Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-09-08
The Great Earthquake III Java.

A London dispatch says: The latest advices from Batavia, the capital Of Java, show that the volcanic eruptions
 on that island are much more serious
 than at first indicated. Much of the northern portion of the island was cov- cred with forests, which were soon in
 one great blaze. The redhot vomitings
 from the craters had set the trees on fire and the giants of the woods fell one
 after another, like so many sheaves of , wheat before d gale. As the eruptions
 increased ID frequency and violence. the
 disturbance of the waters surrounding
 the barren coast became more and more
 violent. Here the waves rushed in ter
 rife force up the steep, rocky incline, breaking upon the Oyerhanging crags
 and receding rapidly, leaving lava flow cooled at the moment when It Was about to fall over a precipice and there remaining, quickly hard
 eued by contact with the water,
 and forming distinct strata of black
 and bright purple and brown, all thrown
 about in the most eccentric manner.
 while huge peaks of bas6lt rose at ire quent intervals. Three waves came
 whelming over 6 marshy plain along
 the shore, suddenly ingulfing a hamlet
 oi tishermen's rude houses and turning
 suddenly back, swept away almost every vestige of the whole hamlet. 4 second
 before it had been a bustling village.
 The surrounding country which few hours before was covered with flourish
 ing plantations of coffee, rice, sugar, indigo or tobacco, the staples of the land, were now but mud, stones and lava, a field of destruction and ruin. Not a single crop ID Java will be saved At the entrance of Batavia was a large groupe of houses, extending along the shore and occupied by Chinamen. This part of the city was entirely swept away and of the 25,OO0 Chinese who lived in this swampy plain IL Is hardly probably that more than 5000 managed to save their lives. They stuck to their homes ill the waves came that washed them away, fearing the torrents of flame and lava of the interior more than the flood of water
 LOSS OF LIFE.
 Of 35O0 Europeans and Americans in Batavia, perhaps 800 have perished. It IS impossible to make any estimate of the great pecuniary loss. Anjer, the European and American quarter. was first overwhelmed by rocks, mud and lava from the crater and then the waters came up and swallowed the runs, leav- | ing nothing to mark the site and caus- | ing the loss of somewhere in the neigh bOrhood of 2J00 lives of the inhabitants and those who had tried to find a refuge there Bantam, Once a prosperous native city. but practically abandoned | by Europeans many years ago, was en- | tirely covered by water and there must have been from 1900 tO l500 people ! drowned there. The island of Zerand, | just of the coast, was completely inun- | dated and not a sOul remains to tell the | tale of disaster and death. At Cherebin there was no great flood of waters, but the loss of life and property by the fal- | ling of rocks and the flow of lava must have been considerable. Buetenzorg, ! Cog, Lakerta and Samarang suffered very seriously, while the meager reports | from the lesser towns indicate that | their loss was as great in proportion. The Thousand Temples" al Brambanan 1 were very much damaged and some of i them destroyed. Some of the domes of ! the noted temple ot BorobOdo were crushed in by the huge falling rocks.
 EXTENT OF THE DISASTER.
 While there can be no accurate esti- mate formed ct present of the loss of | life, il must be apparent, when 1t is con sidered that the island has population |
 lS,OO0,OO0, that the death list will foot | far up into the thousands At last ad- | vices the eruptiOns were continuing, al- | though their violence had Rbated some what, and it is feared that the end of | the disaster will show 1t to have been | one of the most frightful ever known Tn the history of the island.
 Another dispatch from Batavia, Java, says the towns of Anier, Tyrengene and Flokeblong were destroyed by volcanic eruptiOns. All the lighthouses in the strait of Sunda have disappeared, and where the mountain KramataO formerly stood the sea now flows. The aspect of Sunds straits is much changed and nav lgatiOn Is dangerous.