The times., 1899-06-11

I
dense cloak OF solid cloud there hung an
| atmosphere OF suffocation and acrid
, gases. The rains fell inceSsantly, and that
| which descended from the obliterated skies
was not rain. but a paste of steam and
| ashes. The lightning was incessant the
| thunder, if any there we're. was swallowed
up in the louder clashes OF the tortured
earth. Around the dense bank of vapor
| the sea was in wild commotion. For miles
! in every direction the water was red and
| black, with the debris held in suspension
| 1t was like sailing into the current of
| some stream which has been in freshet and
has brought down into clear harbor waters
the Disagreement of the earth which it
| has torn from its upper banks.
! 1t was clear that under that veil of the
| heavy vapor there were great operations
| Of nature. The methods might be uncer-
tain, the result not yet ready for inspec
| tion, but there was no difficulty in COM
| pretending that here was a temporary
| workshop of worldbuilding. This was but
| the fourth day since the former passage
over that part of the sea. therefore what
| ever had been made could not be, any
more than four days old. Just what there
| was under the veil it was impossible to
descry on that day. In the broadest day
! the neighborhood was not safe one; il
| was necessary to leave it before night
1t was not difficult. however, to keep in
the vicinity of the scene of the commo-
tion during the dark hours. for the never
ending play of lightning could be seen for
many miles around, and that and the
! steady reverberation of noises would have
summoned curious fleets had it been in a
more frequented sea.
There were brief intervals on the next
day when the bank of vapor yielded to the
strength of the wind sufficiently to give
a glimpse at what was being done. These
hasty giimpses were tantalizing in the last
degree. 1t was hard to utilize the sudden
/ riffs in the density when they did come
! and it was so trying to watch the thick
| wall for the uncertain chance OF seeing
under 1t. Yet it was worth the while for
it is not given to everyone to become an
| eyewitness of the creation. At best there
was little to see when the density did lift
for glance There was a heaving sea and
1t was woefully dirty In the thickest tur-
moil of the waves was a rnonstrous spout
of water rising at a long angle from the
| sea and splashing back again at distance
after pursuing an extended arc. 1t was
exactly the sort of stream that would be
played by a fire hose, but in this case the
diameter of the nozzle could not have been
less that a hundred yards. There vas
nothing to be seen but this stream of mud
forced out of the sea, carried along its vain
trajectory and spiashing back again into
the sea. From what sort of an orifice this
stream was emitted there was nothing in
sight to show. Approaching the scene as
close as was prudent, it was impossible to
see any additional details. IL was only
on this second day of observation that it
was possible TO see even as much as this.
The next day the vapor became still denser,
and at no time did it lift or thin out suffi-
ciently to afford a glimpse of the creation
in progress beneath 1t.
There were five more such days OF con-
struction, nothing in sight but an incessant
| commotion beneath the canopy OF vapor
and the rain OF mud, and this was all the
evidence OF what was going on beneath.
| Late on the fifth day one OF the small Brit
ish cruisers came within the horizon Of the
commotion and was attracted to the Tn
usual spectacle. In the early morning
hours OF the night following the arrival Of
the man-of-war there was a sudden cessa-
ton of all the turmoil and uproar. AT first
| the silence was as hard to bear as IL hat
| been difficult to accustom ones self to the
| din and commotion which now had ended.
AS soon as daylight came and made it
| possible to look for the scene OF all the
disturbance 1t was seen that great changes
! had taken place There was no longer
the dense bank of vapor and the world
! racket All that had passed away, and
the first sunshine disclosed an island bare
( and broken, with here and there wtsp
of steam arising from its slopes AT one
I end was a hill with an easy and long
grade. For part of the way the sea broke
on the base of this hill, but at one part
! it spread out into a little expanse OF nat
land which was only a dozen feet above
the sea There appeared no outlying dam
gers and the sea broke heavily all around
the new land. There was found, however,
one tiny cove In which IL was possible to
make landing and here the officers OF
the British gunboat and of the South Sea
schooner made difficult and wet way 10
shore. 1t was more than little Tool
hardy. the land was so manifestly new.
the. maker had knocked of so few hours
before that there was every reason to eX-
pect that the work would be resumed at
any moment. The island was still warm,
though by no means as hot as might have
been expected from volcanic activity. 1t
was a combination of mud and blocks of
pumice and scoriae. The work OF disinte
grafton had already begun, for the slopes
of the hill were being scored by little rilis
of water which oozed from the rocks and
! in the downward course carried away some
OF the mud which lay between the larger
elements of the new land.
The two sets OF explorers climbed the
hill, wet and Shiny but not otherwise diff
cult task. for the slopes were long and the
altitude only 100 feet On the exact sum
nit one of the naval officers erected
small staff with the blue anneXing flag OF
Great Britain. took possession of the new
land by right of discovery, and assigned
it the name of Falcon Island, after the
name by which the shoal on the same spot
had been known on the charts. a bottle
detailing the circumstances was buried at
the foot of the staff. and the ceremony
was complete. 1t was this circumstance
when repeated in Sydney which gave rise
to the story OF the new island being cast up
by volcano and a British gunboat wait
ing until 1t got cool enough TO annex.
Falcon Island might have become in a
few thousand years a fit place of human
residence for those who care for Poly
nesian real estate. 1t was nothing but
mud and scoriae, but those are the ma
terials of the very richest soil. and already
the drifted cocoanut had effected a lodg-
ment- But it was not to be. There was
no time for the corals to build their pro-
/ tective reefs, there was nothing to restrain
the onslaught of the sea. with every wave
stealing away a little of this trespassing
/ land. The constructive powers had dis
played themselves in one orgy OF force and
had established the island: the destructive
| forces. more constant although less violent.
have undone the work in less than fourteen
years
Falcon Island has now disappeared.
The sea has washed the last vestge out of
sight. and there is nothing left but a white
wreath on the surface of the sea. 1t
never was very much Of an island; nothing
grew there; it had no political bearings in
any way. But it did have this singular pc
culiarity: it afforded almost the on Y op-
pOrtunity which has been given to men 10
see the operation of the world building
forces.