Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-09-04
THE HORROR OF HORRos.
pirefui Details of the Recent Evuptions
and Tidal Waves In the Malay Arch
ipelago.

and Tidal Waves In the Malay Arch
ipeiago.
A London special says: Reports from
Batavia received tonight are of a more
encouraging nature, although details
of the horrors of the eruption continue
To come. After the sudden subsidepce
of the disturbances in the kingdom of
Bantam Monday, the eruptions
seemed to lose their force for some
time, and the people of Batavia ex-
perienced feeling of relief in the hope
that the worst had passed. The quiet
err conditions continued until about
ten o'clock, when the craters once
more began to send up great ma ses of
destructive matter, although without
the force of the former actions. The
eruptions seemed more violent at
night than during the day. BY eleven
O'Clock the Panpandayang which is
1854 feet high, was in n very active
state of paroxysmal eruption. 1t was
accompanied 10y detonations said to be
heard miles away in Sumatra. Three
distinct columns of flame were seen TO
rise from the mountain to vast
height, and its whole surface
soon appeared as if covered with fiery
lava streams which spread to
great distances on all sides. Stones
fell for miles around, and the black,
fragmentary matter carried into the
air caused total darkness. A whirl-
wind accompanied this eruption, by
which houses, roofs, trees and men and
horses were carried into tie air. The
quantity of ashes elected was such as
to cover the ground and rooms of
houses at Denamo TO the depth of sew
oral inol,n, nff Dnint
ing puinice on the sea formed layer
two feet thick, through which vessels
forced their way with great difficulty.
This rise of vapor produced the APP
pearance of column several thousand
feet high, based on the edge of the
crater. 1t appeared from distance to.
insist of a mass of inuumerable glob-
ular clouds of extreme whiteness, re-
sembling vast balls of cotton. rolling
one Over the other as they assembled,
impelled by the pressure of fresh sup
plies, necessarily urged upward by the
continued explosions. AT great
height the column dilated horizontally
and spread into dark and turpid cir
cular cloud, shaped like an immense
umbrella. Forked lightning of great
vividness and beauty continually
darted from different parts of the
clouds.
Suddenly the scene was changed
The mountain was split into seven
parts without a moments warning,
and where Papandayang 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 lappillo flowed
down the mountain sides, forming
beds two or three feet in extent. Elk.
halations of carbonic acid gas were so
abundant that birds and animals in
large numbers were killed by it, and a
few human beings lost their lives in
the same way.
1t proved to be the turning point in
the eruption, for the great assures
| opened seemed to act as safety valves,
through which the streams of lava
gently flowed down into the valleys.
The volcanic fires, though still burn
ing at last advices, had lost
most of their tierceness, and
| the steam generated found
vent without being forced through the
comparatively narrow mouth of the
old craters. One of the queer Incl :
dents was the sudden rising Tuesday
forenoon of fourteen new volcanic
mountains in the Straits of Sunda,
forming complete chain in almost a
straight line between Point st. Mich
olas, on the Savanese coast, and Hoga
Point, on the coast of Sumatra, almost
on the top of what had
been the MeraR and Middla island
which sank intdthe sea Monday.
In the city of Bantam, where 1900
persons were supposed to have
persisted, the bodies of $500 have al
ready been recovered. Some 900 in
habitants of the interior town of
| Waronge are now known to have been
killed, and at Talatra, on the coast,
300 bodies have been found. From all
| over the island come reports of loss of
lite and property, and it is thought at
Batavia that the estimate, 10, 900 killed,
will not prove excessive. On the low
lands of Batavia, where the waters
have L, ceded and quoted down, hun
dreds OF bruised and mangled bodies
are lying exposed A sanitary corps
! has been formed and the corpses are
being removed and buried as fast as
possible, in order to prevent the breed
| ing and spread of contagi ion. While
there is some cause for anxiety on this
score, it is thought the greater number
of bodies in the interior were so dried
and scorched by the hot lava and
stones that they will not putrefy, and
| the bodies of those drowned by the
| tidal waves can be taken care of with
reasonable facility by the coast sani-
tary corps, now rapidly getting to
| work.