Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1883 — FRIGHTFUL DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

FRIGHTFUL DISASTER.

Java and Adjacent Islands Desolated by a Volcanic Outbreak. Showers of Hot Rocks and Ashes Turned the Day Into Night. Streams of Lava and Sulphuric Mud. Swept Away the Surrounding Villages, While the Earth Yawned and Caught the Fleeing Peasants in Deadly Embrace. [Cable Dispatch from London.} The latest advices from Batavia, the capital of Java, show that the volcanic eruptions in that island are much more serious than at first indicated. The disturbances began on the island of Krakatoa, in the strait of Sunda, about fifteen miles off the coast of Java. The deep rumblings were distinctly audible at Surakerta and Batavia, about forty-five and twenty-two miles off, respectively. Little alarm was felt at first, but within a few hours showers of stones began to fall at Jokjokerta, Surabaya and Zerant All through the night showers of red-hot rocks and ashes fell, making complete darkness in all these town a In Batavia there was an occasional fall, and it was difficult to keep the street lights burning in the European part By the next morning all communication with Anjer was out off, all the bridges having been destroyed by the descending rocks and ashes, and the road rendered impassible. The first eruptions were on Saturday night. On Sunday morning the disturbances had extended beneath the waters of the strait, and they were soon boiling and hissing violently, while great waves dashed upon the Java near shores, and the temperature of the sea went up nearly 20 degrees. Even as far away from the original point of disturbance as Madura the furious waves were lashed into mountains of foam as they came rolling in The threatening rumblings' gradually become more and more distinct, and by and by the Malta Meru, the largest of the volcanoes of Java, was belching forth flames at a very alarming rate. This eruption soon spread to the Gunung Guntur, the crater of which is the largest in the world, being nearly four miles in diameter, the Gunung Guntur and many other minor mountains, until more than, a third of the forty-five craters of Java were either in active operation or seriously threatening it Just before dark a great luminous cloud formed over the Gunung Guntur, and the crater of that volcano began to vomit up enormous streams of white, acid, sulphurous mud, beside small quantities of lava. 1 here were rapid successive explosions, followed ,Jjy of qinders and enormous" fragments, which/ were hurled high jntd the air and scattered in all directions, to" fall after the force was spent upon Ihewahevs, belpw, carrying death and destruction. With, these terrible eruptions came sympathetic demonstrations from the sea The overhanging clouds were so surcharged with electricity that at one time over fifteen Tinge waterspouts were seen. Men, women, and children rushed in terror from their tottering dwelling-places, filling the air with their shrieks of horror. Hundreds were unable to get out before the houses fell, and were buried beneath the great masses of huge rocks and mud, which were piled up where a few hours before all had been peace, happiness and fancied security. The Gunung Tengger has not had an eruption before since the year 18lA». when an extent of land seventeen miles I<-Jig and seven broad was completely covered with the white sulphurous mud so peculiar to the eruptions of Ja<. a. » The peak of Gunung Tengger is 6,000 feet high, and the monument of flame on top of this made a scence of very impressive grandeur. Every moment a huge bowlder, at a red or white heat, would be hurled from Tengger s crater with terrific force, and after going hundreds of feet into the air would fall back with a whirr, perhaps crashing through the thatched roof of some Chinese fisherman's hut, or crush beneath its huge mass the form of some native peasant Fissure after tissue appeared in the sides of the mountains, and here and there in tfie valleys there came a great yawning chasm on the elevated plains of Kediri and Bandong. The showers of stones, mud and-lava were not so frequent as in the lowest portions of the island, but were still quite destructive Much of the northern portion of the island, which was covered with traces of forest,was soon m one great blaze of flame. The red hot vomiting from the craters had set the trees on fire, and as the grants of the woods fell one after another like so many sheaves of wheat before a gale, the scene was one of awful grandeur. aS the eruptions increased in frequency and violence the disturbance of the water surrounding the barren coast became more and more violent Here the waves rushed with terrific force up the steep, rocky incline, breaking upon the overhanging crags and receding rapidly leaving a lava flew cooled just at the moment when it was about to fa 1 over a prec pice and there remaining, quickly hardened by contact with the waters ana forming a distinct strata of black and bright, red, purple, and brown lava, all thrown about in the most eccentric manner, while huge peaks of basalt rose at frequent intervals. Then the waves came whelming over a marshy plain along the shore, suddenly engulfing a hamlet of fisnermen’s rude houses, and, turning suddenly back, swept away almost every vestige of what had a moment before been a scene of bustling activity, where family after family had been rushing around in the vain endeavor to save tueir effects itnd get away with their fives from the awful combination of elements threatening them. What a tew hours before were fertile valleys, covered with flourishing plantations of cotiee, rice, sugar, indigo, or tobacco, the staples of the island, were soon but mud, stone and lava-covered fields of destruction and ruin. Probably not a single crop of Java will be saved. At the entrance to Batavia was a large group of houses extending along the shore and occupied by Chinamen. This portion of the c.ty was entirely swept away, and of the 25.U10 Chinese who lived on the swampy plain, it is hardly probable that moi*e than 5,000 managed to save their livea They stuck to their homes till the waves that washed them away came, fearing the torrents of the flame and lava of the interior more than the torrent of water from the exterior. , The population of Europeans and Americans in Batavia suffered a loss of perhaps 830 souls out of the 3.500 whites living there. Many of the bazaars in the higher portions of the city were demolished, and it is impossible so make any estimate ot the great pecuniary lo a The Exchange and the Military Hospital suffered great damage at Anjer. The European and American quarter was first overwhelmed by rocks, mud. and lava from the craters, and then the waters came up and swallowed the ruins, leaving nothing to mark the site, and causing the loss of somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 lives of the inhabitants, and those who had tried to find a refuge there. Bantam, once a prosperous and flourishing native city, but practically abandoned many years ago, was entirely covered several times by the waters, and there must have been from 1,200 to 1,500 people drowned. The island of Serang, just off the coast was completely inundated, and not a soul remains to tell the tale of disaster and death. At Cheribon .there was no great flood of waters, but the loss es life and property by the failing of rocks and the flow of lava must have been very considerable. Burten-

xorg suffered very seriously, as did Samarang. Johjokurta, Surakerta and Suraboya, while the meager reports from the leaser towns indicate that their lorn was great in iroportion. The Thousand Temp.es, -at Brambaram, were very much damaged, and some of them totally destroyed. Borne ot the towers of the noted Temple of Borabrodo were crushed, by huge falling rocks While there can be no accurate estimate formed at present of the loss of life, it must be apparent "when it is considered that the island has a population of over 17,000,OUO people, that the death list will foot far up into the thousands. At the last advices the eruptions were still continuing, although their violence had abated somewhat, and it is feared that the end of the disaster will show it to have been one of the most frightful ever known in the history of volcanic eruptions. The Island of Java, the “American Encyclopedia’’ tells us is one of the moat densely populated countries in the world. It is the most important colonial possession of the Netherlands in the East Indies, and the most fertile and prosperous tropical island on the earth. The inhabitants are almost entirely occupied in agriculture, coffee being the chief product. The length of the island is 666 miles, its breadth varying from fifty-five to 136 miles. The population in 1872 was 17,298,206, being 837 persons to the square mile. Of these, 28,926 were Euro.peans, 185,768 Chinese, and 22,032 Arabs and other foreign Orientals, Batavia, the chief city and metropolis of the island, has a population of 100,000. It has a stadt house, exchange, hospital. numerous churches, a morgue, a gymnasium, several Chinese temples, a botanical garden and street railways. The harbor forms an open but small roadstead of great beauty, and may be entered by the largest vessels. Batavia Is the great commercial emporium of the Malay Archipelago and absorbs by far the greatest part of the trade of Java and Madura. The exports consist mostly of coffee, sugar, indigo, hides, cloves, nutmegs, mace, tea, rice, rattans and arrack. The geological formation of the Island of Java, is highly volcanic. A range of mountains runs from one of the islands to the other, with peaks ranging in helghtfrom 4,000 to 12,000 feet. Among these peiks are thirty-eight volcanos, some of which are in constant activity. The most remarkable of these is in the Tenger mountains, in the east part of the island. The crater la more than 1.000 feet below the highest point of the mountain. Lis said to be the largest crater in the world. A volcano in this range threw out in a single night, in 1772, ashen and scoriae spreading over an area of seven miles radius a layer fifty feet thick, destroying forty villages and 3,000 fives. A few miles northeast of this, on the Bth of July, 1822, a volcano destroyed everything within a radius of twenty miles. Five days later a second eruption followed, and. the total loss of life in both was 20,000 persons. In 1843, Mount Gunter flung forth ashes and. sand to the extent of 30,000.000 of tons. In 1867, an earthquake caused the death of over a thousand people in the town of Jokjokurta aloneIn 1878, there were sixteen different earthquakes on the Island, and in each of the succeeding years there were several shocks.