The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-08
KRAKAT0A'S ERUPTION.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF THE
NOTED VOLCANIC Expl OsloN.

rhenomena-
In 1880 there were earthquake, alone
the shores of the Straits of Sunda. hui
hrakatoa gave no sign Of reawakeninc unit i
May 20, 1888, when there was a sudden
and violent eruption By which a column
Of dust and steam was thrown to a height
q seven miles. and some OF tho matter
elected was carried as far as 300 miles be.
fore II descended 10 the earth This erup.
tion was accompanied 10y noises which In
Batavia, 100 miles away. sounded like the
booming Of cannon, While doors and win
dOws were shaken. The force Of this ont.
break soon subsidized and such things arc
50 common in that part Of the world that
httle attention was paid 10 IT, On Nav
~ an excursion party from Bataviavisited
the neighbOrhood and obtained n photo.
graph OF the mountain as il then appeared.
In the middle Of June another crater
opened, and the dense pail Of vapor that
had been hanging over the region was
Perceptibly increased After that the
island became every day the scene Of
greater activity. On Aug II there were
three principal and eleven smaller volcanic
fires visible upon il.
WHEN THE CRISIS CAME.
The climax came on the 9th Of August.
On the afternoon before il could be fcen
that n crisis WAS approaching The story
as told from the logs Of various ships that
were in the neighborhood shows that fire..
quent explosions then occurred. and that
the air was filed with vapor. pumice and
dust, Illuminated by glow from the vol
cano below, and by continuous flashes Of
lightning from above. The sound Of fire.
quent explosions was heard at great dis
tances, and waves were started that were
felt hundreds OF miles away.
The Investigations Of the committee
have proved conclusivoly that these erup-
tions Of the afternoon Of Aug 20, by
SCATTERING the island and tearing away
great fragments from it down to below
the level Of the sea, were the direct cause
Of the terrific outburst Of the following
morning. by which the island was nearly
destroyed. and the vast tidal wave started
that overwhelmed all the islands for Il
hundred miles about. Through the
breaches made by these explosions in the
walls Of the craters the sea rushed In tor
rents. The first effect, as when dirt or
stones arc thrown into the mouth Of a
geyser, was to deaden the violence Of the
eruption, and produce a season Of com
parative calm This lasted through the
night Of the 25th and well along into the
morning Of the next day. But the terri
bic energy thus smOthered was merely sup
pressed for time Il accumulated deep
IN the earth beneath the small sea that
quickly filed up the crater above, and
. 10 . ba % or NJ.
came It's power. Al $50 o'clock in the
morning came the first outbreak, but it
was not enough; the water poured in
faster than the power below could throw
it out. and the forces Of fire below were
held in subsection by the sea. There was
another outburst at GA o'clock, but this,
too. the sea subdued, driving the beast of
the volcano back once more into its sub
terranean cayeIns, where it ragged and
fumed for nearly four hours. Then, at
1902 o'clock, 10 burst ont with mn awful
violence, finging the ocean back in waves
a hundred feet high. that rolled on for
thousands Of miles before they wholly
subsidized.
NOISE or TIE GREAT CRASH
The noise of this last great crash Of the
conflict between the forces of the water
and Of fire was heard over an area equal
ing oue-thirteenth Of the surface Of the
globe. People a thousand miles away
thought vessel in distress was firing
minute guns and sent out a ship TO her
aid At Ceylon 1000 miles away, people
thought that ships were practiciug with
their heavy guns somewhere III the neigh
borhoOd and even as far as Rodriguez,
q. 600 miles from krakatoa, sound was
heard as Of the roar Of distant artillery
More than this the air waves which ac-
conpanied the sound spread after the
sound itself had become inaudibie and
delicate instruments at various observa.
tories and other stations in all parts o.
the world recorded the passage Of unac-
countable atmospheric impulses, not once,
bur time after time. until 1t Is a scientiii-
callv ascertaimcd and proven fact that the
air wave from the explosion passed seven
times around the world before 10 became
SO faint that it produced no effect upon
thcinstruments that record such incidents.
At Batavia. 100 miles distant, windows
were blown IN, gas put out, gasometer
lifted from its well, and even walls were
cracked merely by the vibrations Of the AR.
The sea waves hurled out from the vol
cano in all directions were more disas-
trous. if less far reaching, than the air
waves. Thirty three miles from the vol
cano some of the waves were l3o feet
Meh Towns, villages aud lighthouses
were swept away. A man Of war was
carried up the Telok Belong valley nearly
two miles inland and left stranded thirty
feet above the sea level. The wave was
very perceptible one all the way across
the Indian ocean. and at Ccylon, Natal
and the Cape Of Good Hope its passage
was made matter Of record long before
ANYTHING was known of the explosion.
EFFECTs OF THE EXPLOSION.
I'm the immediate vicinity Of Tire island
The effect Of the explosion was almost III.
conceivable. Two-thirds Of the island 81
Krakatoa and the whole Of ncighoorlng
island disappeared entirely. Lang Island
was increased By an addition 70 its north,
orn end. and Yerlaten lslaudWas ENLARGED
10 three times its former cimo The
mass of matter which was blown away
from Kralatoa has been calculated at
POO GOO 900 600 cubic feet. One Of the IN
cidental effects Of the explosion was the