their lair to release
their leader, Spartacus, and to overthrow for
a space the cruel Roman power, the outburst
| of the lava whose track they followed had
| become mere tradition. Even on that
| memorable day, before the kalends of Sep
! TENDER, when the two Plinys-the elder
who persisted, and the younger who re-
corded-first saw the cloud over Vesuv1us,
they deemed it curiosity only. Probably
| when the worthy admiral got the letter, fur
Their on IN the day, praying for help frem
| Rectlne, the wife of Cesius Bassius, whose
| house was at the foot of Vesuvius, he
thought her womanish fears uncalled for.
How were people to believe in catastrophe
of nature that had scarcely ever been
heard OF? But the sad tragedy of Stable
followed, when Pliny, in nobly striving to
save others, lost himself.
Eruptions like that of Ve.uvius coming
at such intervals that the broadened space
is scarcely bridged by authentic history, are
naturally the most appalling. A volcano
like Hecla, on the other hand, which, be-
tween 1904 and 1766 unburdened itself %
times, does not at any rate take the world
by surprise. The terrors of Hecla, indeed,
sink into insignifcance when compared with
those of its awful neighbor the Skspta
Jokul. Iceland has been very infinitely and
accurately surveyed and mapped by the
Danish Govern ment, but the region about
the Skapta Jokul constitutes an exception.
There is a tract of 400 square miles not de-
lIneated in the Government ordnance maps,
and in this terrific region it is said no foot of
man has ever intruded. Lord Dufferin went
very near the forbidden territory,
as his Letters from High Latitudes''
the great volcano is for the most part, hoe
ever, as void of man and hi:
works as the Poles themselves. 1t is an ares
heaped to the clouds with masses of lite and
: everlasting SHOWS. The most tremendous
eruption OF which there Is trustworthy re-
, cord occurred in 1873. In May of that yea
: there was seen throughout that part of Ice
land mysterious light, blueish fog. Early
in June there were slight, and, as il eeenied
Z apprehensive tremblipgs OF the earth. Or
{ the 9Th of June immense pillars of sable
}. smoke gathered over the lofty country o.
4 the north, and, bearing ominously dowr
against the wind. wrapped the whole dis
trict of Slda in pitchy darkness On the lott
q of June whirlwind of ashes swept over thu
4 entire country. Innumerable frespouts
q 4 like so many demon beacons, now flashed
+ and leaped through the frozen hollows of tn
4 mountains. The River Skapta, one of tn
largest in Iceland, having first poured dow
to the plain volume of fetid waters mixet
{, with sand, like the Mexicans rivers, sud
8 denly disappeared Forty eight hours after
IL ward, prodigious mass of lava issuing from
l. sources TO which no one has ever been abb
II to penetrate, came sliding down the bed o
n the dried up river. The channel, accordln
d to Lord Dufferin-to whom We are indebte
for most of these detsils-was of great dept
). and breadth; but the fearful deluge brimme'
? ? up to its banks, overlooked them, and drov
!, IN molten masses over the face of the Who'll
= country. Two oceans of lava were the pre-
:. ducts OF this eruption. The one that aowe
= down the Skapta was so miles long by 1
= wide. The other, which rolled down th
= HverfisHiot, was 40 miles by seven. Wher
= it is imprisoned by the immensely hlg
10 banks of the Ekapta the lava is 500 or 60
feet thick; bat on the plain, after 1t emerged