PART VI.
SPECIAL VOLCANIC AND SEISMIC PHENOMENA.
CHAPTER I.
THE ERUPTION OF KRAKATOA IN 1883.
I propose to introduce here some account of one of the most terrible outbursts of volcanic action that have taken place in modern times; namely, the eruption of the volcano of Krakatoa (a corruption of Rakata) in the strait of Sunda, between the islands of Sumatra and Java, in the year 1883. The Malay Archipelago, of which this island once formed a member, is a region where volcanic action is constant, and where the outbursts are exceptionally violent. With the great island of Borneo as a solid, non-volcanic central core, a line of volcanic islands extends from Chedooba off the coast of Pegu through Sumatra, Java, Sumbawa, Flores, and, reaching the Moluccas, stretches northwards through the Philippines into Japan and Kamtschatka. This is probably the most active volcanic belt in the world, and the recent terrible earthquake and eruption in Japan (November, 1891) gives proof that the volcanic forces are as powerful and destructive as ever.[1]
(a.) Dormant Condition down to 1680.—Down to the year 1680, this island, although from its form and structure evidently volcanic, appears to have been in a dormant state; its sides were covered with luxuriant forests, and numerous habitations dotted its shore. But in May of that year an eruption occurred, owing to which the aspect of Krakatoa as described by Vogel was entirely changed; the surface of the island when this writer passed on his voyage to Sumatra appeared burnt up and arid, while blocks of incandescent rock were being hurled into the air from four distinct points. After this first recorded eruption the island relapsed into a state of repose, and except for a stream of molten lava which issued from the northern extremity, there was no evidence of its dangerous condition. The luxuriant vegetation of the tropics speedily re-established itself, and the volcano was generally regarded as "extinct."[2] History repeats itself; and the history of Vesuvius was repeated in the case of Krakatoa.
