Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1889-02-23
KRAKATOA'S ERUPTION.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF THE
NOTED VOLCANIC EXPLOSION.


Crash-Enects of the Explosion Optical
Phenomena.
In 1880 there were earthquakes along
the shores of the Straits Of Sunda, but
kral1atoa gaveno sign of reawakening until
May 20, 1888, when there was sudden
and violent eruption, by which column
of dust and steam was thrown to {. height
Of seven miles, and some of the matter
elected was carried as far as 300 miles be-
fore it descended to the earth. This erup-
ton was accompanied by noises which in
Batavia, 100 miles away, sounded like the
booming Of cannon, while doors and win
dows were shaken. The force of this out
break soon subsidized, and such things are
50 common in that part Of the world that
little attention was paid to it. On May
26 an excursion party from Batavia visited
the neighborhood and obtained a photo
graph of the mountain as it 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 it.
WHEN THE CRISIS CAME.
The climax came on the 9th of August.
On the afternoon before it could be seen
that crisis was approaching. The story
as told from the logs of various ships that
vera in the neighborhood shows that fire.
qnent explosions then occurred, and that
the air was filled 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.
/ ont md OF ,oot 4
tances, and waves were Started that were
| felt hundreds Of miles away
| The Investigations of the committee
have proved conclusively that these erup-
tions of the afternoon Of Aug. 26, by
shattering 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 q
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 are 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 Goth and well along into the
morning Of the next day. But the terri
BILE energy thus smothered was merely sup
pressed for time. 1t accumulated deep
in the earth beneath the small sea that
| quickly filled up the crater above, and
the longer it was confined the greater be-
came its power. At $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 6:44 o'clock, but this
too, the sea subdued driving the beast Of
the volcano back once more into its sub
terranean caverns, where it ragged and
fumed for nearly four hours. Then, at
1902 O'Clock, it burst out with an awful
violence, finging the ocean back in waves
hundred feet high, that rolled on for
thousands Of miles before they wholly
subsidized.
NOISE OF THE 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 one thirteenth of the surface of the
globe People a Thousand miles away
thought q vessel in distress was firing
minute guns and sent out a ship to her
aid. At Ceylon, 1900 miles away, people
thought that ships were practicing with
their heavy guns somewhere in the neigh
borhood, and even as far as Rodriguez,
5000 miles from Krakatoa, q sound was
heard as of the roar of distant artillery.
More than this, the air waves which &C
companied the sound spread after the
sound itself had become inaudible and
delicate instruments at various observa-
tories and other stations in all parts Of
the world recorded the passage Of unac-
countable atmospheric impulses, not once,
but time after time until 1T is a scientif
cally ascertained and proven fact that the
air wave from the explosion passed seven
times around the world before it became
SO faint that it produced no effect upon
the Instruments 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 air.
!. 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 1876 feet
high. Towns, villages and 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 q
very perceptible one all the way across
the Indian ocean, and at Ceylon, 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.
In the immediate vicinity Of the islane
i the effect of the explosion was almost in
conceivable. Two-thirds of the island Of
Kfakatoa and the whole Of neighborine
/ island disappeared entirely. Lang Islane
), was increased by an addition to its north
ern end, and Verlaten Island was enlarged
to three times its former dimensions. Thu
mass Of matter which was blown away
, from Krakatoa has been calculated a
200, OOO, 600, 900 cubic feet. One Of the in
cidental effects of the explosion was thu
exposure Of a magnificent section of thu
island, nearly 1000 feet high, showing
admirably the formation of the interior Of
: a crater.
} The most curious part of the report il
] that devoted to the optical phenomena
!, that followed the eruption, including the
s remarkable colored sunsets in all parts
/ of the globe, which were almost certainly
the result of 1t. The Hon. Rollo Russell
and Mr.. Douglas Archibald had charge Of
the preparation of the parts Of the re-
port devoted to this subject They found
: that at the time Of the explosion SO great
: a mass Of dust and vapor was thrown
into the air to heights estimated at from
!. 10 to % miles that for 150 miles aroune
u nj mid M11ch nj