Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-11

~ OES A BOND AL
! !. !:
NGA ready exist between the
6 VA Hawaiian Islands and
"a SN the United States? 1t
IN I'm has been asserted with
SSS out disproof that the
~ two are linked together
"W by chain of fire, the
NAaAA earthquakes Of Cali
sSIESS$XgRt fornia having rela-
-FZIMSSr ton to the volcanic
outbursts from the
Sskss-c raters of Kilaues. The
Sandwich group, of
course, is nothing more than an assemblage Of
gigantic volcanoes which rise precipitously from
the depths OF the sea, above the surface of
which their verdure-clad tops appear. There is
no certainty that the archipelago may not dis
appear beneath the ocean some day. perhaps
roobing Uncle Sam Of valuable political and
commercial possession. Volcanic islands all
over the world. especially in the Pacific, have
way Of doing Just that sort Of thing.
Islands which pop up and down give great
deal OF anxiety to navigators- Whereas water
| is necessarily unstable and unreliable. mariners
ought to have right to expect dry land to stay
In place. But in many regions bits of terra
firma have a way Of appearing and disappear
ing without giving any warning whatever.
Thus skipper may be puzzled at failing to
discover long familiar land mark to help out
his reckoning, or, worse vet he may run upon
brandnew piece of territory that has sprung
up out OF the waves since he last came that
way. Such uplifts make much trouble for the
photographic Office at Washington. which is
kept busy plotting them on its charts for sea-
mems use as fast they are reported. As
rule ships keep carefully away from parts Of
the ocean where changes of the sort are most
apt to take place. as in the neighborhood of the
Farallone Islands, south of Japan. unfortu-
nately such reports by sailors are not always
reliable, inasmuch as they frequently mistake
the backs OF sleeping whales or schools of fish
running along near the surface for islands and
shoals.
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
Even in the ancient and respectable Mediter-
ranean events Of the sort described have
repeatedly occurred. So recently as the year
1881 an island rose from a depth of 700 feet at
a point thirty miles southwest of Sicily. On July
10 John Corrao, q Sicilian, skipper. saw acolumn
OF water sixty feet high and 500 feet in diameter
spoutlng up from the sea. Soon afterward
dense cloud Of steam assembled to height of
500 feet On his return voyage, July Is, this
seafaring person found on the same spot q
small island twelve feet high, ejecting volcanic
matter and immense clouds Of vapor. The
waters in the neighborhood were covered with
floating cinders and dead fishes. Two weeks
later the island had attained q height Of 200
fee. and circumference Of three miles,
Several names we're given to il by mariners
who cruissd around it, ready to land upon it az
soon as it was sufficiently cooled. Three ma
tions claimed it and it was feared that gun
powder would be burned in the controversy;
but before Europe had time to become en-
broiled in war over the matter the island van
ished and so settled the dispute. By October
81 it was nearly level with the ocean, the crater
having disappeared. At present the place it
occupied is marked only by a shoai covered
with many fathoms Of water
SAW AN ISLAND RISE CUT OF THE SEA
In the year 1911 Capt TiIlard of H. NJ s.
Sabrina saw an island rise out of the waves
during volcanic outburst in the Azores near
St Michaels. When he returned few weeks
later for the purpose Of surveying and annex
ing this bit Of territory not a trace Of it could
be found. The sea had reclaimed it, As first
observed it was 500 feet high with a crater in
the center. Its disappearance recalled that mys-
FERROUS country mentioned in the Arabian
moment when the voyagers were going 10 land
upon it. This island, however, was nothing
more than huge ash heap, which the
waves quickly washed away. On the spot
which it occupied there still remains sub
marine lava cone, the top Of which is ninety
feet beneath the surface Islands frequently
pop up and down in this fashion in the Azores.
The CONFUSION is usually announced by violent
earthquakes. Fire breaks out from the sea and
rises in a cloud of steam, smoke and ashes.
while vast quantities Of lava and other volcanic
stuff are vomited up. At length a group of
covers a space several miles in circumference
Such a phenomenon occurred early in June,
forming near Terceira an island which on June
II vanished, the lead in the place where it had
been giving no bottom at 900 feet.
IN THE ALEuTIAN CHAIN.
Within comparatively recent period an
island has been added by volcanic agency to
what are now Uncle Sans possessions. On
May /. 1876, a strange darkness fell upon the
Aleutian chain, which mark the southern
boundary OF Boring sea. On the third day
flames were seen rising from the ocean be-
tween Unalaska and Umnak The fire at night
illuminated the wator brightly for many miles
around. Finally 4 black rock grew up amid
steam and smoke. In 1904 this rock had cooled
sufficiently to be visited by hunters, though il
was too hot to walk on with comfort. At that
time it was $50 feet high and nearly three
miles in circumference. Continuing eruptive
1t went on growing, presenting the aspect in
1928 Of pyramid ], 500 feet high. Lately after
long period of quiescence it has again broken
out, and at last accounts it was smoking so as
to be rendered invisible. Meanwhile it has
been diminishing in size, and very possibly it
will vanish altogether sooner or later The
been watched from beginning to end. In 1879
Capt. Cook. the famous navigator. sailed right
over that locality, but found no island there.
THE MOST REMARKABLE EVENT
Of the sort described, observed within historic
times. was the eruption Of Krakatau. The
island of that name was situated in the straits
of Sunds, between Java and Sumatra. 1t was
uninhabited, its area being fifteen square
miles. and it had two lofty mountains the
taller one attaining an altitude of 1850 feet
above the sea. It was wholly volcanic the
mountains rising from the floor of sunken
crater. On May 26, 1858. at 4 pm, violent ex-
plosions we're heard in Sumatrs and Java. and
early the next morning there a much
greater explosion, followed by tidal wave
which swept away many villages along both
shores of the straits, causing great loss of life
The material thrown out in the shape of ashes
and cinders spread over all of northern Java
and southern Sumatrs, covering that region
with pail of impsnetrable darkness. Shortly
before noon on the come day, by one supreme
convulsiou, the snbterranean powers burst
50 terrific N to spread consterna-
ton among dwellers within radius
Of 500 miles. With sunrise on the following
day the dense curtain Of darkness began to
clear off and light broke upon a scene OF I'M
paralleled devastation. Krakatau WAS reduced
to fraction of it's original size. Where the
volcano had been active q few hours before
there was an expanse Of sen fathomless with q
1,000-foot line. portion Of the islsad had
been shot like gigantic projectile 800 miles