Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1883 — THE NEWS CONDENSED. [ARTICLE]

THE NEWS CONDENSED.

THE lAVA HORROR. The Greatest Disaster of Modorn Times—--75,000 People Perish 1b Bearing Wares. Seething Fire, or Snlphfroos Ashes. The greet volcanic eruption In Jars and the adjacent islands overtops in horror all the other calamities of this calamitous year, and in fts extent la unquestionably one of tho moot majestic as well as terrible manifestations of Mature known In modem times. London dispatches of tho 30th nit Are tho following additional details of the awful horror: Further particulars of the great volcanic eruption in Java which have lust reached here from Batavia show that the disaster eras even more widespread and disastrous than was reported. At norm Sunday the eruptions and shooks were supposed to have reached their heig.it, bnt late in the afternoon and in the evening the violence of the disturbance suddenly increased, and the island seemed to he about to be completely burled in lire and sulphurous ashes. At the same time enormous waves began to dash with great force upon the ohSres, coming In some plaess far np Into tho Interior, and great chssms opened in the earth and threatened to ingulf a large proporSos the people and buildings. About ght the most frightful scene of >k place. Suddenly enormous luminous l formed over the Ksndang range of mountains which skirt the southeast of the island. This oloud gradually increased In size until it formed a canopy of lurid red and whitish gray over a wide extent of territory. During this time the eruptions Increased, and streams of lava poured lnoessantly down the sides of the mountains into the valleys, sweeping everything before them. Here and there a stream of lava would enter an arm of the sea or come in contact with the water of a river. Then the. incandescent lava would suddenly produce boiling heat and rapid vaporization, but the superficial consolidation that almost instantly ensued wouldprevent any further contact with the water. The fissures that opened in this, their crust, as it solidified on the stream of lava, emitted torrents of. vapor extending high in the air aud making a tremendous seething sound, as if a thousand locomotives were simultaneously letting oIT steam. One of the most singular freaks of the eruption was the carrying in the midst of the molten lava of a bed of solid ice of enormous size which had been emitted from one of the craters. It was carried along by the current and landed on the extremity of point St. Nicholas, at the northeast corner of the island. The bed of ice was surrounded by a thick envelop of sand and scoriae, which are non-conductors of heat. It is supposed this ice had formed the cruet of some subterranean lake.

About 2 o'clock on Monday morning the great cloud suddenly broke into email sections and vanished. At the same time frightful rumblings were heard, and the columns of fire and smoke over the southeast corner of the Island ceased to ascend, while the craters in other parts of Java seemed to open their fiery throats still wider to let out the greatest quantity of lava, rocks, pumioe and ashes yet vomited forth. The hissing of the sea became so loud as to be almost deafening. The waves rushed up on the shore to an unprecedented height. When daylight came it was seen that an enormous traot of land had disappeared, covering an extent ot territory about fifty miles square. This section of the Island was not so densely populated as the other portions, and the loss of life was comparatively Bmall, although it must have aggregated fully 16,000 souls. The •ntire Kandang range of mountains, extending along the ooaet in a semi-circle for about sixtyfive miles, had gone out of sight. The waters of Weloome bay, the Sunda straits, and Pepper bay, on the east end of the Indian ocean, on the south, had rushed in and formed a sea of turbulent waters. The debris of the submerged and destroyed buildings was tossed hither' and thither on the water—the only sign left that there had once been inhabited land there. The town of Tanerang, within twenty-five miles of the city of Batavia, was swept awav by • lava streak, and fully half of the population, mostly, Javanese, numbering about 1,800, perished. At Speelwyk, near Point Salcis, the redhot rocks set fire to houses and swept away all the thickly-settled portion of the town. The river Jacatra, at the banks of which Batavia is situated, was so completely dammed by lava and debris that its course was changed. Flgellnlcnlg, was almost totally destroyed, and a large number of lives were lost there. The Island of Onius, five miles off the mouth of the Targerang river, and twenty miles east of Batavia, was oompletely inundated. Coataye, Claps and Tronwers islands, off the portion of Java which disappeared, are out of sight, and pot a vestige of them Is left. The aggregate loss of life must be fully 75,000, but the number of those who perished can never, of course, be aocuratelv known.

A London dispatch of the 31st nit says that after the sndden subsidence of the disturbance in the kingdom of Bantam, on Monday, the eruptions seemed to lose their force for a time, and the people of Batavia experienced a feeling of relief in the hope that the worst had been passed. The quieter conditions continued Until about 10 o’clock, when the craters once more began to send np great masses of destructive matter, although without the force of the former actions. The eruptions seemed to be more violent at night than during the dav. By 11 o’clock the Papandaylng, which is 7,034 feet high, was in a very active state of paroxysmal eruption. It was aooompanled by detonations said to have been heard many miles sway in Sumatra Three distinct columns of flame were seen to rise from the mountain to a vast height, and itH whole surface soon appeared as if covered with fiery lava streams, which spread to great distances on all sides. Stones fell for miles around, and the black fragmentary matter carried into the air caused total darkness. A whirlwind accompanied this eruption, by which house-roofs, trees and men and hortes were carried into the air. The quantity of ashes ejected was such as to cover the ground and roofs of houses at Denamo to the depth of several inches. Off Point Caay the floating pumioe on the sea formed a layer two feet thick, through which vessels forced their way with great difficulty. The rise of vapor produced the appearance of a column several thousand feet high, based on the edge of the crater. It appeared from a distance to consist of a mass of Innumerable globular clouds of extreme whiteness, resembling vast balls of cotton rolling one over the other as they ascended, Impelled by the presence of fresh supplies inoes•antly urged upward by the continued explosion. At a great height the column dilated horizontally, and spread into a dark and turbid circular cloud shaped like an Immense unbrella. Forked lightning of great vividness and beauty continually darted from different parts of the clouds. Suddenly the scene was changed. The mountain was split into seven parts without a moment's warning, and where Papandaylng had stood alone there were now seven distinct peaks looming np to a great height. In the seams opened could he seen great balls of molten matter. From the fissures poured clouds 4ft steam, and the black ejected laplllo flowed In steady streams and ran slowly down the mountain sides, forming beds 300 or 300 teet in extent. Exhalations of carbonic-acid .fas were so abundant that birds and animals large nnmbers were killed by It, and a few Homan beings lost their lives in the same way. This proved to be the turning point In the tornptfon, for the great fissures opened seemed to act as safety valves through which the .streams of lava gently flowed down Into the ▼alleys. The volcanic fires, though still burning at lest advices, had lost most of their fierceness, and the steam generated found vent without being forced through the comparative narrow months of the old craters. One of the queer Incidents was the sudden rising daring Tuesday forenoon of fourteen new volcanic mountains in the strait of Bnnda, forming a oomplete chain in almost a straight line between Point Bt. Nicholas on thf Javanese coast, and Hogs Point, on the coast of Sumatra, almost on the tops of what had been the Merak and Middle Islandß, which sank Into the. sqa on Monday. The scene on the island of Java when the sun dawned yesterday morning was beyond description. The worst horrors seem to have so far surpassed all comprehension that the ifillzens of Java and surrounding isjajidp ac;

Oueffhy the magnitude oT shes? nflrtbrtnndl and are helpless in the lace of the moat terrible calamity known to history. The number of the dead seems to be even greater than was at first reported. Indeed, many in Batavia think that the victims wfll number nearly 100,00 a The extent of the horror will never be fully known.