Passaic City record., 1892-05-14
SWEPT FROM THE EARTH.
AN ISLAND DESTROYED By VOL
gANO AND WAVE
The Keeper the Only
Survivor Out of 10000 People
Fats of Pleasure Party.

The ighthouse-Keeper the Only
Survivor Out of 1000 People
Fats of Pleasure Party.
yI-SITORS to Batavia nowadays
are quite out of the fashion if
" they fail to make the passage
through Sunda Strait and see
all that is left of Krakratau and the ves-
tiges of the ruin wrought by the terrible
eruption Of 1883. If they push up the
bay of Lampong, on the Sumatra side OF
the channel, they are likely to land on
the low shores occupied by the village
of Telokh- -Betong. and hire carts for a
short jaunt into the interior, and when
they have gone about two miles they
will pause to take in the curions scenes
presented, for there is seen. one of the
most interesting results still visible OF
the great wave of Krakatau.
There was lust one man amid all that
wild scene of death and devastation who
was not overwhelmed in the common
ruin. He escaped, while 40, 600 per-
ished. He was the lighrhouse-keeper.
who lived alone on an isolated rock in
the strait. 1t was broad daylight when
Krakatau burst asunder, but in few
moments the heavens were so densely
shrouded by dust, mud and smoke that
the darkness of midnight covered all
the channel. The guardian of the light
house was in the lantern, 130 feet above
the sea level. Here he remained safe
and sound in the midst of the terrible
commotIon.
He felt the trembling of his light.
house, but it was so dark that he could
not see the threatened danger. He did
not know that tremendous wave had
almost overwhelmed the lighthouse and
that its crests had nearly touched the
base of the lantern. He did not hear it
because he was deafened by the awful
detonation Of Krakatau.
In few moments, however, the wave,
over hundred feet 10 height, had swept
along total coast line of nearly hun
dred miles on both sides of the channel.
Scores of populous villages were
buried deep beneath the avalanche of
watr. Great groves of cocoanut palms
were leveled to the ground. Promon-
tories were carried away. New bays
were dug out of the yielding littoral.
Every work of human hands, except that
lighthouse, and 40, 600 persons perished
in the deluge that mounted from the sea
or beneath the rain of mud that filed
the heavens. A little sidewheel steam
boat was borne on the top of that wave
through forests aud jungle over two
miles into the country, and was left there
as the wave receded. It will be remem-
bered that for weeks before the final
cataclysm at Krakatau the volcano was
in a state of eruption. Pleasure parties
were made up at Batavia to visit the
volcano. Not few people landed on
the island, little dreaming that in the
twinkling of an eye two-t thirds of it was
to be blown into the air as though shot
from gun. They wished to get as near
as they thought they might safely ven-
ture to the growing, streaming crater.
This little steamboat, on the day before
the explosion, carried one of these spar-
ties to the island. There were only
twenty on board besides the crew. They
spent couple of hours around the isl-
and, and then steamed up the deep and
narrow bay of Lampong, and it is sup
posed they anchored for the night in
front of the big town of Telokh- -Betong,
which was one of the largest settlements
on the south coast of Sumatra.
The ill-fated pleasure party was never
heard of again. 1t is supposed that the
boat was turned over and over like an
egg shell in the surf. 1t had every ap-
pearance of such rough usage when it
was found some months later. The
machinery and furniture were badly
broken and were strewn about in the
greatest confusion. But the vessel held
together, and was finally set down in
good shape, erect on her keel.
Only two bodies were found in the
vessel. They were, of course, below
deck. As it was morning when she was
picked up by the wave, it is supposed
that nearly everybody was on shore.
Not a vestige remains of the villages
that lined the water edge. But the
hulk of this little boat still stands, bat
tered and broken, though as erect as
when she plowed the channel, and she is
the most curious and interesting relic of
the greatest volcanic eruption of modern
times. Chicago Herald.