Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-04
THE JAVA CATASTROPHE.
DESTRUCTION WROUGHT BY
THE EARTHQUAKE.
Nature Convulsed-An Awful Spectacle
volcanoes Rising from the Sea
Mountains Sinking from Sight The
Loss of Life Estimated as High as
seventy Thousand.

I
Loss of Life Estimated as High a.
Seventy y-five Thousand.
Neao York Herayd, sept 2
Seldom or never in the history of the
! world has such tale of sublime and an.
/ paIllng disaster been related as that which
mas come to us within the past week from
Java, the fourth in point of size of the
lslands comprising the Malay Archipela-
| go. at the opposite side of the globe. Ii
tells OF an unparalleled volcanic eruption.
OF mountains torn asunder and broken
into nearly dozen flaming parts. of p
cham of volcanoes thrown up in the Strait
OF Sunda where islands had sunk in the
sea, of wholesale destruction of life es
| tImated as high as Is, 900. and of a general
wreck and ravage of property. The dis.
turbances began on the island of Kraka-
toa, which is situated at the neck
OF the Strait of Sunda, between sum-
atra and Java, being fifteen miles from
the latter. The deep rumblings were dis
tinctly audible at Surakerta and Batavia.
about forty-fve and twenty-five miles off
respectively. Little alarm was felt at
first, but within few hours showers of
stones began to fall. At Jagjakerta,
Sourabaya and Samarang all through the
night of August - showers Of red-hot
rocks and ashes fell, making complete
darkness in all these towns. In Batavia
there was an occasional fall. and it was
difficult to keep the street lights burning
ing i'll the European quarter. BY the
next morning all communication with
Anger, town on the Strait OF Sunda. was
cut off, all the bridges having been de-
stroyed by the descending rocks and
ashes and the road rendered impas-
sable. The first eruption was on Satur-
day night, August %. On Sunday morn
ing the disturbances had extended be-
meath the waters of the strait and they
were soon boiling and Kissing violently.
while great waves dashed upon the ia
Yanese shores and the temperature of the
sea went up nearly twenty degrees. Even
as far away as Madura, more than five
hundred miles distant, the furious waves
were Iashed into mountains of foam as
they came rolling in. The rumblings
gradually became more and more distant,
and by noon of the same day the Maha
Aeru, the largest of the volcanoes of Java.
was Delching forth flames at an alarming
rate. This eruption soon spread to the
Nunung (the crater of which is the larg-
est in the world, being nearly four miles
in diameter) the Cunning Guntur and
many other minor mountains, until more
than third of the fOrty-tive craters of
Java were either in active eruption or Sc
riOusly threatening it.
AN APPALLING SPECTACLE.
Just before dust great, luminous cloud
formed over the Cunning Guntur and the
crater of that volcano began to vOmit UP
enormous streams of white acid, sulphur
Gus mud and smaller quantities of lava
There were rapidly succeeding eXplO-
siOns followed by tremendous showers of
cinders and enormous fragments of rock.
which were hurled high into the air and
scattered in all directions, to fall after the
NO % H.,
carrying death and destruction with
them. With these terrible eruptions
came sympathetic demonstrations from
the sea. The Overhanging clouds were so
surcharged with electricity that at one
time more than fifteen huge water-spOuts
were seen. Men, women and children rush
ed in terror from their tOttering dwelling
places, filling the air with their shreks of
horror. Hundreds were unable to get out
before the houses fell, and were buried be-
meath the great masses of rocks and mud
which were piled up where few hours
before all had been peace, happiness and
fancied security. In the evening OF Sun
day the shocks and eruptiOns increased in
violence, and the island seemed threat
ened with being buried in fire and sui
phurOus ashes. At the same time the
enormous waves began to dash with
greater force upon the shores, COM
interior, and great chasms opened in
the earth and threatened to engulf
large proportion of the people
and buildings. About midnight the
most frightful scene of all took place.
Suddenly an enormous. luminous cloud
similar to that which was seen over the
Cunning Guntur, but much greater in eX-
tent, formed over the Kandang range Of
mountains, which, as may be seen by the
irf ho
island. This cloud gradually increased in
size until it formed a CANOPY of lurid red
and whitish gray over a wide extent of
territory. During this time the eIuptiOns
increased, and streams of lava poured in-
cessantly down the sides of the noun
tains into the valleys, sweeping
everything before them. About two
O'Clock on Monday morning the great
cloud suddenly broke into small sections
and vanished. At the same time frightful
rumblings were heard, and the columns
OF fire and smoke over the southeast cor
ner of the island ceased to ascend, while
the craters in the other parts of Java
seemed to open their fiery thrOats still
wider to let out the greatest quantity of
lava, rocks, pumice and ashes yet yOmited
forth. The Kissing of the sea became SO
loud as to be almost deafening. The waves
rushed up on the shore to an unprece-
dented height.
A TRACT OF LAND DISAPPEARS.
When daylight came it was seen that
an enormous tract of land had disappear
ed, extending from Point Capucin on the
south to Negery PassOerang on the north
and west to Low Point. covering an eX-
tent of territory about fifty miles square.
In this were situated the villages of Neg
cry and Negera Babawang. None of the
people inhabiting these places, or, of
the natives scattered sparsely through
the forests and on the plains. es-
capped death. This section of the
island was not so densely populated
as the other portions and the loss of life
wascOmparatiyely small. although it must
have aggregated fully $4,000 souls. The
entire Kandang range of mountains, eX-
tending along the coast in a semi-circle
for about siXty-tive 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 sea of turbu-
lent waters.
Monday night the volcano of Papanda-
yang, which is over seven thousand feet
high, was in a very active state of par
OXysmal eruption. 1t was accompanied
by detOnatiOns said to have been heard
many miles away in Sumatra. Three dis
tinct columns of flame were seen to rise
from the mountain to a vast height. and
its whole surface soon appeared as if COW
cred with fiery lava streams which spread
to great distances on all sides. Stones
fell for miles around, and the black, frag.
mentary matter carried into the air
caused total darkness. A whirlwind ac-
cOmpanied this eruption by which house
roofs, trees and men and horses were car
ried into the air. The quantity of ashes
elected was such as to cover the ground
and roots OthOuses at Denamo to the depth
of several inches.
Suddenly the scene was changed, The
mountain was split INTO seven parts with
out moments warning. and where Pa
pandayang had stood alone there were
now seven distinct peaks looming up to
great height. In the seams opened could
be seen great balls of molten matter.
From the assures poured clouds of steam. |
and the black elected lapillo flowed in
steady streams and ran slowly down the |
mountain sides, forming beds two hundred |
or three hundred feet in extent.
sTRANGEsT FREAK OF ALL.
One of the most singular incidents was
the sudden rising on the forenoon Of Tues.
day of fourteen new volcanic mOuntains
in the Strait of Sunda. forming a com
plete chain In almost a straight line no.
tween Point st. Nicholas, on the Java
coast, and Hoga Point, on the coast of
Sumatra, almost on the tops of what had
been the Merak and Middle Islands. which
sank into the sea the previous dav and
went heaven knows where. The Gunun0
Iengger has not had an eruption before
since the year 1900, when an exsanf of
land seventeen miles long and seven wide
was completely covered with the white
ana splphuro4s mud so peculiar to the