The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-09-07
Showers of Hot Rocks and Ashes
Turned the Day Into
Night.
Streams of Lava and Sulphuric Mut
Swept Away the Surrounding
Villages,
While the Earth Yawned and Caught
the Fleeing Peasants i'm Deadly
Embrace.
ICable Dispatch from London.l


began on the island of Krakatoa, in the
strait Of Sunda, about fifteen miles off the
coast of Java The deep rumblings were
distinctly audible at Surakerta and Batavia,
about forty-five and twenty-five miles off,
respectively Little alarm was felt at first,
but within few hours showers of stones
began to fall at Jokjokerta Surabaya and
Zerant All through tire night showers of
red-hot rocks and ashes fell making COM
plete darkness in all these towns: In Bata-
via there wis an occasional fall, and 1t was
difficult to keep the street lights burning in
the European part. BY the next morning
all communication with AMER was cut off,
all the bridges having been destroyed by the
descending rocks and ashes, and the road
rendered impossible
The first eruptions were on SATURDAY.
night. On Sunday morning. the disturb
ances had extended beneath the waters of
the strait. and they were soon boiling and
Kissing violently, while great waves dashed
upon the Java near shores, and the tenn
perature or the sea went up nearly 20 de
grees Even as far away from the original
point OF disturbance as Madura the furious
waves were dashed into mountains Of foam
as they came rolling in. The threatening
rumblings gradually become more and
more distinct, and by and by the Malta
Meru, the largest OF the volcanoes of Java,
was belching forth flames at a very alarm
ing rate. This eruption soon spread TO the
Cunning Guntur, the crater of which is the
largest in the world, being nearly four
miles in diameter, the Cunning Guntur and
many other minor mountains, until more
than q third Of the forty-five craters of
Java were either in active operation or
seriously threat ening it
Just before dark great luminous cloud
formed over the Cunning Guntur, and the
crater Of that volcano began TO vomit up
pnOrmOuS streams of white acd cnlnhnr-
GUS mud, beside small quantities of lava
here We're rapid successive explosions fol-
lowed by tremendous showers OF cinders
and enormous fragments, which were
hurled high into the air and scattered in all
directions, 10 fall after the force was spent
upon the valleys below, carrying death and
destruction. With these terrible eruptions
came sympathetic demonstrations from the
sea The overhanging clouds were SO sur
charged with electr city that at one time
over fifteen huge waterspout5 We're seen
Men, women, and children rushed in terror
from their tottering dwelling-places filling
the air with their shreks of horror Hun
dreds were unable TO get out before the
houses fell, and were buried beneath the
great masses of huge rocks and mud which
were pied up where few hours before all
had been peace, happiness and fancied Sc
curity. The Cunning Tengger has not had
an eruption before SINCE the year SO, wnen
an extent of land seventeen miles log and
seven broad was completely covered with
the white sulphurous mud so peculiar to the
erupti0ns of Java
The peak OF Cunning Tengger is 5000 feet
high, and the monument of name on top of
this made a scence of very impressive
grandeur Every moment huge bowlder,
at a red or white heat, would be hurled
from IengEer crater with teTrlnc force,
and after going hundreds of feet into the
air would fall back with whilr perhaps
crashing through the matched roof of some
Chinese hshermans hut, or crush beneath
its huge mass the form of some native
peasant Fissure after tissue appeared in
The SIDES of the mountains, and here and
there In the valleys there came q great
yawning chasln on the elevated Plains of
Kediri and Bandong. The showers Of stones,
mud and lava were not so frequent as in the
lowest portions of the island, but were still
quite destructive.
Much of the northern portion of the island,
which was covered with traces of forest was
soon IN one great blaze OF flame. The red
hot vomi ing from he craters had set the
trees on fire, and as the ants of the woods
fell one after another like so many sheaves
of wheat before gale, the scene was one of
awful grandeur. AS the eruptions increased
In frequency and violence the disturbance
of the water surrounding the barren coast
became more and more violent Here the
waves rushed with terrific force UP the
Steep rocky incline, breaking upon the
overhanging crags and recedng rapidly
leaving a lava fow cooled Just at the
moment when IL was about to ia / over a
prec pice and there remaining quickly
hardened by contact with the waters and
forming q dist net strata of black and bright,
red, purple, and brown lava, all thrown
about in the most centric manner, while
huge peaks OF basalt rose at frequent in
tervals. Then the waves came whelm-
ing over marshy plain along the
shore, suddenly engulhng a hamlet of
finn HrlfS al aV1
suddenly back, swept away almost every
vestige OF what had u moment before been
q scene Of busiling activity where family
AFTER family had been rushing around in
the vain endeavor TO save I leir effects and
get away with their lives from the awful
combination o. elements threatening them.
What few hours before were fertile valleys
covered with fiourishng plantations OF
code rice, sugar. indigo, or tobacco the
staples of the Island, were soon but mud,
stone and lava-covered fields of destruction
and ruin Probably not single crop OF
Java VIII be saved. At the entrance to
Batavia was large group OF houses ex-
tending along the shore and occupied by
Cinnamon. This portion OF the city was
entirely swept away, and of the 25.UO0
Chinese who lived on the swampy plain it
is hardly probable that more than 5000
managed to save their lives They stuck
TO their homes till the waves that washed
them away came, fearing the torrents of
the anne ana lava OF the interior more than
the torrent OF water from the exterior
The population of Europeans and Amcri-
cans in Batavia suffered loss of perhaps
so souls out of the $500 whites living
there. Many Of the baZaars in the higher
por ions of the city were demolished, and
IL is impossible to make any estimate of the
great pecuniary 10 e The Exchange and
the Military Hospital suffered great dam
age at AMER. The European and American
quarter was first overwhelmed by rocks.
mud. and lava from the craters, and then
the waters came up and swallowed the
ruins, leaving nothing TO mark the site, and
causing the loss of somewhere in the neigh
borhood Of a0,C0O lives of the inhabi, ants,
and those who had tried to find q refuge
there. Bantam once a prosperous and
fiourishing native city, but practically
abandoned many years ago. was entirely
covered several times by the waters, and
there must have been from 100
to 100 people drowned The island
of Serang; Just off the coast was
completely inundated, and not a soul re-
mains TO tell the tale of disaster and death
AT Cheribon there was no great food of
waters. but the loss of life and property by
the falling OF rocks and the How OF lava
must have been very considerable. Burten-