The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1901-1903, 1902-06-10
Philippine VOLCANOES.

Of interest in connection with the re-
cent volcanic eruphons in the West
Indies is the report Of George +.
Becker on the geology Of the Philip
pine Islands, which has just appeared
In Part III. of the Twenty first Annual
Report of the United States Geological
Survey, and which contains a review
of everything bearing upon the geology
OF these islands.
The report deals in general with the
geologic and economic features of the
islands, from extant reports on the sub
ject, and from studies in the field. so
far as they could be carried on during
the disturbed period Of 1s9S-99, though
geologizing under arms and with mil
itary escort was found to be more ex-
citing than profitable.
In many respects the Philippine Is
lands SO closely resemble the West In
dies, especially in being the scene of
violent past and present volcanic en-
ergy, that the chapter of the report on
the active and extinct volcanoes Of the
archipelago Is at this time particularly
interesting. While 1t Is possible to
visit but few of these mountains owing
to the hostility of the natives, much
valuable information from local and
other sources was collected. Forty
nine of the eruptiye mountains were To-
Gated among the islands, and their al
titudes and the dates of their eruptions
obtained. Conspicuous among them is
Mount Apo, the highest mount0in in
the Philippines, which rises l0,7Gl feet
above the level OF the sea. At Cami-
guin de Mindanao, one Of the most in
teresting volcanoes Of the group, a cone
| nearly 1000 feet in height has risen
since 1871 over what was formerly Il
lake, the basin Of which was, presuma
bly,, an ancient crater. Mayor or the
volcano of Albay, IL said to DC the
most symmetrically beautiful cone IN
the world; and the famous Taal vol
cano, situated on a small volcanic is
, land In the lake of Bonbon, is readily
accessible from Manila.
The accounts of the eruptions of
these and other volcanoes Of the group
bear a striking resemblance to those
of the recent outburst Of Mont Pelee
in Martinique. or an eruption which
occurred in the year 1871 near Jolo
the report quotes, "The darkness and
atmospheric disturbance were so great
that the people OF Jolo could not per
ceive whence came the stuff which fell
from heaven upon them" And in one
of the numerous eruptions at Taal loud
| detonatlons like discharges Of artillery
We're heard, incandescent stones were
thrown out, ana a great fire ran like 81
river across the island. The fire then
shifted into Lake Bonbon, throwing
up water and ashes In immense mass
es. '"rhe water grew hot and black.
fish were strewn on the beaches as If
| they had been cooked, and the air was
so full of sulphurous smells and the
odor of dead fishes that the inhabit-
ants slckened" At one Of the erup-
tions of Albay, that m 1914, 1900 lives
are said to have been lost.
In drawing comparisons between the
volcanoes of the Philippines and those
of the Dutch East Indies Mr. Becker
notes that "Papandayang, In west
Java, had a great eruption In 17T2, de
stroying forty villages. Galung Gung
in 1892 destroyed III villages and 1t
is some measure Of the violence of the
Krakatoa explosion Of 1888 that over
10000 people persisted"