The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-22


or was situated at the opposite sid
| of the earth from Europe and America
| both these continents had opportunitie
| of experiencing its effects. Before tht
outbreak the island Of Krakatua was {
| wrecked crater forming an imperfec
ring in the Sunda Strait, between
| Sumatra on the north and Java on tbs
south, and therefore under Dutch
| jurisdiction. Virtually no one lived up
| on it, but its volcanic nature had beer
| long recognized. Indeed, in 1860 it was
active and with no small violence, but
I by November 1861, it had quieted
There were three visible extinct vents
before the catastrophe of 1888. On the
goth of May of this year their activity
! was first noted. A passing war-vessel
made observations upon the height OF
a cloud of vapor which had mounted
into the air. BY instrumental survey
it was proved to be nearly $4,000 feet
in altitude, a fact which bore witness
to the enormous tension of the i'm
prisoned gases at the time of the out
break. The phenomenon excited sc
much interest that an excursion was
organized from Batavia, and its partic-
ipants climbed to the edge of the
yapor into the atmosphere. They little
realized what imprisoned forces were
beneath them.
With varying but, on the whole, in
creasing violence, the volcano went on
ITS way until, toward the end of Aug
ust, the explosions became terrific.
The number of vents increased, and
much anxiety was felt on the neighbor-
TT, Icf
Krakatua contained somewhat over
twelve square miles. At 10 a. M, on
the 9th. the great explosion came, and
when it was over only four and one
fourth square miles remained. The old
mountain and proba bly, much new lava
We're blown to a dust the coarser parti-
cles of which fell near the vent, but
the finer ones were carried by high cur
rents in the atmosphere quite around
the globe. Many persons will recall
the red sunsets which the dust caused
in Europe and America.
During the principal outbreaks the
usual thick darkness ensued because
the cloud of volcanic ash in the at
mosphere shut out the sun Through
the pail. flashes of lightning played
wildly, being produced by the cleo
trica1 disturbances engendered in the
atmosphere. The bursting of the vap-
ors through the everything sea developed
enormous waves which are said to have
been from 80 to 100 feet high. They
dashed on the neighboring islands and
caused great loss of life. The fatalities
from the entire eruption were estimated
by the Dutch officials at forty thou
sand, total which surpasses the re-
cent catastrophes in the Lesser Antil-
les, but which can scarcely have been
based on such accurate knowledge.
The noise of the grand explosion was
heard on the island of Rodriguez, three
thousand miles westward across the
Indian Ocean. Barometrical disturb
ances We're recorded in Berlin after an
elapsed time of only ten hours.
To-day. at Krakatua, few reefs and
half of an old cone stand in an excavat-
ed tract about four miles across, and
now filled with the sea.
The ancient cone was butt upon
foundation of Tertiary strata, and at
least three eruptive periods can be
identified before the grand catastrophe.
They each yielded different lavas
Krakatua thus presents a combination
of lava flows explosive outbreaks, one
of which virtually destroyed the old
crater.
THE HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES.
The Hawaiian Islands are entirely
formed of volcanic rock, except for
few raised ea-beaches into which the
hard parts of shell-fish and other or
ganisms enter. They number twelve in
all, but of these four are small. barren,
and uninhab ited. Of the remaining
eight. one Hawaii itself, with three
thousand nine hundred and fifty square
miles, contains about two thirds the
total area of six thousand and forty
square miles in the group. The high
est peak is Mauna Kea, 1896 feet, with
Mauna Loa. an active volcano, close
second at 1855. Both these great
are on Hawaii, at the south
eastern end of the chain of islands. If
the general slope of the mountains is
beneath the sea-1evel, it leads
downward, without essential
variation from the landscapes, until
the normal bottom of the Pacific is
reached at from $4,000 to 10000 feet in
depth. There is thus every reason to
.hink that the islands have been built |
Up by volcanic action from the abysses |
If the ocean, and that they constitute |
1 stately pile of lava some 10000 feet =
n height. If the slopes are plotted
n a true scale, they are found to range ,
rom l vertical in 10 horizontal to l YER |
ical in 14.3 horizontal. These ratios !
to angles of from A. to So |
md it is evident that the rise is eN-
remedy gradual.
This character comedies with the |
nature of the cones. They are very
different from any thus far described |
n this article. The others consist |
argely of loose materials which have !
,een blown out Of comparatively small
-ents and which have built up their
ones at the angle of repose for loose