The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-03-27
Audessp1a yntslligereer.
A Chat About Volcanoes.

A Chat About Volcanoes.
Volcanoes, or burning mountains, as
they are sometimes called, are elevations
on the surface of the earth, which act as
chimneys for the great fires deep under
ground. There are nearly three hum
dred at present which are hot and smok.
ing mountains. The great crater, or
opening, is generally near the summit.
As volcanoes are not always active, the
crater sometimes becomes dead, and is
filled With great masses of cold black
lava. Mountains have been known to
remain in this quiet state for centuries,
when suddenly noises like thunder are
heard, and the crater begins to throw up
boiling lava and hot ashes and smoke.
A volcano in eruption is one of the
grandest sights in nature. Vast quanti-
ties of heated matter are thrown hun
dreds of seet in the air, great bombs eS-
plode with terrific noise, and at night
the sky appears like sheet OF flame.
The volcanoes of North America are
all situated near the Pacific coast. There
are none of them very active at present.
Mount Saint Elias, which stands on the
boundary of Alaska and British America
is volcanic peak nearly $4,000 feet
above the level Of tie sea. 1t is the gh-
est point in the Northern half OF the
Western continent.
Popocatepetl, which is the next high
est, is less than $4,000 feet. 1t is the
largest volcano in Mexico, and although
it is crowned with snow all the year, its
crater is still very hot, and all the snow
which falls inside of the great hole melts
as soon as it touches the warm field OF
black laya. The last great eruption Of
Popocatepetl was two hundred and sey-
enteen years ago, but as late as 1897 it
would now and then throw up dirt and
small stones. Now nothing rises from
the cracks and creviccs of the crater but
little spirals of ho: vapor, which smell
like q burning sulphur match. The
whole crater of Popocatepetl is filled be-
meath the surface with beautiful yellow
sulphur. Deep boIes have been dug
there, like wells, and Indians 60 down to
gather the sulphur, which is carried down
the mountain and sold. The air is so
hot underground in the crater that the
Indians can not stay long, and they wear
big wooden shoes to keep their feet from
becoming blistered.
Tie peak of Orizaba is another famous
volcano of Mexico, almost as high as
Popecatepetl. It has not been active for
more than three hundred years. Now it
is very cold, and the great valley of its
crater is filled with ice and snow.
The highest volcano in the world is
Sahama, in Bolivia, which rises $4,000
feet above the.sea; but the largest crater
is that of Mauna Loa, one of the great,
volcanoes of Hawaii, in the Sandwich
Islands. Mauna Loa, has two craters,
one near the summit, about $4,000 feet
high, and the large one, which is called
,Kjlauea, about 5000 feet lower down the
mountain slope. The great lower crater
is nearly eight miles around, and about
eight hundred feet deep. The sides are
steep and rocky, but there is a zigzag
path by which people go down to see the
great lake of liquid fire at the bottom:
The wind on the mountain is very cool
and sometimes it hardens the surface of
the lake so that it appears likes great
plain of black earth, just as the cold air
in winter forms coating of Ice on the
rivers and ponds. But the fire is under
meath the black crust, just as the water
is under the ice, and it is constantly
breaking out into little fiery lakes, which,
as the heat increases, overflow the whole
bottom of the crater and form a great
boiling mass.
Mauna Loa is full of strange rumbling
noises like thunder. Several times great
fssnces have suddenly opened in the
mountain-side, from which fountains of
fiery lava have sprung several hundred
feet high, and, in falling, formed rivers
of fire which poured down into the sea.
These streams of hot lava which burst
from volcanoes sometimes come so sud-
denly that whole villages near the noun
tain are swept away in an instant, before
the inhabitants can escape. Great clouds
of hot ashes are often thrown from the
crater, which cover the plain around the
mountain many feet deep, burying all
the cities and towns, together with their
inhabitants. In 1885 the volcano of
Cosequina in Nicaragua threw out such
vast quantities of ashes and powdered
stone that the air was filled with them
for hundreds Of miles away. The surface
of the ocean was so thickly covered that
ships sailed with difficulty, and in the
island of Jamaica, eight hundred miles
from Cosequina, ashes fell on, the fields.
The people who lived near the mountain
ran wildly in all directions in search of
place of safety, and it is said they we're
Joined in their flight by hundreds of
monkeys, and b. tigers and other wild
beasts, whose savage nature was com.
pletely suhdued by fright.
The largest volcano in Europe is Mount
Etna, which stands in the Island Of
Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. 1t is
nearly $1,000 feet high. it has always
been very active volcano. A little
more than two hundred years ago stream
of boiling lava poured d 5wn from its era
ter, and completely destroyed fourteen
large towns.
Mount Vesuvius, which stands on the
shore of the Bay. of Naples, is also one
of the most active volcanoes of modern
times. It has very curious history. At
the time of the birth of Christ the whole
mountain, which is only about four thou
sand feet high, was covered with forests.
The people called it the "Burnt Noun.
tain," because they knew from the old
crater that it had been volcano at some
time, although it had never been known
to smoke, and even the crater was green
valley full of trees.
About sixty-three years after the birth
of Christ the cities near Vesuvius were
startled by an earthquake, and sixteen
years later the whole Southern half of the
mountain burst with terrible explosion,
and vast cloud of hot ashes sprang
forth, which covered the country to
great depth for miles around. 1t was at
this time that the beautiful cities of
Pompeii and Herculaueum were de-
stroyed. They we're buried in the vol
canic ashes so suddenly that very few of