Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-09-06
YEsUyIUS, RIVAL.

NEW YORK, Aug. %.
A special cablegram from London gives
the details OF the volcanic eruptions in
Java. The first eruptions were On Satur-
day night on the island of Kraokateo At
noon on Sunday the Maha NIeru Mountain
began to belch forth fire and lava, and the
eruption soon spread to the Cunning Teng-
ger, the crater of which is the largest in
the world, being nearly four miles in diam
eter, the Cunning Guntun and other minor
mountains, until by Monday morning near
~ third of the forty-five craters of Java
were in a state of activity.
While these terrible elementary forces
were at work on the land the sea became
alphabetically boisterous. The air was
so surcharged with electricity that at one
time fifteen water-spouts were seen. Hun
dreds of the unfortunate people, unable to
escape from their dwellings before they
were crushed beneath the mass of falling
stones and lava persisted. On the top of
the Cunning TeDgger, mountain of flame
made scene of terrific grandeur. Fissure
after assure appeared on the mountains
side, and here and there in the valley
yawning chaSm opened. The tracts of for
eSts in the northern portion of kraOkateO
were soon in blaze Of flame, and immense
trees, some of them centuries old, toppled
over before the advancing sea of fire like
wheat before gale. AS the eruption in
creased in violence and frequency the dis
turbance of the waters surrounding the
coast became more and more violent. The
waves rushed with terrific force up the
steep, rocky incline, and meeting the burn
ing lava cooled and fashioned it into the
most eccentric shapes. The receding wa
tiers carried away many a fisherman's hut.
L,
the sea overwhelmed, running growing crops
of coffee, rice, sugar, indigo or tobacco, and
it is probable that not single crop will be
saved. -l--
Late Sunday afternoon and in the evening
the volume of the disturbances suddenly
increased and the island seemed to be about
to be completely buried in a mass of fire
and sulphurous ashes. At the same time
the enormous waves began to burst with
greater force upon the shores, coming in
some places far up into the interior. Great
chasms opened in the earth and threatened
to enguIf large proportion of the islands
people and buildings. about midnight the
most frightful scene Of the whole distur-
Dances took place. Suddenly an enormous
luminous cloud, similar to that which was
seen over the Cunning Guntur, but much
greater in extent, formed over the Kanda-
ga range Of mountains, which skirt the
south coast of the island. This cloud grad
ually increased in size until it formed
canopy of lurid red and whitiSh gray over
a wide extent of territory. During this
time the 6ruptlOnS increased, and streams
of lava poured necessarily down the sides
of the mountain into the valleys, sweep
ing everything before them. Here and
there q stream of lava would enter an arm
of the sea or come in contact with the waters
of river. Then the nearest mean
descent lava as it prOtruded from the great
stream would suddenly produce boiling
heat and rapid vapOriZatiOn. But the SUI
perfine consolidation that almost instantly
yxrO11l5 1yNT1fa NV
The assures that opened in this thin crust
as it SOlidified would emit torrents of vapOr
extending high into the air and making
tremendous kissing and seething sound,
as if a thousand locomotives were Simulta-
neouSly letting off steam. Here and there
in the lava streams were innumerahle thin,
plate-like crystals of feIdSpar, arranged in
trains, one behind the other, in the direc-
ton of the flow of the current, and field
Sparic spherOlites were rapidly formed in
the vitreOuS matter, resembling those which
form in the Stag of glass furnace. One of
the most singular freaks of the eruption
was the carrying in the midst of molten lava
of bed OF solid ice of enormous size, which
had been emitted from one of the craters,
carried along by the current and landed on
the extremity of Point st. Nicholas on the
northeast corner of the island. This bed of
ice was surrounded by thick envelope Of
sand and scoriae, which are such nOn-con-
ductors of heat that red-hOt stream of
lava running over it will not meltthe snow.
of some vast subterTanean lake.
About two O'Clock Monday morning the
great cloud suddenly broke into small sec
tions and quickly vanished. At the same
time the most fTightful rumblings were
heard and the columns of fire and smoke
on the southeast corner of the island ceased
to ascend, while the crateTS in the other
parts of Java seemed to open their fiery
throats still wider to let out the greatest
quantity of rocks, lava, pumice and ashes
yet Yomited out.
The kissing of the sea became so loud as
to be almost deafening, and the waves
rushed upon the shores to an unprecedent-
| ed height. When daylight came it was
seen that an enormous tract of land had
! disappeared, extending from Point Capucln
on the south, to Negery PafsOerrang on the
north, and west to a low point, covering an
extent of territory fifty miles square. In
this were situated the villages of Negery
and Negery Babawang. OF the people in
! hahiting these places and the natives scat
| tered sparsely through the forests and on
! the plains, none escaped a frightful death.
| This section of the island was not so dense
| ly populated as the other portions, and the
| loss of life was comparatively small,
! although it must have aggregated fully
! 1900 souls. The entire kandang range Of
| mountains, extending along the coast in a
| seIni-circle for about siXty-ive miles, had
! gone out of sight. The waters Of Welcome
/ Bay, the Sunda Straits and Pepper Bay on
| the east and of the Indian Ocean on the
! south had rushed in and formed a great
! sea Of turbulent waters. Here and there
| the peak of a high crater was exposed for
! moment by the receding of a great wave
and occasionally q puff of brOwnish gray
smoke or a slight shower of rocks
| showed that the volcanoes still con-
| tinued in active subterraneous erup-
| ton. The debris of the submerged and
! destroyed buildings was tossed hither and
thither over the inhabitated land where all
was now waste of water.
The aggregate loss of life from the vari-
| of7S claimants of the terrible disturbances
must be fully 1900, but the number of
those who persisted can of course never be
| appropriated.
/ A violent shock occurred in the Island of
Sumatra Monday forenoon, and it was
| feared other violent disturbances might fol-
| low. Middle Island, ten miles of the Jaw
| anese coast, and half way between the ex-
! IRENE points of Java and Sumatra, was al
| most wholly engulfed in these. The small
| Island of Singkel, probably only originally
] a cave blown up by an eruptive paroxYsm.