Wonders of Creation: A Descriptive Account of Volcanoes and Their Phenomena

by Anonymous

CHAPTER VI.

Peak of Teneriffe—Its Crater—Eruption of Chahorra—Palma—Great
Caldera—Lancerote—Great Eruption—Sudden Death—Fuego, Cape de
Verde Islands—Cotopaxi—Its Appearance—Great Eruptive
Force—Tunguragua—Great Eruption of Mud and Water—Fish thrown
out—Quito—Its Overthrow—Pichinca—Humboldt's Ascent—Narrow
Escape—Antisana—Sangay—Rancagua—Chillan—Masaya

The Island of Teneriffe is celebrated for its magnificent snow-clad peak. On referring to the woodcut of this volcano at page 11, you will observe in what a sharp point the cone terminates, and how slender is the column of vapour at its summit. The crater at the top is comparatively small—its greatest diameter being 300, and its smallest 200 feet, while its depth is only about 100 feet. From this crater there has been no eruption since 1706, when the finest harbour in the island was destroyed. But from the side of the peak there rises a supplementary mountain named Chahorra, on the top of which there is also a crater, whence there was an eruption in 1798. So great was its violence, that masses of rock were thrown to a height of upwards of 3000 feet. In the neighbouring island of Palma there is a volcanic crater named the Great Caldera, whose depth is said to be upwards of 5000 feet.

Almost due east of Palma, and much nearer the African coast, lies the Island of Lancerote, on which are a great many volcanic cones, arranged nearly in a straight line. These were for the most part formed by a long series of eruptions which took place during the years from 1730 to 1736. Such immense quantities of lava were poured forth in the course of those six years, that about a third of the surface of the island was covered by them, and many towns and villages were destroyed. St. Catalina, a populous and thriving town, was first overflowed by a lava-stream, and then a new crater burst forth on its very site, raising over it a hill 400 feet high. All the cattle in the island fell down dead in one day, and nearly about the same time—they were suffocated by deadly vapours that rose from the ground. The volcanic activity of this island was renewed in August 1824, when there was formed, near the port of Rescif, a new crater, which vomited forth such quantities of stones, ashes, and other volcanic matters, that in the short space of twenty-four hours they formed a hill of considerable height.

The Cape de Verde Islands, lying to the south-westward of the Canaries, are also volcanic. In 1847 a volcano named Fuego, situated in one of them, after remaining at rest about fifty years, burst into fresh activity. No less than seven new vents were formed; and from these were poured forth great streams of lava, which wrought immense damage in the cultivated parts of the island. The inhabitants sustained great loss by the destruction of their cattle and crops.

Passing over to the South American continent, we come to the range of the Andes, which contains numerous volcanoes. Among these the most conspicuous is Cotopaxi, the highest volcano in the world, situated in the territory of Quito. So perfect is the form of the cone, that it looks as if it had been turned in a lathe. Its coating of snow gives it a dazzling appearance, and so sharply is the snow-line defined that it seems almost as if the volcano-king wore a white night-cap instead of a crown.

The eruptions of this mountain are rare. One of the greatest of them lasted for three years, and desolated an immense extent of country with floods of lava. On this occasion, it is said, columns of fire rose to the height of nearly 5000 feet, so great was the energy of the volcanic force.

A little to the southward of Cotopaxi, but concealed from it by the intervening mass of Chimborazo, lies the volcano of Tunguragua, from which there was an extraordinary eruption in the year 1797, that proved very destructive to the cities in its neighbourhood. Indeed, so terrible was the convulsion of the ground, which lasted four minutes, that the cities of Riobamba and Quero were reduced to heaps of ruins. Then the base of Tunguragua was rent, and from numerous apertures there were poured out streams of water and mud, the latter gathering in the valleys to the depth of 600 feet. This mud spread itself far and wide, blocking up the channels of rivers, and forming lakes, which remained upwards of two months. But, strangest of all, quantities of dead fishes were found in the water which burst from the volcano. These fishes are supposed to have been bred in subterranean lakes contained in caverns in the interior of the mountain, considerably removed from the volcanic fires in the centre. It is probable that, when the rent was formed near the base, one of those caverns was broken open, and that the waters from it were discharged along with their finny inhabitants.

Here is a picture of one of those fishes, which was taken by Baron Humboldt. When you see what a queer-looking fish it is, you will wonder the less at its having chosen so strange an abode.

[Illustration: Pimelodus Cyclopum]

Quito, the capital of the province of that name, is the highest of cities—being situated at an elevation of between nine and ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is built on a plain, lying on the flanks of the volcano Pichinca, of which a view is given in the annexed woodcut. Poor Quito has suffered severely from this dangerous neighbourhood; for, on the 22nd of March 1859, a violent shaking of the mountain laid the whole city in ruins.

Pichinca, you will observe, has a most irregular outline, but very graceful withal. Instead of a single cone like Cotopaxi, it has a group of cones, some of which are very pointed. It has four principal summits, of which the most southerly contains the active crater. Here the celebrated traveller Baron Humboldt nearly lost his life. Having ascended the cone and approached the edge of the crater, he peered into the depths of the dark abyss, and there beheld the glowing lava boiling as if in a huge caldron. A thick mist coming on, he unwarily advanced to within a few feet of the rapid slope descending into the crater, and was within an ace of toppling over into the fiery gulf beneath. What a pity it would have been had he fallen in! We should have had no "Personal Narrative," no "Cosmos."

[Illustration: Pichinca]

There are in this region of South America other two great volcanoes, named Antisana and Sangay. The former has not been in action since 1718, but is remarkable for the immense beds of lava which it has amassed around it during its former eruptions. Sangay, again, has ever since 1728 been in a state of almost perpetual activity—in this respect resembling Stromboli, which, however, it far exceeds in height, its summit being nearly 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. The eruptions of this mountain are accompanied by loud explosions, which are heard at great distances, and they succeed each other with immense rapidity. The fumes emitted are sometimes gray, sometimes orange; and the matters ejected are cinders, dross, and spherical masses of stone. These last are often two feet in diameter, and in strong explosions as many as sixty of them may be thrown out at a time. They are glowing at a white heat, and for the most part they fall back into the vent of the crater. Sometimes, however, they alight on the edge of the cone—imparting to it a temporary brilliancy; but the mass of the cone, being composed of loose black cinders, has a most dismal aspect.

Another very active South American volcano is Rancagua in Chili. It is, however, of moderate height, and thus in its general character resembles Stromboli, which it rivals in restlessness. Another of the volcanoes of Chili, named Chillan, which had long been in a state of repose, renewed its activity in November 1864. Its usually snow-clad summit became covered in a short time with a thick layer of volcanic ashes, which greatly altered its appearance. Streams of lava were also thrown out by the mountain on this occasion.

There are several volcanoes in Central America. One of them, named Masaya, was very active during the sixteenth century. It is situated near the lake of Nicaragua, in the territory of that name. It was visited in 1529 by the Spanish historian Gonzales Fernando de Oviedo, from whose description it seems to have presented phenomena resembling those seen in the crater of Stromboli. "In its ordinary state," he says, "the surface of the lava, in the midst of which black scoriae are continually floating, remains several hundred feet below the edges of the water. But sometimes there is suddenly produced an ebullition so violent, that the lava rises almost to the very brim."