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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The San Francisco Calamity, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The San Francisco Calamity
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Charles Morris
+
+Release Date: May 3, 2006 [EBook #1560]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SAN FRANCISCO CALAMITY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SAN FRANCISCO CALAMITY BY EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE
+
+
+A Complete and Accurate Account of the Fearful Disaster which
+Visited the Great City and the Pacific Coast, the Reign of Panic and
+Lawlessness, the Plight of 300,000 Homeless People and the World-wide
+Rush to the Rescue.
+
+TOLD BY EYE WITNESSES
+
+INCLUDING GRAPHIC AND RELIABLE ACCOUNTS OF ALL GREAT EARTHQUAKES AND
+VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY, AND SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS
+OF THEIR CAUSES.
+
+
+
+EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS, LL. D.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Earthquake and famine, fire and sudden death--these are the destroyers
+that men fear when they come singly; but upon the unhappy people of
+California they came together, a hideous quartette, to slay human
+beings, to blot from existence the wealth that represented prolonged and
+strenuous effort, to bring hunger and speechless misery to three hundred
+thousand homeless and terror-stricken people.
+
+The full measure of the catastrophe can probably never be taken. The
+summary cannot be made amid the panic, the confusion, the removal of
+ancient landmarks, the complete subversion of the ordinary machinery
+of society. When chaos comes, as it did in San Francisco, and all the
+channels of familiar life are closed, and human anguish grows to be
+intolerable, compilation of statistics is impossible, even if it were
+not repugnant to the feelings. And when order is once more restored,
+after the lapse of many weeks, months and perhaps years, the details of
+the calamity have merged into one undecipherable mass of misery which
+defies the analyst and the historian. It is the purpose of this book
+faithfully to record the story of these awful days when years were lived
+in a moment and to preserve an accurate chronicle of them, not only
+for the people whose hearts yearn in sympathy to-day, but for their
+posterity.
+
+Other frightful catastrophes the world has known. The earthquake which
+dropped Lisbon into the sea in 1755, and in a moment swallowed up
+twenty-five thousand people, was perhaps more awful than the convulsion
+which has brought woe to San Francisco. When Krakatoa Mountain, in the
+Straits of Sunda, in 1883, split asunder and poured across the land a
+mighty wave, in which thirty-six thousand human beings perished, the
+results also were more terrible.
+
+The whirlwind of fire which consumed St. Pierre, in the Island of
+Martinique, and the devastation wrought by Vesuvius a few days previous
+to that at San Francisco, need not be used for comparison with the
+latter tragedy, but they may be referred to, that we may recall the fact
+that this land of ours is not the only one which has suffered.
+
+But since the western hemisphere was discovered there has been in this
+quarter of the globe no violence of natural forces at all comparable in
+destructive fury with that which was manifested upon the Pacific coast.
+The only other calamity at all equalling it, or surpassing it, was the
+Civil War, and that was the work of the evil passions of man inciting
+him to slay his brother, while Nature would have had him live in peace.
+
+The earthquake in San Francisco, which crumbled strong buildings as if
+they were made of paper, would have been terrible enough; but afterward
+came the horror of fire and of imprisoned men and women burned alive,
+and now to it was added the suffering of multitudes from hunger and
+exposure.
+
+Public attention is fixed on the great city; but smaller cities had
+their days and nights of destruction, horror and misery. Some were
+almost destroyed. Others were partly ruined, and beyond their borders,
+over a wide area, the trembling of the earth toppled houses, annihilated
+property and transformed riches into poverty. The cost in life can be
+reckoned. The money loss will never be computed, for the appraised value
+of the wrecked property conveys no notion of the consequences of the
+almost complete paralysis, for a time, of the commercial operations by
+means of which men and women earn their bread.
+
+When the weakness and the folly and the sin of men bring woe upon other
+men, there are plenty of texts for the preacher and no scarcity of
+earnest preachers. But here is a vast and awful catastrophe that
+befell from an act of Nature apparently no more extraordinary than the
+shrinkage of hot metal in the process of cooling. The consequences are
+terrifying in this case because they involve the habitations of half a
+million people; but, no doubt, the process goes on somewhere within
+the earth almost continuously, and it no more involves the theory of
+malignant Nature than that of an angry God.
+
+If we contemplate it, possibly we may be helped to a profitable estimate
+of our own relative insignificance. We think, with some notion of our
+importance, of the thousand million men who live upon the earth; but
+they are a mere handful of animate atoms in comparison with the surface,
+to say nothing of the solid contents, of the globe itself.
+
+We are fond of boasting in this latter day of man's marvelous success
+in subduing the forces of Nature; and, while we are in the midst of
+exultation over our victories, Nature tumbles the rocks about somewhere
+within the bowels of the earth, and we have to learn the old lesson that
+our triumphs have not penetrated farther than to the very outermost rim
+of the realms of Nature.
+
+A few weak, almost helpless, creatures, we millions of men stand upon
+the deck of a great ship, which goes rolling through space that is
+itself incomprehensible, and usually we are so busy with our paltry
+ambitions, our transgressions, our righteous labors, our prides and
+hopes and entanglements that we forget where we are and what is our
+destiny. A direct interposition from a Superior Power, even if it
+be hurtful to the body, might be required to persuade us to stop and
+consider and take anew our bearings, so that we may comprehend in some
+larger degree our precise relations to things. The wisest men have
+been the most ready to recognize the beneficence of the discipline of
+affliction. If there were no sorrow, we should be likely to find the
+school of life unprofitable.
+
+For one thing, the school wherein sorrow is a part of the discipline is
+that in which is developed human sympathy, one of the finest and most
+ennobling manifestations of the Love which is, in its essence, divine.
+In human life there is much that is ignoble, and the race has almost
+contemptible weakness and insignificance in comparison with the physical
+forces of the universe.
+
+But man is superior to all these forces in his possession of the power
+of affection; and in almost the lowest and basest of the race this
+power, if latent and half lost, may be found and evoked by the spectacle
+of the suffering of a fellow-creature.
+
+The human family looks on with pity while the homeless and hungry and
+impoverished Californians endure pangs. Wherever the news went, by
+the swift processes of electricity, there men and women, some of them,
+perhaps, hardly knowing where California is, were sorry and willing
+and eager to help. There are quarrels within the family sometimes, when
+nation wars with nation, and all love seems to have vanished; but the
+world is, in truth, akin. "God hath made of one blood all the nations of
+the earth," and the blood "tells" when suffering comes.
+
+THE PUBLISHERS.
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SAN FRANCISCO AND ITS TERRIFIC EARTHQUAKE
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE DEMON OF FIRE INVADES THE STRICKEN CITY
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+FIGHTING FLAMES WITH DYNAMITE
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE REIGN OF DESTRUCTION AND DEVASTATION
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE PANIC FLIGHT OF A HOMELESS HOST
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FACING FAMINE AND PRAYING FOR RELIEF
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE FRIGHTFUL LOSS OF LIFE AND WEALTH
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+WONDERFUL RECORD OF THRILLING ESCAPES
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DISASTER SPREADS OVER THE GOLDEN STATE
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ALL AMERICA AND CANADA TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE SAN FRANCISCO OF THE PAST
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS OF THE PACIFIC
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PLANS TO REBUILD SAN FRANCISCO
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE EARTHQUAKE WAVE FELT AROUND THE WORLD
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+VESUVIUS DEVASTATES THE REGION OF NAPLES
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE GREAT LISBON AND CALABRIAN EARTHQUAKES
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE CHARLESTON AND OTHER EARTHQUAKES OF THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE VOLCANO AND THE EARTHQUAKE, EARTH'S DEMONS OF DESTRUCTION
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE THEORIES OF VOLCANIC AND EARTHQUAKE ACTION
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE ACTIVE VOLCANOES OF THE EARTH
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE FAMOUS VESUVIUS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ERUPTIONS OF VESUVIUS, ETNA AND STROMBOLI
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SKAPTER JOKULL AND HECLA, THE GREAT ICELANDIC VOLCANOES
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+VOLCANOES OF THE PHILIPPINES AND OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE WONDERFUL HAWAIIAN CRATERS AND KILAUEA'S LAKE OF FIRE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+POPOCATEPETL AND OTHER VOLCANOES OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE TERRIBLE ERUPTION OF KRAKATOA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+MONT PELEE AND ITS HARVEST OF DEATH IN 1902
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+ST. VINCENT ISLAND AND MONT SOUFRIERE IN 1812
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+SUBMARINE VOLCANOES AND THEIR WORK OF ISLAND-BUILDING
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+MUD VOLCANOES, GEYSERS AND HOT SPRINGS
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SAN FRANCISCO CALAMITY BY EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+San Francisco and Its Terrific Earthquake.
+
+
+On the splendid Bay of San Francisco, one of the noblest harbors on the
+whole vast range of the Pacific Ocean, long has stood, like a Queen of
+the West on its seven hills, the beautiful city of San Francisco, the
+youngest and in its own way one of the most beautiful and attractive of
+the large cities of the United States. Born less than sixty years ago,
+it has grown with the healthy rapidity of a young giant, outvieing many
+cities of much earlier origin, until it has won rank as the eighth city
+of the United States, and as the unquestioned metropolis of our far
+Western States.
+
+It is on this great and rich city that the dark demon of destruction has
+now descended, as it fell on the next younger of our cities, Chicago, in
+1872. It was the rage of the fire-fiend that desolated the metropolis
+of the lakes. Upon the Queen City of the West the twin terrors of
+earthquake and conflagration have descended at once, careening through
+its thronged streets, its marts of trade, and its abodes alike of
+poverty and wealth, and with the red hand of devastation sweeping one
+of the noblest centres of human industry and enterprise from the face of
+the earth. It is this story of almost irremediable ruin which it is our
+unwelcome duty to chronicle. But before entering upon this sorrowful
+task some description of the city that has fallen a prey to two of the
+earth's chief agents of destruction must be given.
+
+San Francisco is built on the end of a peninsula or tongue of land lying
+between the Pacific Ocean and the broad San Francisco Bay, a noble body
+of inland water extending southward for about forty miles and with a
+width varying from six to twelve miles. Northward this splendid body of
+water is connected with San Pablo Bay, ten miles long, and the latter
+with Suisun Bay, eight miles long, the whole forming a grand range of
+navigable waters only surpassed by the great northern inlet of Puget
+Sound. The Golden Gate, a channel five miles long, connects this
+great harbor with the sea, the whole giving San Francisco the greatest
+commercial advantages to be found on the Pacific coast.
+
+
+THE EARLY DAYS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+
+The original site of the city was a grant made by the King of Spain of
+four square leagues of land. Congress afterwards confirmed this grant.
+It was an uninviting region, with its two lofty hills and its various
+lower ones, a barren expanse of shifting sand dunes extending from their
+feet. The population in 1830 was about 200 souls, about equal to that
+of Chicago at the same date. It was not much larger in 1848, when
+California fell into American hands and the discovery of gold set in
+train the famous rush of treasure seekers to that far land. When 1849
+dawned the town contained about 2,000 people. They had increased to
+20,000 before the year ended. The place, with its steep and barren hills
+and its sandy stretches, was not inviting, but its ease of access to the
+sea and its sheltered harbor were important features, and people settled
+there, making it a depot of mining supplies and a point of departure for
+the mines.
+
+The place grew rapidly and has continued to grow. At first a city of
+flimsy frame buildings, it became early a prey to the flames, fire
+sweeping through it three times in 1850 and taking toll of the young
+city to the value of $7,500,000. These conflagrations swept away most of
+the wooden houses, and business men began to build more substantially
+of brick, stone and iron. Yet to-day, for climatic reasons, most of the
+residences continue to be built of wood. But the slow-burning redwood
+of the California hillsides is used instead of the inflammable pine, the
+result being that since 1850 the loss by fire in the residence section
+of the city has been remarkably small. In 1900 the city contained 50,494
+frame and only 3,881 stone and brick buildings, though the tendency to
+use more durable materials was then growing rapidly.
+
+Before describing the terrible calamity which fell upon this beautiful
+city on that dread morning of April 18, 1906, some account of the
+character of the place is very desirable, that readers may know what San
+Francisco was before the rage of earthquake and fire reduced it to what
+it is to-day.
+
+
+THE CHARACTER OF THE CITY.
+
+
+The site of the city of San Francisco is very uneven, embracing a series
+of hills, of which the highest ones, known as the Twin Peaks, reach to
+an elevation of 925 feet, and form the crown of an amphitheatre of lower
+altitudes. Several of the latter are covered with handsome residences,
+and afford a magnificent view of the surrounding country, with its
+bordering bay and ocean, and the noble Golden Gate channel, a river-like
+passage from ocean to bay of five miles in length and one in width. This
+waterway is very deep except on the bar at its mouth, where the depth of
+water is thirty feet.
+
+Since its early days the growth of the city has been very rapid. In 1900
+it held 342,782 people, and the census estimate made from figures of the
+city directory in 1904 gave it then a population of 485,000, probably
+a considerable exaggeration. In it are mingled inhabitants from most
+of the nations of the earth, and it may claim the unenviable honor of
+possessing the largest population of Chinese outside of China itself,
+the colony numbering over 20,000.
+
+Of the pioneer San Francisco few traces remain, the old buildings having
+nearly all disappeared. Large and costly business houses and splendid
+residences have taken their place in the central portion of the city,
+marble, granite, terra-cotta, iron and steel being largely used as
+building material. The great prevalence of frame buildings in the
+residence sections is largely due to the popular belief that they
+are safer in a locality subject to earthquakes, while the frequent
+occurrence of earth tremors long restrained the inclination to erect
+lofty buildings. Not until 1890 was a high structure built, and few
+skyscrapers had invaded the city up to its day of ruin. They will
+probably be introduced more frequently in the future, recent experience
+having demonstrated that they are in considerable measure earthquake
+proof.
+
+The city before the fire contained numerous handsome structures,
+including the famous old Palace Hotel, built at a cost of $3,000,000 and
+with accommodations for 1,200 guests; the nearly finished and splendid
+Fairmount Hotel; the City Hall, with its lofty dome, on which $7,000,000
+is said to have been spent, much of it, doubtless, political plunder;
+a costly United States Mint and Post Office, an Academy of Science, and
+many churches, colleges, libraries and other public edifices. The city
+had 220 miles of paved streets, 180 miles of electric and 77 of cable
+railway, 62 hotels, 16 theatres, 4 large libraries, 5 daily newspapers,
+etc., together with 28 public parks.
+
+Sitting, like Rome of old, on its seven hills, San Francisco has long
+been noted for its beautiful site, clasped in, as it is, between the
+Pacific Ocean and its own splendid bay, on a peninsula of some five
+miles in width. Where this juts into the bay at its northernmost point
+rises a great promontory known as Telegraph Hill, from whose height
+homeless thousands have recently gazed on the smoke rising from their
+ruined homes. In the early days of golden promise a watchman was
+stationed on this hill to look out for coming ships entering the Golden
+Gate from their long voyage around the Horn and signal the welcome news
+to the town below. From this came its name.
+
+Cliffs rise on either side of the Golden Gate, and on one is perched the
+Cliff House, long a famous hostelry. This stands so low that in storms
+the surf is flung over its lower porticos, though its force is broken
+by the Seal Rocks. A chief attraction to this house was to see the seals
+play on these rocks, their favorite place of resort. The Cliff House was
+at first said to have been swept bodily by the earthquake into the sea,
+but it proved to be very little injured, and stands erect in its old
+picturesque location.
+
+In the vicinity of Telegraph Hill are Russian and Nob Hills, the latter
+getting its peculiar title from the fact that the wealthy "nobs," or
+mining magnates, of bonanza days built their homes on its summit level.
+Farther to the east are Mount Olympus and Strawberry Hill, and beyond
+these the Twin Peaks, which really embrace three hills, the third being
+named Bernal Heights. Farther to the south and east is Rincan Hill, the
+last in the half moon crescent of hills, within which is a spread of
+flat ground extending to the bay. Behind the hills on the Pacific side
+stretches a vast sweep of sand, at some places level, but often gathered
+into great round dunes. Part of this has been transformed into the
+beautiful Golden Gate Park, a splendid expanse of green verdure which
+has long been one of San Francisco's chief attractions.
+
+Beneath the whole of San Francisco is a rock formation, but everywhere
+on top of this extends the sand, the gift of the winds. This is of such
+a character that a hole dug in the street anywhere, even if only to the
+depth of a few feet, must be shored up with planking or it will fill as
+fast as it is excavated, the sand running as dry as the contents of
+an hour glass. When there is an earthquake--or a "temblor," to use the
+Spanish name--it is the rock foundation that is disturbed, not the sand,
+which, indeed, serves to lessen the effect of the earth tremor.
+
+
+THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CITY.
+
+
+Leaving the region of the hills and descending from their
+crescent-shaped expanse, we find a broad extent of low ground, sloping
+gently toward the bay. On this low-lying flat was built all of San
+Francisco's business houses, all its principal hotels and a large part
+of its tenements and poorer dwellings. It was here that the earthquake
+was felt most severely and that the fire started which laid waste the
+city.
+
+Rarely has a city been built on such doubtful foundations. The greater
+part of the low ground was a bay in 1849, but it has since been filled
+in by the drifting sands blown from the ocean side by the prevailing
+west winds and by earth dumped into it. Much of this land was "made
+ground." Forty-niners still alive say that when they first saw San
+Francisco the waters of the bay came up to Montgomery Street. The Palace
+Hotel was in Montgomery Street, and from there to the ferry docks--a
+long walk for any man--the water had been driven back by a "filling-in"
+process.
+
+This is the district that especially suffered, that south of Market
+and east of Montgomery Streets. Nearly all the large buildings in this
+section are either built on piles driven into the sand and mud or were
+raised upon wooden foundations. It is on such ground as this that the
+costly Post Office building was erected, despite the protests of nearly
+the entire community, who asserted that the ground was nothing but a
+filled-in bog.
+
+In none of the earthquakes that San Francisco has had was any serious
+damage except to houses in this filled-in territory, and to houses built
+along the line of some of the many streams which ran from the hills down
+to the bay, and which were filled in as the town grew--for instance,
+the Grand Opera House was built over the bed of St. Anne's Creek. A bog,
+slough and marsh, known as the Pipeville Slough, was the ground on which
+the City Hall was built, and which was originally a burying ground. Sand
+from the western shore had blown over and drifted into the marsh and
+hardened its surface.
+
+When the final grading scheme of the city was adopted in 1853, and
+work went on, the water front of the city was where Clay Street now is,
+between Montgomery and Sansome Streets. The present level area of San
+Francisco of about three thousand acres is an average of nine feet
+above or below the natural surface of the ground and the changes made
+necessitated the transfer of 21,000,000 cubic yards from hills to
+hollows. Houses to the number of thousands were raised or lowered,
+street floors became subcellars or third stories and the whole natural
+face of the ground was altered.
+
+Through this infirm material all the pipes of the water and sewer system
+of San Francisco in its business districts and in most of the region
+south of Market street were laid. When the earthquake came, the
+filled-in ground shook like the jelly it is. The only firm and rigid
+material in its millions of cubic yards of surface area and depth were
+the iron pipes. Naturally they broke, as they would not bend, and San
+Francisco's water system was therefore instantly disabled, with the
+result that the fire became complete master of the situation and raged
+uncontrolled for three days and nights.
+
+Although the earthquake wrecked the business and residential portions
+of the city alike, on the hills the land did not sink. All "made ground"
+sank in consequence of the quaking, but on the high ground the upper
+parts of the buildings were about the only portions of the structures
+wrecked. Most of the damage on the hills was done by falling chimneys.
+On Montgomery Street, half a block from the main office of the Western
+Union Company, the middle of the street was cracked and blown up, but
+during the shocks which struck the Western Union building only the
+top stories were cracked. Similar phenomena were experienced in other
+localities, and the bulk of the disaster, so far as the earthquake was
+concerned, was confined to the low-lying region above described.
+
+
+THE BANE OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
+
+
+From the origin of San Francisco the earthquake has been its bane.
+During the past fifty years fully 250 shocks have been recorded, while
+all California has been subject to them. But frequency rather than
+violence of shocks has been the characteristic of the seismic history of
+the State, there having been few shocks that caused serious damage, and
+none since 1872 that led to loss of life.
+
+There was a violent shock in 1856, when the city was only a mining town
+of small frame buildings. Several shanties were overthrown and a few
+persons killed by falling walls and chimneys. There was a severe shock
+also in 1865, in which many buildings were shattered. Next in violence
+was the shock of 1872, which cracked the walls of some of the public
+buildings and caused a panic. There was no great loss of life. In April,
+1898, just before midnight, there was a lively shakeup which caused
+the tall buildings to shake like the snapping of a whip and drove the
+tourists out of the hotels into the streets in their nightclothes. Three
+or four old houses fell, and the Benicia Navy Yard, which is on made
+ground across the bay, was damaged to the extent of about $100,000. The
+last severe shock was in January, 1900, when the St. Nicholas Hotel was
+badly damaged.
+
+These were the heaviest shocks. On the other hand, light shocks, as
+above said, have been frequent. Probably the sensible quakes have
+averaged three or four a year. These are usually tremblings lasting from
+ten seconds to a minute and just heavy enough to wake light sleepers
+or to shake dishes about on the shelves. Tourists and newcomers are
+generally alarmed by these phenomena, but old Californians have
+learned to take them philosophically. To one who is not afraid of them,
+the sensation of one of these little tremblers is rather pleasant than
+otherwise, and the inhabitants grew so accustomed to them as rarely to
+let them disturb their equanimity.
+
+After 1900 the forces beneath the earth seemed to fall asleep. As it
+proved, they were only biding their time. The era was at hand when they
+were to declare themselves in all their mighty power and fall upon the
+devoted city with ruin in their grasp. But all this lay hidden in the
+secret casket of time, and the city kept up to its record as one of the
+liveliest and in many respects the most reckless and pleasure-loving
+on the continent, its people squandering their money with thoughtless
+improvidence and enjoying to the full all the good that life held out to
+them.
+
+On the 17th of April, 1906, the city was, as usual, gay, careless, busy,
+its people attending to business or pleasure with their ordinary vim as
+inclination led them, and not a soul dreaming of the horrors that lay in
+wait. They were as heedless of coming peril and death as the inhabitants
+of Sodom and Gomorrah before the rain of fire from heaven descended upon
+their devoted heads. This is not to say that they were doomed by God to
+destruction like these "cities of the plains." We should more wisely
+say that the forces of ruin within the earth take no heed of persons or
+places. They come and go as the conditions of nature demand, and if man
+has built one of his cities across their destined track, its doom comes
+from its situation, not from the moral state of its inhabitants.
+
+
+THE GREAT DISASTER OF 1906.
+
+
+That night the people went, with their wonted equanimity, to their beds,
+rich and poor, sick and well alike. Did any of them dream of disaster in
+the air? It may be so, for often, as the poet tells us, "Coming events
+cast their shadows before." But, forewarned by dreams or not, doubtless
+not a soul in the great city was prepared for the terrible event so
+near at hand, when, at thirteen minutes past five o'clock on the dread
+morning of the 18th, they felt their beds lifted beneath them as if by
+a Titan hand, heard the crash of falling walls and ceilings, and saw
+everything in their rooms tossed madly about, while through their
+windows came the roar of an awful disaster from the city without.
+
+It was a matter not of minutes, but of seconds, yet on all that coast,
+long the prey of the earthquake, no shock like it had ever been felt,
+no such sudden terror awakened, no such terrible loss occasioned as in
+those few fearful seconds. Again and again the trembling of the earth
+passed by, three quickly repeated shocks, and the work of the demon of
+ruin was done. People woke with a start to find themselves flung from
+their beds to the floor, many of them covered with the fragments of
+broken ceilings, many lost among the ruins of falling floors and walls,
+many pinned in agonizing suffering under the ruins of their houses,
+which had been utterly wrecked in those fatal seconds. Many there were,
+indeed, who had been flung to quick if not to instant death under their
+ruined homes.
+
+Those seconds of the reign of the elemental forces had turned the
+gayest, most careless city on the continent into a wreck which no words
+can fitly describe. Those able to move stumbled in wild panic across the
+floors of their heaving houses, regardless of clothing, of treasures, of
+everything but the mad instinct for safety, and rushed headlong into the
+streets, to find that the earth itself had yielded to the energy of its
+frightful interior forces and had in places been torn and rent like the
+houses themselves. New terrors assailed the fugitives as fresh tremors
+shook the solid ground, some of them strong enough to bring down
+shattered walls and chimneys, and bring back much of the mad terror of
+the first fearful quake. The heaviest of these came at eight o'clock.
+While less forcible than that which had caused the work of destruction,
+it added immensely to the panic and dread of the people and put many of
+the wanderers to flight, some toward the ferry, the great mass in the
+direction of the sand dunes and Golden Gate Park.
+
+The spectacle of the entire population of a great city thus roused
+suddenly from slumber by a fierce earthquake shock and sent flying into
+the streets in utter panic, where not buried under falling walls or
+tumbling debris, is one that can scarcely be pictured in words, and can
+be given in any approach to exact realization only in the narratives of
+those who passed through its horrors and experienced the sensations to
+which it gave rise. Some of the more vivid of these personal accounts
+will be presented later, but at present we must confine ourselves to a
+general statement of the succession of events.
+
+The earthquake proved but the beginning and much the least destructive
+part of the disaster. In many of the buildings there were fires, banked
+for the night, but ready to kindle the inflammable material hurled down
+upon them by the shock. In others were live electric wires which the
+shock brought in contact with woodwork. The terror-stricken fugitives
+saw, here and there, in all directions around them, the alarming vision
+of red flames curling upward and outward, in gleaming contrast to the
+white light of dawn just showing in the eastern sky. Those lurid gleams
+climbed upward in devouring haste, and before the sun had fairly risen
+a dozen or more conflagrations were visible in all sections of the
+business part of the city, and in places great buildings broke with
+startling suddenness into flame, which shot hotly high into the air.
+
+While the mass of the people were stunned by the awful suddenness of the
+disaster and stood rooted to the ground or wandered helplessly about in
+blank dismay, there were many alert and self-possessed among them who
+roused themselves quickly from their dismay and put their energies
+to useful work. Some of these gave themselves to the work of rescue,
+seeking to save the injured from their perilous situation and draw
+the bodies of the dead from the ruins under which they lay. Those base
+wretches to whom plunder is always the first thought were as quickly
+engaged in seeking for spoil in edifices laid open to their plundering
+hands by the shock. Meanwhile the glare of the flames brought the
+fire-fighters out in hot haste with their engines, and up from the
+military station at the Presidio, on the Golden Gate side of the city,
+came at double quick a force of soldiers, under the efficient command of
+General Funston, of Cuban and Philippine fame. These trained troops were
+at once put on guard over the city, with directions to keep the best
+order possible, and with strict command to shoot all looters at sight.
+Funston recognized at the start the necessity of keeping the lawless
+element under control in such an exigency as that which he had to face.
+Later in the day the First Regiment of California National Guards was
+called out and put on duty, with similar orders.
+
+
+RESCUERS AND FIRE-FIGHTERS.
+
+
+The work of fighting the fire was the first and greatest duty to be
+performed, but from the start it proved a very difficult, almost a
+hopeless, task. With fierce fires burning at once in a dozen or more
+separate places, the fire department of the city would have been
+inadequate to cope with the demon of flame even under the best of
+circumstances. As it was, they found themselves handicapped at the start
+by a nearly total lack of water. The earthquake had disarranged and
+broken the water mains and there was scarcely a drop of water to be had,
+so that the engines proved next to useless. Water might be drawn from
+the bay, but the centre of the conflagration was a mile or more away,
+and this great body of water was rendered useless in the stringent
+exigency.
+
+The only hope that remained to the authorities was to endeavor to check
+the progress of the flames by the use of dynamite, blowing up buildings
+in the line of progress of the conflagration. This was put in practice
+without loss of time, and soon the thunder-like roar of the explosions
+began, blasts being heard every few minutes, each signifying that some
+building had been blown to atoms. But over the gaps thus made the flames
+leaped, and though the brave fellows worked with a desperation and
+energy of the most heroic type, it seemed as if all their labors were
+to be without avail, the terrible fire marching on as steadily as if a
+colony of ants had sought to stay its devastating progress.
+
+
+THE HORROR OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+It was with grief and horror that the mass of the people gazed on this
+steady march of the army of ruin. They were seemingly half dazed by the
+magnitude of the disaster, strangely passive in the face of the ruin
+that surrounded them, as if stunned by despair and not yet awakened to
+a realization of the horrors of the situation. Among these was the
+possibility of famine. No city at any time carries more than a few days'
+supply of provisions, and with the wholesale districts and warehouse
+regions invaded by the flames the shortage of food made itself apparent
+from the start. Water was even more difficult to obtain, the supply
+being nearly all cut off. Those who possessed supplies of food and
+liquids of any kind in many cases took advantage of the opportunity to
+advance their prices. Thus an Associated Press man was obliged to pay
+twenty-five cents for a small glass of mineral water, the only kind of
+drink that at first was to be had, while food went up at the same rate,
+bakers frequently charging as much as a dollar for a loaf. As for the
+expressmen and cabmen, their charges were often practically prohibitory,
+as much as fifty dollars being asked for the conveyance of a passenger
+to the ferry. Policemen were early stationed at some of the retail
+shops, regulating the sale and the price of food, and permitting only
+a small portion to be sold to each purchaser, so as to prevent a few
+persons from exhausting the supply.
+
+The fire, the swaying and tottering walls, the frequent dynamite
+explosions, each followed by a crashing shower of stones and bricks,
+rendered the streets very unsafe for pedestrians, and all day long
+the flight of residents from the city went on, growing quickly to the
+dimensions of a panic. The ferryboats were crowded with those who wished
+to leave the city, and a constant stream of the homeless, carrying such
+articles as they had rescued from their homes, was kept up all day
+long, seeking the sand dunes, the parks and every place uninvaded by
+the flames. Before night Golden Gate Park and the unbuilt districts
+adjoining on the ocean side presented the appearance of a tented city,
+shelter of many kinds being improvised from bedding and blankets, and
+the people settling into such sparse comfort as these inadequate means
+provided.
+
+A strange feature of the disaster was a rush to the banks by people who
+wished to get their money and flee from the seemingly doomed city. The
+fire front was yet distant from these institutions, which were destined
+to fall a prey to the flames, and all that morning lines of dishevelled
+and half-frantic men stood before the banks on Montgomery and Sansome
+Streets, braving in their thirst for money the smoke and falling embers
+and beating in wild anxiety upon the doors. Their effort was vain; the
+doors remained closed; finally the police drove these people away, and
+the banks went on with the work of saving their valuables. As for the
+people who wildly fled toward the ferries, in spite of the fact that
+ten blocks of fire, as the day went on, stopped all egress in that
+direction, it became necessary for them to be driven back by the police
+and the troops, and they were finally forced to seek safety in the
+sands. And thus, with incident manifold, went on that fatal Wednesday,
+the first day of the dread disaster.
+
+
+OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
+
+
+It is important here to give the official record of the earthquake
+shocks, as given by the scientists. Professor George Davidson, of the
+University of California, says of them:
+
+"The earthquake came from north to south, and the only description I am
+able to give of its effect is that it seemed like a terrier shaking a
+rat. I was in bed, but was awakened by the first shock. I began to count
+the seconds as I went towards the table where my watch was, being able
+through much practice closely to approximate the time in that manner.
+The shock came at 5.12 o'clock. The first sixty seconds were the most
+severe. From that time on it decreased gradually for about thirty
+seconds. There was then the slightest perceptible lull. Then the shock
+continued for sixty seconds longer, being slighter in degree in this
+minute than in any part of the preceding minute and a half. There were
+two slight shocks afterwards which I did not time. At 8.14 o'clock
+I recorded a shock of five seconds' duration, and one at 4.15 of two
+seconds. There were slight shocks which I did not record at 5.17 and at
+5.27. At 6.50 P. M. there was a sharp shock of several seconds."
+
+Professor A. O. Louschner, of the students' observatory of the
+University of California, thus records his observations:
+
+"The principal part of the earthquake came in two sections, the first
+series of vibrations lasting about forty seconds. The vibrations
+diminished gradually during the following ten seconds, and then occurred
+with renewed vigor for about twenty-five seconds more. But even at
+noon the disturbance had not subsided, as slight shocks are recorded
+at frequent intervals on the seismograph. The motion was from
+south-southeast to north-northwest.
+
+"The remarkable feature of this earthquake, aside from its intensity,
+was its rotary motion. As seen from the print, the sum total of all
+displacements represents a very regular ellipse, and some of the
+lines representing the earth's motion can be traced along the whole
+circumference. The result of observation indicates that our heaviest
+shocks are in the direction south-southeast to north-northwest. In that
+respect the records of the three heaviest earthquakes agree entirely.
+But they have several other features in common. One of these is
+that while the displacements are very large the vibration period is
+comparatively slow, amounting to about one second in the last two big
+earthquakes."
+
+If we seek to discover the actual damage done by the earthquake, the
+fact stands out that the fire followed so close upon it that the traces
+of its ravages were in many cases obliterated. So many buildings in the
+territory of the severest shock fell a prey to the flames or to dynamite
+that the actual work of the earth forces was made difficult and in
+many places impossible to discover. This fact is likely to lead to
+considerable dispute and delay when the question of insurance adjustment
+comes up, many of the insurance companies confining their risk to fire
+damage and claiming exemption from liability in the case of damage due
+to earthquake.
+
+Among the chief victims of the earth-shake was the costly and showy City
+Hall, with its picturesque dome standing loftily above the structure.
+This dome was left still erect, but only as a skeleton might stand, with
+its flesh gone and its bare ribs exposed to the searching air. Its roof,
+its smaller towers came tumbling down in frightful disarray, and the
+once proud edifice is to-day a miserable wreck, fire having aided
+earthquake in its ruin. The new Post Office, a handsome government
+building, also suffered severely from the shock, its walls being badly
+cracked and injury done by earthquake and fire that it is estimated will
+need half a million dollars to repair.
+
+
+FREAKS OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
+
+
+One observer states that the earthquake appeared to be very irregular in
+its course. He tells us that "there are gas reservoirs with frames all
+twisted and big factories thrown to the ground, while a few yards away
+are miserable shanties with not a board out of place. Wooden, steel and
+brick structures hardly felt the earthquake in some parts of the city,
+while in other places all were wrecked.
+
+"Skirting the shore northwest from the big ferry building--which was
+so seriously injured that it will have to be rebuilt--the first thing
+observed was the extraordinary irregularity of the earthquake's course.
+Pier No. 5, for instance, is nothing but a mass of ruins, while Pier No.
+3, on one side of it and Pier No. 7, on the other side, similar in size
+and construction, are undamaged. Farther on, the Kosmos Line pier is a
+complete wreck."
+
+The big forts at the entrance to the Golden Gate also suffered seriously
+from the great shake-up, and the emplacements of the big guns were
+cracked and damaged. The same is the case with the fortifications
+back of Old Fort Point, the great guns in these being for the present
+rendered useless. It will take much time and labor to restore their
+delicate adjustment upon their carriages.
+
+The buildings that collapsed in the city were all flimsy wooden
+buildings and old brick structures, the steel frame buildings, even
+the score or more in course of construction, escaping injury from the
+earthquake shock. Of the former, one of the most complete wrecks was
+the Valencia Hotel, a four-story wooden building, which collapsed into a
+heap of ruins, pinning many persons under its splintered timbers.
+
+
+SKYSCRAPERS EARTHQUAKE PROOF.
+
+
+In fact, as the reports of damage wrought by the earthquake came in,
+the conviction grew that one of the safest places during the earthquake
+shock was on one of the upper floors of the skyscraper office buildings
+or hotels. As a matter of fact, not a single person, so far as can be
+learned, lost his or her life or was seriously injured in any of the
+tall, steel frame structures in the city, although they rocked during
+the quake like a ship in a gale.
+
+The loss of life was caused in almost every case by the collapse of
+frame structures, which the native San Franciscan believed was the
+safest of all in an earthquake, or by the shaking down of portions of
+brick or stone buildings which did not possess an iron framework. The
+manner in which the tall steel structures withstood the shock is a
+complete vindication of the strongest claims yet made for them, and it
+is made doubly interesting from the fact that this is the first occasion
+on which the effect of an earthquake of any proportions on a tall steel
+structure could be studied.
+
+The St. Francis Hotel, a sixteen-story structure, can be repaired at an
+expenditure of about $400,000, its damage being almost wholly by fire.
+The steel shell and the floors are intact. Although the building rocked
+like a ship in a gale while the quake lasted, its foundations are
+undamaged. Other steel buildings which are so little damaged as to admit
+of repairs more or less extensive are the James Flood, the Union Trust,
+the CALL building, the Mutual Savings Bank, the Crocker-Woolworth
+building and the Postal building. All of these are modern buildings of
+steel construction, from sixteen to twenty stories.
+
+A peculiar feature of the effect of the earthquake on structures of this
+kind is reported in the case of the Fairmount Hotel, a fourteen-story
+structure. The first two stories of the Fairmount are found to be so
+seriously damaged that they will have to be rebuilt, while the other
+twelve stories are uninjured.
+
+Various explanations are being made of the surprising resistance shown
+by the skyscrapers. The great strength and binding power of the steel
+frame, combined with a deep-seated foundation and great lightness as
+compared with buildings of stone, are the main reasons given. The iron,
+it is said, unlike stone, responded to the vibratory force and passed it
+along to be expended in other directions, while brick or stone offered
+a solid and impenetrable front, with the result that the seismic force
+tended to expend itself by shaking the building to pieces.
+
+Whether there is any scientific basis for the latter theory or not, it
+seems reasonable enough, in view of the descriptions given us of the
+manner in which the steel buildings received the shock. All things
+considered, the modern steel building has afforded in the San Francisco
+earthquake the most convincing evidence of its strength.
+
+From Golden Gate Park came news of the total destruction of the large
+building covering a portion of the children's playground. The walls
+were shattered beyond repair, the roof fell in, and the destruction was
+complete. The pillars of the new stone gates at the park entrance were
+twisted and torn from their foundations, some of them, weighing nearly
+four tons, being shifted as though they were made of cork. It is a
+little singular that the monuments and statues in the city escaped
+without damage except in the case of the imposing Dewey Monument, in
+Union Square Park, which suffered what appears to be a minor injury.
+
+In this connection an incident of extraordinary character is narrated.
+Among the statues on the buildings of the Leland Stanford, Jr.,
+University, all of which were overthrown, was a marble statue of Carrara
+in a niche on the building devoted to zoology and physiology. This in
+falling broke through a hard cement pavement and buried itself in the
+ground below, from which it was dug. The singular fact is that when
+recovered it proved to be without a crack or scratch. This university
+seemed to be a central point in the disturbance, the destruction of
+its buildings being almost total, though they had been built with the
+especial design of resisting earthquake shocks.
+
+Such was the general character of the earthquake at San Francisco and in
+its vicinity. It may be said farther that all, or very nearly all, the
+deaths and injuries were due to it directly or indirectly, even those
+who perished by fire owing their deaths to the fact of their being
+pinned in buildings ruined by the earthquake shock, while others were
+killed by falling walls weakened by the same cause.
+
+On the night of April 23d the earth tremor returned with a slight shock,
+only sufficient to cause a temporary alarm. On the afternoon of the 25th
+came another and severer one, strong enough to shake down some tottering
+walls and add another to the list of victims. This was a woman named
+Annie Whitaker, who was at work in the kitchen of her home at the time.
+The chimney, which had been weakened by the great shock, now fell,
+crashing through the roof and fracturing her skull. Thus the earth
+powers claimed a final human sacrifice before their dread visitation
+ended.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+The Demon of Fire Invades the Stricken City.
+
+
+The terrors of the earthquake are momentary. One fierce, levelling shock
+and usually all is over. The torment within the earth has passed on and
+the awakened forces of the earth's crust sink into rest again, after
+having shaken the surface for many leagues. Rarely does the dread agent
+of ruin leave behind it such a terrible follower to complete its work
+as was the case in the doomed city of San Francisco. All seemed to lead
+towards such a carnival of ruin as the earth has rarely seen. The demon
+of fire followed close upon the heels of the unseen fiend of the earth's
+hidden caverns, and ran red-handed through the metropolis of the West,
+kindling a thousand unhurt buildings, while the horror-stricken people
+stood aghast in terror, as helpless to combat this new enemy as they
+were to check the ravages of the earthquake itself.
+
+Why not quench the fire at its start with water? Alas! there was no
+water, and this expedient was a hopeless one. The iron mains which
+carried the precious fluid under the city streets were broken or injured
+so that no quenching streams were to be had. In some cases the engine
+houses had been so damaged that the fire-fighting apparatus could not be
+taken out, though even if it had it would have been useless. A sweeping
+conflagration and not an ounce of water to throw upon it! The situation
+of the people was a maddening one. They were forced helplessly and
+hopelessly to gaze upon the destruction of their all, and it is no
+marvel if many of them grew frantic and lost their reason at the sight.
+Thousands gathered and looked on in blank and pitiful misery, their
+strong hands, their iron wills of no avail, while the red-lipped fire
+devoured the hopes of their lives.
+
+In a dozen, a hundred, places the flames shot up redly. Huge, strong
+buildings which the earthquake had spared fell an unresisting prey
+to the flames. The great, iron-bound, towering Spreckles building,
+a steeple-like structure, of eighteen stories in height, the tallest
+skyscraper in the city, had resisted the earthquake and remained proudly
+erect. But now the flames gathered round and assailed it. From both
+sides came their attack. A broad district near by, containing many large
+hotels and lodging houses, was being fiercely burnt out, and soon the
+windows of the lofty building cracked and splintered, the flames shot
+triumphantly within, and almost in an instant the vast interior was a
+seething furnace, the wild flames rushing and leaping within until only
+the blackened walls remained.
+
+
+THE RESISTLESS MARCH OF THE FLAMES.
+
+
+This was the region of the newspaper offices, and they quickly
+succumbed. The Examiner, standing across Third Street from Spreckles,
+collapsed from the earthquake shock. A flimsy edifice, it had long been
+looked upon as dangerous. Another building in the rear of this alone
+resisted both flames and smoke. Across Market Street from the Examiner
+stood the Chronicle building, a dozen stories high. Firmly built, it
+had borne the earthquake assault unharmed, but the flames were an enemy
+against which it had no defense, and it was quickly added to the victims
+of the fire-fiend.
+
+Farther down Market Street, the chief business thoroughfare of the city,
+stood that great caravansary, the Palace Hotel, which for thirty years
+had been a favorite hostelry, housing the bulk of the visitors to the
+Californian metropolis. Its time had come. Doom hovered over it. Its
+guests had fled in good season, as they saw the irresistible approach of
+the conquering flames. Soon it was ablaze; quickly from every window of
+its broad front the tongues of flame curled hotly in the air; it became
+a thrice-heated furnace, like so many of the neighboring structures,
+adding its quota to the vast cloud of smoke that hung over the burning
+city, and rapidly sinking in red ruin to the earth.
+
+All day Wednesday the fire spread unchecked, all efforts to stay its
+devouring fury proving futile. In the business section of the city
+everything was in ruins. Not a business house was left standing.
+Theatres crumbled into smouldering heaps. Factories and commission
+houses sank to red ruin before the devouring flames. The scene was like
+that of ancient Babylon in its fall, or old Rome when set on fire by
+Nero's command, as tradition tells. In modern times there has been
+nothing to equal it except the conflagration at Chicago, when the flames
+swept to ruin that queen city of the Great Lakes.
+
+When night fell and the sun withdrew his beams the spectacle was one at
+once magnificent and awe-inspiring. The city resembled one vast blazing
+furnace. Looking over it from a high hill in the western section, the
+flames could be seen ascending skyward for miles upon miles, while in
+the midst of the red spirals of flame could be seen at intervals the
+black skeletons and falling towers of doomed buildings. Above all
+this hung a dense pall of smoke, showing lurid where the flames were
+reflected from its dark and threatening surface. To those nearer the
+scene presented many pathetic and distressing features, the fire glare
+throwing weird shadows over the worn and panic-stricken faces of the
+woe-begone fugitives, driven from their homes and wandering the streets
+in helpless misery. Many of them lay sleeping on piles of blankets and
+clothing which they had brought with them, or on the hard sidewalks, or
+the grass of the open parks.
+
+
+THE CARE OF THE WOUNDED.
+
+
+Through all the streets ambulances and express wagons were hurrying,
+carrying dead and injured to morgues and hospitals. But these refuges
+for the wounded or receptacles for the dead were no safer than the
+remainder of the city. In the morgue at the Hall of Justice fifty bodies
+lay, but the approach of the flames rendered it necessary to remove
+to Jackson Square these mutilated remnants of what had once been men.
+Hospitals were also abandoned at intervals, doctors and nurses being
+forced to remove their patients in haste from the approaching flames.
+
+There is an open park opposite City Hall. Here the Board of Supervisors
+met, and, with fifty substantial citizens who joined them, formed a
+Committee of Safety, to take in hand the direction of affairs and
+to seek safe quarters for the dying and the dead. Strangely enough,
+Mechanics' Pavilion, opposite City Hall, had escaped injury from the
+earthquake, though it was only a wooden building. It had the largest
+floor in San Francisco, and was pressed into service at once. The police
+and the troops, working in harmony together, passed the word that the
+dead and injured should be brought there, the hospitals and morgue
+having become choked, and the order was quickly obeyed, until about
+400 of the hurt, many of them terribly mangled, were laid in improvised
+cots, attended by all the physicians and trained nurses who could be
+obtained.
+
+The corpses were much fewer, the workers being too busy in fighting the
+fire and caring for the wounded to give time and attention as yet to
+the dead. But one of the first wagons to arrive brought a whole
+family--father, mother and three children--all dead except the baby,
+which had a broken arm and a terrible cut across the forehead. They had
+been dragged from the ruins of their house on the water front. A large
+consignment of bodies, mostly of workingmen, came from a small hotel on
+Eddy Street, through the roof of which the upper part of a tall building
+next door had fallen, crushing all below.
+
+
+FIRE ATTACKS THE MINT.
+
+
+To return to the story of the conflagration, the escape of the United
+States Mint was one of the most remarkable incidents. Within the vaults
+of this fine structure was the vast sum of $300,000,000 in gold and
+silver coin and a value of $8,000,000 in bullion, and toward this mighty
+sum of wealth the flames swept on all sides, as if eager to add the
+reservoir of the precious metals to their spoils. The Mint building
+passed through the earthquake with little damage, though its big
+smokestacks were badly shaken. The fire seemed bent on making it its
+prey, every building around it being burned to the ground, and it
+remaining the only building for blocks that escaped destruction.
+
+Its safety was due to the energy and activity of its employees.
+Superintendent Leach reached it shortly after the shock and found a
+number of men already there, whom he stationed at points of vantage
+from roof to basement. The fire apparatus of the Mint was brought into
+service and help given by the fire department, and after a period of
+strenuous labor the flames were driven back. The peril for a time was
+critical, the windows on Mint Avenue taking fire and also those on the
+rear three stories, and the flames for a time pouring in and driving
+back the workers. The roof also caught fire, but the men within fought
+like Titans, and efficient aid was given by a squad of soldiers sent
+to them. In the end the fire fiend was vanquished, though considerable
+damage was done to the adjusting rooms and the refinery, while the heavy
+stone cornice on that side of the building was destroyed. The total loss
+to the Mint was later estimated at $15,000.
+
+Late on Wednesday evening the fire front crept close up to Mechanics'
+Pavilion, where a corps of fifty physicians and numerous nurses were
+active in the work of relief to the wounded. Ambulances and automobiles
+were busy unloading new patients rescued from the ruins when word came
+that the building would have to be vacated in haste. Every available
+vehicle was at once pressed into service and the patients removed as
+rapidly as possible, being taken to hospitals and private houses in the
+safer parts of the city. Hardly had the last of the injured been carried
+through the door when the roof was seen to be in a blaze, and shortly
+afterward the whole building burst into a whirlwind of flame.
+
+At midnight the fire was raging and roaring with unslacked rage, and at
+dawn of Thursday its fury was undiminished. The work of destruction
+was already immense. In much of the Hayes Valley district, south of
+McAllister and north of Market Street, the destruction was complete.
+From the Mechanics' Pavilion and St. Nicholas Hotel opposite down to
+Oakland Ferry the journey was heartrending, the scene appalling. On each
+side was ruin, nothing but ruin, and hillocks of masonry and heaps of
+rubbish of every description filled to its middle the city's greatest
+thoroughfare.
+
+Across an alley from the Post Office stood the Grant Building, one of
+the headquarters of the army. Of this only the smoke-darkened walls were
+left. On Market Street opposite this building the beautiful front of
+the Hibernian Savings Bank, the favorite institution of the middle and
+poorer classes, presented a hideous aspect of ruin. At eleven o'clock
+of Wednesday night the north side of Market Street stood untouched, and
+hopes were entertained that the great Flood, Crocker, Phelan and other
+buildings would be spared, but the hunger of the fire fiend was not yet
+satiated, and the following day these proud structures had only their
+blackened ruins to show. On both sides of Market Street, down to the
+ferry, the tale was the same. The handsome and gigantic St. Francis
+Hotel, on Powell Street, fronting on Union Square, was left a ruined
+shell. This was one of the lofty steel structures that bore unharmed the
+earthquake shock, but quickly succumbed to the flames. Among the other
+skyscrapers north of Market Street that perished were the fourteen-story
+Merchants' Exchange, and the great Mills Building, occupying almost an
+entire block.
+
+One section of the city that went without pity, as it had long stood
+with reprobation, was that group of disreputable buildings known as
+Chinatown, the place of residence of many thousands of Celestials.
+The flames made their way unchecked in this direction, and by noon on
+Thursday the whole section was a raging furnace, the denizens escaping
+with what they could carry of their simple possessions. On the farther
+western side the flames cut a wide swath to Van Ness Avenue, a wide
+thoroughfare, at which it was hoped the march of the fire in this
+direction might be checked, especially as the water mains here furnished
+a weak supply.
+
+In the Missouri district, to the south of Market Street, the zone of
+ruin extended westward toward the extreme southern portion, but was
+checked at Fourteenth and Missouri Streets by the wholesale use of
+dynamite. At this point were located the Southern Pacific Hospital,
+the St. Francis Hospital and the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
+In order to save these institutions, buildings were blown up all around
+them, and by noon the danger was averted. It later became necessary to
+destroy the Southern Pacific Hospital with dynamite, the patients having
+been removed to places of safety.
+
+
+THE PALACES ON NOB'S HILL.
+
+
+In the centre of San Francisco rises the aristocratic elevation known
+as Nob's Hill, on which the early millionaires built their homes, and on
+which stood the city's most palatial residences. It ascends so abruptly
+from Kearney Street that it is inaccessible to any kind of vehicle, the
+slope being at any angle little short of forty-five degrees. It is as
+steep on the south side, and the only approach by carriage is from the
+north. To this hill is due the pioneer cable railway, built in the early
+'70's.
+
+Here the "big four" of the railroad magnates--Stanford, Hopkins,
+Huntington and Crocker--had put millions in their mansions, the Mark
+Hopkins residence being said to have cost $2,500,000. These men are all
+dead, and the last named edifice has been converted into the Hopkins Art
+Institute, and at the time of the fire was well filled with costly art
+treasures. The Stanford Museum, which also contains valuable objects of
+art, is now the property of the Leland Stanford University. The
+Flood mansion, which cost more than $1,000,000, was one of the showy
+residences on this hill, west of it being the Huntington home and
+farther west the Crocker residence, with its broad lawns and magnificent
+stables. Many other beautiful and costly houses stood on this hill, and
+opposite the Stanford and Hopkins edifices the great Fairmount Hotel had
+for two years past been in process of construction and was practically
+completed. On the northeastern slope of this hill stood the famous
+Chinatown, through which it was necessary to pass to ascend Nob's Hill
+from the principal section of the wholesale district.
+
+This region of palaces was the next to fall a prey to the insatiable
+flames. Early Thursday morning a change in the wind sent the fire
+westward, eating its way from the water front north of Market Street
+toward Nob's Hill. Steadily but surely it climbed the slope, and the
+Stanford and Hopkins edifices fell victims to its fury. Others of the
+palaces of millionairedom followed. Huge clouds of smoke enveloped the
+beautiful white stone Fairmount Hotel, and there was a general feeling
+of horror when this magnificent structure seemed doomed. To it the
+Committee of Safety had retreated, but the flames from the burning
+buildings opposite reached it, and the committee once more migrated in
+search of safe quarters. Fortunately, it escaped with little damage, its
+walls remaining intact and much of the interior being left in a state
+of preservation, warranting its managers to offer space within it to the
+committees whose aim it was to help the homeless or to store supplies.
+Some of the woodwork of the building was destroyed by the fire, but
+the structure was in such good condition that work on it was quickly
+resumed, with the statement that its completion would not be delayed
+more than three months beyond the date set, which was November, 1906.
+
+In the district extending northwestwardly from Kearney Street and
+Montgomery Avenue, untouched during the first day, the fire spread
+freely on the second. This district embraces the Latin quarter,
+peopled by various nationalities, the houses being of the flimsiest
+construction. Once it had gained a foothold there, the fire swept onward
+as though making its way through a forest in the driest summer season.
+
+An apochryphal incident is told of the fire in this quarter, which may
+be repeated as one example of the fables set afloat. It is stated that
+water to fight the fire here was sadly lacking, the only available
+supply being from an old well. At a critical moment the pump sucked
+dry, the water in the well being exhausted. The residents were not yet
+conquered. Some of them threw open their cellar doors and, calling for
+assistance, began to roll out barrels of red wine. Barrel after barrel
+appeared, until fully five hundred gallons were ready for use. Then the
+barrel heads were smashed in and the bucket brigade turned from water to
+wine. Sacks were dipped in the wine and used for fighting the fire. Beds
+were stripped of their blankets and these soaked in the wine and hung
+over exposed portions of the cottages, while men on the roofs drenched
+the shingles and sides of the houses with wine. The postscript to this
+queer story is that the wine won and the firefighters saved their homes.
+The story is worth retelling, though it may be added that wine, if
+it contained much alcohol, would serve as a feeder rather than as an
+extinguisher of flame.
+
+A striking description of the aspect of the city on that terrible
+Wednesday is told by Jerome B. Clark, whose home was in Berkeley, but
+who did business in San Francisco. He left for the city early Wednesday
+morning, after a minor shake-up at home, which he thus describes:
+
+
+A VIVID FIRE PICTURE.
+
+
+"I was asleep and was awakened by the house rocking. With the exception
+of water in vases, and milk in pans being spilled, and one of our
+chimneys badly cracked, we escaped with nothing but a bad scare, but I
+can assure you it was a terrific and terrifying experience to feel that
+old house rocking, jolting and jumping under us, with the most terrible
+roar, dull, deep and nerve-racking. It calmed down after that and we
+went back to bed, only to get up at six o'clock to find that neighbors
+had suffered by having vases knocked from tables, bric-a-brac knocked
+around, tiles knocked out of grates and scarcely a chimney left
+standing. We thought that we had had the worst of it, so I started over
+to the city as usual, reaching there about eight o'clock, and it is just
+impossible to describe the scenes that met my eyes.
+
+"In every direction from the ferry building flames were seething, and
+as I stood there, a five-story building half a block away fell with a
+crash, and the flames swept clear across Market Street and caught a
+new fireproof building recently erected. The streets in places had sunk
+three or four feet, in others great humps had appeared four or five feet
+high. The street car tracks were bent and twisted out of shape. Electric
+wires lay in every direction. Streets on all sides were filled with
+brick and mortar, buildings either completely collapsed or brick fronts
+had just dropped completely off. Wagons with horses hitched to them,
+drivers and all, lying on the streets, all dead, struck and killed by
+the falling bricks, these mostly the wagons of the produce dealers,
+who do the greater part of their work at that hour of the morning.
+Warehouses and large wholesale houses of all descriptions either down,
+or walls bulging, or else twisted, buildings moved bodily two or three
+feet out of a line and still standing with walls all cracked.
+
+"The Call building, a twelve-story skyscraper, stood, and looked all
+right at first glance, but had moved at the base two feet at one end out
+into the sidewalk, and the elevators refused to work, all the interior
+being just twisted out of shape. It afterward burned as I watched it. I
+worked my way in from the ferry, climbing over piles of brick and mortar
+and keeping to the centre of the street and avoiding live wires that
+lay around on every side, trying to get to my office. I got within two
+blocks of it and was stopped by the police on account of falling walls.
+I saw that the block in which I was located was on fire, and seemed
+doomed, so turned back and went up into the city.
+
+"Not knowing San Francisco, you would not know the various buildings,
+but fires were blazing in all directions, and all of the finest and best
+of the office and business buildings were either burning or surrounded.
+They pumped water from the bay, but the fire was soon too far away from
+the water front to make any efforts in this direction of much avail.
+The water mains had been broken by the earthquake, and so there was no
+supply for the fire engines and they were helpless. The only way out
+of it was to dynamite, and I saw some of the finest and most beautiful
+buildings in the city, new modern palaces, blown to atoms. First they
+blew up one or two buildings at a time. Finding that of no avail, they
+took half a block; that was no use; then they took a block; but in spite
+of them all the fire kept on spreading.
+
+"The City Hall, which, while old, was quite a magnificent building,
+occupying a large square block of land, was completely wrecked by the
+earthquake, and to look upon reminded one of the pictures of ancient
+ruins of Rome or Athens. The Palace Hotel stood for a long time after
+everything near it had gone, but finally went up in smoke as the rest.
+You could not look in any direction in the city but what mass after mass
+of flame stared you in the face. To get about one had to dodge from one
+street to another, back and forth in zigzag fashion, and half an hour
+after going through a street, it would be impassable. One after another
+of the magnificent business blocks went down. The newer buildings seemed
+to have withstood the shock better than any others, except well-built
+frame buildings. The former lost some of the outside shell, but the
+frame stood all right, and in some cases after fire had eaten them all
+to pieces, the steel skeleton, although badly twisted and warped, still
+stood.
+
+"When I finally left the city, it was all in flames as far as Eighth
+Street, which is about a mile and a quarter or half from the water
+front. I had to walk at least two miles around in order to get to the
+ferry building, and when I got there you could see no buildings standing
+in any direction. Nearly all the docks caved in or sheds were knocked
+down, and all the streets along the water front were a mass of seams,
+upheavals and depressions, car tracks twisted in all shapes. Cars that
+had stood on sidings were all in ashes and still burning."
+
+Wednesday's conflagration continued unabated throughout Thursday, and it
+was not until late on Friday that the fire-fighters got it safely
+under control. They worked like heroes, struggling almost without rest,
+keeping up the nearly hopeless conflict until they fairly fell in their
+tracks from fatigue. Handicapped by the lack of water, they in one
+case brought it from the bay through lines of hose well on to a mile
+in length. Yet despite all they could do block after block of San
+Francisco's greatest buildings succumbed to the flames and sank in red
+ruin before their eyes.
+
+
+THE LANDMARKS CONSUMED.
+
+
+On all sides famous landmarks yielded to the fury of the flames.
+For three miles along the water front the ground was swept clean
+of buildings, the blackened beams and great skeletons of factories,
+warehouses and business edifices standing silhouetted against a
+background of flames, while the whole commercial and office quarter of
+Market Street suffered a similar fate. We may briefly instance some of
+these victims of the flames.
+
+Among them were the Occidental Hotel, on Montgomery Street, for years
+the headquarters for army officers; the old Lick House, built by James
+Lick, the philanthropist; the California Hotel and Theatre, on Bush
+Street; and of theatres, the Orpheum, the Alcazar, the Majestic, the
+Columbia, the Magic, the Central, Fisher's and the Grand Opera House, on
+Missouri Street, where the Conried Opera Company had just opened for a
+two weeks' opera season.
+
+The banks that fell were numerous, including the Nevada National Bank,
+the California, the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the First National, the
+London and San Francisco, the London, Paris and American, the Bank
+of British North America, the German-American Savings Bank and the
+Crocker-Woolworth Bank building. A large number of splendid apartment
+houses were also destroyed, and the tide of destruction swept away a
+host of noble buildings far too numerous to mention.
+
+At Post Street and Grant Avenue stood the Bohemian Club, one of the
+widest known social organizations in the world. Its membership included
+many men famous in art, literature and commerce. Its rooms were
+decorated with the works of members, many of whose names are known
+wherever paintings are discussed and many of them priceless in their
+associations. Most of these were saved. There were on special exhibition
+in the "Jinks" room of the Bohemian Club a dozen paintings by old
+masters, including a Rembrandt, a Diaz, a Murillo and others, probably
+worth $100,000. These paintings were lost with the building, which went
+down in the flames.
+
+One of the great losses was that of St. Ignatius' Church and College, at
+Van Ness Avenue and Hayes Street, the greatest Jesuitical institution
+in the west, which cost a couple of millions of dollars. The Merchants'
+Exchange building, a twelve-story structure, eleven of whose floors were
+occupied as offices by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, was added
+to the sum of losses.
+
+
+THE FIRE UNDER CONTROL.
+
+
+For three long days the terrible fire fiend kept up his work, and the
+fight went on until late on Friday, when the sweep of the flames was at
+length checked and the fire brought under control. The principal agent
+in this victory was dynamite, which was freely used. To its work
+a separate chapter will be devoted. When at length the area of the
+conflagration was limited the wealthiest part of the city lay in embers
+and ashes, one of the principal localities to escape being Pacific
+Heights, a mile west from Nob's Hill, on which stood many costly homes
+of recent construction.
+
+On Friday night the fire that had worked its way from Nob's Hill to
+North Beach Street, sweeping that quarter clean of buildings, veered
+before a fierce wind and made its way southerly to the great sea wall,
+with its docks and grain warehouses. The flames reached the tanks of the
+San Francisco Gas Company, which had previously been pumped out, and on
+Saturday morning the grain sheds on the water front, about half a mile
+north of the ferry station, were fiercely burning. But the fire here was
+confined to a small area, and, with the work of fireboats in the bay and
+of the firemen on shore, who used salt water pumped into their engines,
+it was prevented from reaching the ferry building and the docks in that
+vicinity.
+
+The buildings on a high slope between Van Ness and Polk Streets, Union
+and Filbert Streets, were blazing fiercely, fanned by a high wind, but
+the blocks here were so thinly settled that the fire had little
+chance of spreading widely from this point. In fact, it was at length
+practically under control, and the entire western addition of the city
+west of Van Ness Avenue was safe from the flames. The great struggle was
+fairly at an end, and the brave force of workers were at length given
+some respite from their strenuous labors.
+
+During the height of the struggle and the days of exhaustion and
+depression that followed, exaggerated accounts of the losses and of the
+area swept by the flames were current, some estimate making the extent
+of the fire fifteen square miles out of the total of twenty-five square
+miles of the city's area. It was not until Friday, the 27th, that an
+official survey of the burned district, made by City Surveyor Woodward,
+was completed, and the total area burned over found to be 2,500 acres, a
+trifle less than four square miles. This, however, embraced the heart of
+the business section and many of the principal residence streets, much
+of the saved area being occupied by the dwellings of the poorer people,
+so that the money loss was immensely greater than the percentage of
+ground burned over would indicate.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Fighting the Flames With Dynamite.
+
+
+Shaken by earthquake, swept by flames, the water supply cut off by the
+breaking of the mains, the authorities of the doomed city for a time
+stood appalled. What could be done to stay the fierce march of the
+flames which were sweeping resistlessly over palace and hovel alike,
+over stately hall and miserable hut? Water was not to be had; what was
+to take its place? Nothing remained but to meet ruin with ruin, to make
+a desert in the path of the fire and thus seek to stop its march. They
+had dynamite, gunpowder and other explosives, and in the frightful
+exigency there was nothing else to be used. Only for a brief interval
+did the authorities yield to the general feeling of helplessness. Then
+they aroused themselves to the demands of the occasion and prepared to
+do all in the power of man in the effort to arrest the conflagration.
+
+While the soldiers under General Funston took military charge of the
+city, squads of cavalry and troops of infantry patrolling the streets
+and guarding the sections that had not yet been touched by the flames,
+Mayor Schmitz and Chief of Police Dinan sprang into the breach and
+prepared to make a desperate charge against the platoons of the fire.
+This was not all that was needed to be done. From the "Barbary Coast,"
+as the resort of the vicious and criminal classes was called, hordes of
+wretches poured out as soon as night fell, seeking to slip through the
+guards and loot stores and rob the dead in the burning section. Orders
+were given to the soldiers to kill all who were engaged in such work,
+and these orders were carried out. An associated Press reporter saw
+three of these thieves shot and fatally wounded, and doubtless others of
+them were similarly dealt with elsewhere.
+
+A band of fire-fighters was quickly organized by the Mayor and Chief
+of Police, and the devoted firemen put themselves in the face of the
+flames, determined to do their utmost to stay them in their course. Cut
+off from the use of their accustomed engines and water streams, which
+might have been effective if brought into play at the beginning of the
+struggle, there was nothing to work with but the dynamite cartridge and
+the gunpowder mine, and they set bravely to work to do what they could
+with these. On every side the roar of explosions could be heard, and
+the crash of falling walls came to the ear, while people were forced
+to leave buildings which still stood, but which it was decided must be
+felled. Frequently a crash of stone and brick, followed by a cloud of
+dust, gave warning to pedestrians that destruction was going on in the
+forefront of the flames, and that travel in such localities was unsafe.
+
+
+FIGHTING THE FLAMES.
+
+
+All through the night of Wednesday and the morning of Thursday this
+work went on, hopelessly but resolutely. During the following day blasts
+could be heard in different sections at intervals of a few minutes, and
+buildings not destroyed by fire were blown to atoms, but over the gaps
+jumped the live flames, and the disheartened fire-fighters were driven
+back step by step; but they continued the work with little regard for
+their own safety and with unflinching desperation.
+
+One instance of the peril they ran may be given. Lieutenant Charles
+O. Pulis, commanding the Twenty-fourth Company of Light Artillery,
+had placed a heavy charge of dynamite in a building at Sixth and Jesse
+Streets. For some reason it did not explode, and he returned to relight
+the fuse, thinking it had become extinguished. While he was in the
+building the explosion took place, and he received injuries that seemed
+likely to prove fatal, his skull being fractured and several bones
+broken, while he was injured internally. In the early morning, when the
+fire reached the municipal building on Portsmouth Square, the nurses,
+with the aid of soldiers, got out fifty bodies which were in the
+temporary morgue and a number of patients from the receiving hospital.
+Just after they reached the street with their gruesome charge a building
+was blown up, and the flying bricks and splinters came falling upon
+them. The nurses fortunately escaped harm, but several of the
+soldiers were hurt, and had to be taken with the other patients to the
+out-of-doors Presidio hospital.
+
+The Southern Pacific Hospital, at Fourteenth and Missouri Streets, was
+among the buildings destroyed by dynamite, the patients having been
+removed to places of safety, and the Linda Vista and the Pleasanton,
+two large family hotels on Jones Street, in the better part of the
+city, were also among those blown up to stay the progress of the
+conflagration.
+
+
+THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE FIRE.
+
+
+The fire had continued to creep onward and upward until it reached the
+summit of Nob Hill, a district of splendid residences, and threatened
+the handsome Fairmount Hotel, then the headquarters of the Municipal
+Council, acting as a Committee of Public Safety. As day broke the flames
+seized upon this beautiful structure, and the Council was forced to
+retreat to new quarters. They finally met in the North End Police
+Station, on Sacramento Street, and there entered actively upon their
+duties of seeking to check the progress of the flames, maintain order
+in the city and control and direct the host of fugitives, many of whom,
+still in a state of semi-panic, were moving helplessly to and fro and
+sadly needed wise counsels and a helping hand.
+
+The fire-fighters meanwhile kept up their indefatigable work under the
+direction of the Mayor and the chief of their department. The engines
+almost from the start had proved useless from lack of water, and were
+either abandoned or moved to the outlying districts, in the vain hope
+that the water mains might be repaired in time to permit of a final
+stand against the whirlwind march of the flames. The cloud of despair
+grew darker still as the report spread that the city's supply of
+dynamite had given out.
+
+"No more dynamite! No more dynamite!" screamed a fireman as he ran up
+Ellis Street past the doomed Flood building at two o'clock on Friday
+morning, tears standing in his smoke-smirched eyes.
+
+"No more dynamite! O God! no more dynamite! We are lost!" moaned the
+throng that heard his despairing words.
+
+
+A NEW SUPPLY OF EXPLOSIVES.
+
+
+So, at that hour, the supply of the explosive exhausted, and not a
+dozen streams of water being thrown in the entire fire zone, the stunned
+firemen and the stupefied people stood helpless with their eyes fixed in
+despair upon the swiftly creeping flames.
+
+Had all been like these the entire city would have been doomed, but
+there were those at the head of affairs who never for a moment gave
+up their resolution. Dynamite and giant powder were to be had in
+the Presidio military reservation, and a requisition upon the army
+authorities was made. The louder reverberations as the day advanced and
+night came on showed that a fresh supply had been obtained, and that a
+new and determined campaign against the conflagration had been entered
+upon. Hitherto much of the work had been ignorantly and carelessly done,
+and by the hasty and premature use of explosives more harm than good had
+been occasioned.
+
+As the fire continued to spread in spite of the heroic work of the
+fighting corps, the Committee of Safety called a meeting at noon on
+Friday and decided to blow up all the residences on the east side of Van
+Ness Avenue, between Golden Gate and Pacific Avenues, a distance of one
+mile. Van Ness Avenue is one of the most fashionable streets of the city
+and has a width of 125 feet, a fact which led to the idea that a safety
+line might be made here too broad for the flames to cross.
+
+The firemen, therefore, although exhausted from over twenty-four hours'
+work and lack of food, determined to make a desperate stand at this
+point. They declared that should the fire cross Van Ness Avenue and the
+wind continue its earlier direction toward the west, the destruction of
+San Francisco would be virtually complete. The district west of Van
+Ness Avenue and north of McAllister constitutes the finest part of the
+metropolis. Here are located all of the finer homes of the well-to-do
+and wealthier classes, and the resolution to destroy them was the last
+resort of desperation.
+
+Hundreds of police, regiments of soldiers and scores of volunteers
+were sent into the doomed district to warn the people to flee. They
+heroically responded to the demand of law and went bravely on their way,
+leaving their loved homes and trudging painfully over the pavements with
+the little they could carry away of their treasured possessions.
+
+The reply of a grizzled fire engineer standing at O'Farrell Street and
+Van Ness Avenue, beside a blackened engine, may not have been as terse
+as that of Hugo's guardsman at Waterloo, but the pathos of it must have
+been as great. In answer to the question of what they proposed to do, he
+said:
+
+"We are waiting for it to come. When it gets here we will make one more
+stand. If it crosses Van Ness Avenue the city is gone."
+
+
+THE SAVERS OF THE CITY.
+
+
+Yet the work now to be done was much too important to be left to the
+hands of untrained volunteers. Skilled engineers were needed, men used
+to the scientific handling of explosives, and it was men of this kind
+who finally saved what is left to-day of the city. Three men saved San
+Francisco, so far as any San Francisco existed after the fire had worked
+its will, these three constituting the dynamite squad who faced and
+defied the demon at Van Ness Avenue.
+
+When the burning city seemed doomed and the flames lit the sky farther
+and farther to the west, Admiral McCalla sent a trio of his most trusted
+men from Mare Island with orders to check the conflagration at any cost
+of property. With them they brought a ton and a half of guncotton. The
+terrific power of the explosive was equal to the maniac determination
+of the fire. Captain MacBride was in charge of the squad, Chief Gunner
+Adamson placed the charges and the third gunner set them off.
+
+Stationing themselves on Van Ness Avenue, which the conflagration was
+approaching with leaps and bounds from the burning business section of
+the city, they went systematically to work, and when they had ended a
+broad open space, occupied only by the dismantled ruins of buildings,
+remained of what had been a long row of handsome and costly residences,
+which, with all their treasures of furniture and articles of decoration,
+had been consigned to hideous ruin.
+
+The thunderous detonations, to which the terrified city listened all
+that dreadful Friday night, meant much to those whose ears were deafened
+by them. A million dollars' worth of property, noble residences
+and worthless shacks alike, were blown to drifting dust, but that
+destruction broke the fire and sent the raging flames back over their
+own charred path. The whole east side of Van Ness Avenue, from the
+Golden Gate to Greenwich, a distance of twenty-two blocks, or a mile and
+a half, was dynamited a block deep, though most of the structures as yet
+had stood untouched by spark or cinder. Not one charge failed. Not one
+building stood upon its foundation.
+
+Unless some second malicious miracle of nature should reverse the
+direction of the west wind, by nine o'clock it was felt that the
+populous district to the west, blocked with fleeing refugees and
+unilluminated except by the disastrous glare on the water front, was
+safe. Every pound of guncotton did its work, and though the ruins
+burned, it was but feebly. From Golden Gate Avenue north the fire
+crossed the wide street in but one place. That was at the Claus
+Spreckels place, on the corner of California Street.
+
+There the flames were writhing up the walls before the dynamiters could
+reach the spot. Yet they made their way to the foundations, carrying
+their explosives, despite the furnace-like heat. The charge had to be
+placed so swiftly and the fuse lit in such a hurry that the explosion
+was not quite successful from the trained viewpoint of the gunners. But
+though the walls still stood, it was only an empty victory for the fire,
+as bare brick and smoking ruins are poor food for flames.
+
+Captain MacBride's dynamiting squad had realized that a stand was
+hopeless except on Van Ness Avenue, their decision thus coinciding with
+that of the authorities. They could have forced their explosives farther
+in the burning section, but not a pound of guncotton could be or was
+wasted. The ruined blocks of the wide thoroughfare formed a trench
+through the clustered structures that the conflagration, wild as it was,
+could not leap. Engines pumping brine through Fort Mason from the bay
+completed the little work that the guncotton had left, but for three
+days the haggard-eyed firemen guarded the flickering ruins.
+
+The desolate waste straight through the heart of the city remained
+a mute witness to the most heroic and effective work of the whole
+calamity. Three men did this, and when their work was over and what
+stood of the city rested quietly for the first time, they departed as
+modestly as they had come. They were ordered to save San Francisco,
+and they obeyed orders, and Captain MacBride and his two gunners made
+history on that dreadful night.
+
+They stayed the march of the conflagration at that critical point,
+leaving it no channel to spread except along the wharf region, in which
+its final force was spent. One side of Van Ness Avenue was gone; the
+other remained, the fire leaping the broad open space only feebly in a
+few places, where it was easily extinguished.
+
+In this connection it is well to put on record an interesting
+circumstance. This is that there is one place within pistol shot of San
+Francisco that the earthquake did not touch, that did not lose a chimney
+or feel a tremor. That spot is Alcatraz Island. Despite the fact that
+the island is covered with brick buildings, brick forts and brick
+chimneys, not a brick was loosened nor a crack made nor a quiver felt.
+When the scientist comes to write he will have his hands full explaining
+why Alcatraz did not have any physical knowledge of the event. It was as
+if New York were to be shaken to its foundation, and Governor's Island,
+quietly pursuing its military routine, should escape without a qualm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Reign of Destruction and Devastation
+
+
+Rarely, in the whole history of mankind, has a great city been
+overwhelmed by destruction so suddenly and awfully as was San Francisco.
+One minute its inhabitants slept in seeming safety and security. Another
+minute passed and the whole great city seemed tumbling around them,
+while sights of terror met the eyes of the awakened multitude and sounds
+of horror came to their ears. The roar of destruction filled the air as
+the solid crust of the earth lifted and fell and the rocks rose and sank
+in billowing waves like those of the open sea.
+
+Not all, it is true, were asleep. There was the corps of night workers,
+whose duties keep them abroad till day dawns. There were those whose
+work calls them from their homes in the early morn. People of this kind
+were in the streets and saw the advent of the reign of devastation in
+its full extent. From the story of one of these, P. Barrett, an editor
+on the Examiner, we select a thrilling account of his experience on that
+morning of awe.
+
+
+AN EDITOR'S NARRATIVE.
+
+
+"I have seen this whole, great horror. I stood with two other members
+of the Examiner staff on the corner of Market Street, waiting for a car.
+Newspaper duties had kept us working until five o'clock in the morning.
+Sunlight was coming out of the early morning mist. It spread its
+brightness on the roofs of the skyscrapers, on the domes and spires of
+churches, and blazed along up the wide street with its countless banks
+and stores, its restaurants and cafes. In the early morning the city was
+almost noiseless. Occasionally a newspaper wagon clattered up the street
+or a milk wagon rumbled along. One of my companions had told a funny
+story. We were laughing at it. We stopped--the laugh unfinished on our
+lips.
+
+"Of a sudden we had found ourselves staggering and reeling. It was as if
+the earth was slipping gently from under our feet. Then came a sickening
+swaying of the earth that threw us flat upon our faces. We struggled in
+the street. We could not get on our feet.
+
+"I looked in a dazed fashion around me. I saw for an instant the big
+buildings in what looked like a crazy dance. Then it seemed as though my
+head were split with the roar that crashed into my ears. Big buildings
+were crumbling as one might crush a biscuit in one's hand. Great gray
+clouds of dust shot up with flying timbers, and storms of masonry rained
+into the street. Wild, high jangles of smashing glass cut a sharp note
+into the frightful roaring. Ahead of me a great cornice crushed a man as
+if he were a maggot--a laborer in overalls on his way to the Union Iron
+Works, with a dinner pail on his arm.
+
+"Everywhere men were on all fours in the street, like crawling bugs.
+Still the sickening, dreadful swaying of the earth continued. It seemed
+a quarter of an hour before it stopped. As a matter of fact, it lasted
+about three minutes. Footing grew firm again, but hardly were we on our
+feet before we were sent reeling again by repeated shocks, but they were
+milder. Clinging to something, one could stand.
+
+"The dust clouds were gone. It was quite dark, like twilight. But I saw
+trolley tracks uprooted, twisted fantastically. I saw wide wounds in
+the street. Water flooded out of one. A deadly odor of gas from a broken
+main swept out of the other. Telegraph poles were rocked like matches.
+A wild tangle of wires was in the street. Some of the wires wriggled and
+shot blue sparks.
+
+"From the south of us, faint, but all too clear, came a horrible chorus
+of human cries of agony. Down there in a ramshackle section of the city
+the wretched houses had fallen in upon the sleeping families. Down there
+throughout the day a fire burned the great part of whose fuel it is too
+gruesome a thing to contemplate.
+
+"That was what came next--the fire. It shot up everywhere. The fierce
+wave of destruction had carried a flaming torch with it--agony, death
+and a flaming torch. It was just as if some fire demon was rushing from
+place to place with such a torch."
+
+
+WRECK AND RUIN.
+
+
+The magnitude of the calamity became fully apparent after the sun had
+risen and began to shine warmly and brightly from the east over the
+ruined city. Old Sol, who had risen and looked down upon this city for
+thousands of times, had never before seen such a spectacle as that of
+this fateful morning. Where once rose noble buildings were now to be
+seen cracked and tottering walls, fallen chimneys, here and there fallen
+heaps of brick and mortar, and out of and above all the red light of
+the mounting flames. From the middle of the city's greatest thoroughfare
+ruin, only ruin, was to be seen on all sides. To the south, in hundreds
+of blocks, hardly a building had escaped unscathed. The cracked walls of
+the new Post Office showed the rending power of the earthquake. A part
+of the splendid and costly City Hall collapsed, the roof falling to the
+courtyard and the smaller towers tumbling down. Some of the wharves,
+laden with goods of every sort, slid into the bay. With them went
+thousands of tons of coal. On the harbor front the earth sank from six
+to eight inches, and great cracks opened in the streets.
+
+San Francisco's famous Chinatown, the greatest settlement of the
+Celestials on this continent, went down like a house of cards. When the
+earthquake had passed this den of squalor and infamy was no more. The
+Chinese theatres and joss-houses tumbled into ruins, rookery after
+rookery collapsed, and hundreds of their inhabitants were buried alive.
+Panic reigned supreme among the fugitives, who filled the streets in
+frightened multitudes, dragging from the wreck whatever they could save
+of their treasured possessions. Much the same was the case with the
+Japanese quarter, which fire quickly invaded, the people fleeing in
+terror, carrying on their backs what few of their household effects they
+were able to rescue.
+
+As for the people of Chinatown, however, no one knows or will ever know
+the extent of the dread fate that overcame them, for no one knows
+the secrets of that dark abode of infamy and crime, whose inhabitants
+burrowed underground like so many ants; and hid their secrets deep in
+the earth.
+
+
+THE RUIN OF CHINATOWN.
+
+
+W. W. Overton, of Los Angeles, thus describes the Chinatown dens and the
+revelations made by the earthquake and the flames:
+
+"Strange is the scene where San Francisco's Chinatown stood. No heap of
+smoking ruins marks the site of the wooden warrens where the Orientals
+dwelt in thousands. Only a cavern remains, pitted with deep holes and
+lined with dark passageways, from whose depths come smoke wreaths. White
+men never knew the depth of Chinatown's underground city. Many had gone
+beneath the street level two and three stories, but now that the place
+had been unmasked, men may see where its inner secrets lay. In places
+one can see passages a hundred feet deep.
+
+"The fire swept this Mongolian quarter clean. It left no shred of the
+painted wooden fabric. It ate down to the bare ground, and this lies
+stark, for the breezes have taken away the light ashes. Joss houses
+and mission schools, groceries and opium dens, gambling resorts and
+theatres, all of them went. These buildings blazed up like tissue paper.
+
+"From this place I saw hundreds of crazed yellow men flee. In their arms
+they bore opium pipes, money bags, silks and children. Beside them ran
+the trousered women and some hobbled painfully. These were the men and
+women of the surface. Far beneath the street levels in those cellars and
+passageways were other lives. Women, who never saw the day from their
+darkened prisons, and their blinking jailors were caught and eaten by
+the flames."
+
+Devastation spread widely on all sides, ruining the homes of the rich as
+well as of the poor, of Americans as well as of Europeans and Asiatics,
+the marts of trade, the haunts of pleasure, the realms of science and
+art, the resorts of thousands of the gay population of the Golden State
+metropolis. To attempt to tell the whole story of destruction and ruin
+would be to describe all for which San Francisco stood. Science
+suffered in the loss of the San Francisco Academy of Sciences, which was
+destroyed with its invaluable contents. This building, erected fifteen
+years ago at a cost of $500,000, was a seven-story building with a rich
+collection of objects of science. Much of the academy's contents can
+never be replaced. It represented the work of many years. There was a
+rare collection of Pacific Sea birds which was the most valuable of its
+kind in the world. In fact, the entire collection of birds ranked very
+high, was visited by ornithologists from every country, and was the
+pride of the city. The academy was founded in 1850, James Lick, the same
+man who endowed the Lick Observatory, giving it $1,000,000, so it was on
+a prosperous footing. It will take many years of active labor to replace
+the losses of an hour or two of the reign of fire in this institution,
+while much that it held is gone beyond restoration.
+
+
+LOSS TO ART AND SCIENCE.
+
+
+Art suffered as severely as science, the valuable collections in private
+and public buildings being nearly all destroyed. We have spoken of the
+rare paintings burned in the Bohemian Club building. The collections on
+Nob's Hill suffered as severely. When the mansions here, the Fairmount
+Hotel and Mark Hopkins Institute were approached by the flames, many
+attempts were made to remove some of the priceless works of art from the
+buildings. A crowd of soldiers was sent to the Flood and the Huntington
+mansions and the Hopkins Institute to rescue the paintings. From
+the Huntington home and the Flood mansion canvases were cut from the
+framework with knives. The collections in the three buildings, valued in
+the hundreds of thousands, in great part were destroyed, few being saved
+from the ravages of the fire.
+
+The destruction of the libraries, with their valuable collections of
+books, was also a very serious loss to the city and its people. Of these
+there were nine of some prominence, the Sutro Library containing many
+rare books among its 200,000 volumes, while that of the Mechanics
+Institute possessed property valued at $2,000,000. The Public Library
+occupied a part of the City Hall, the new building proposed by the city,
+with aid to the extent of $750,000 by Andrew Carnegie, being fortunately
+still in embryo.
+
+In the burning of the banks the losses were limited to the buildings,
+their money and other valuables being securely locked in fireproof
+vaults. But these became so heated by the flames that it was necessary
+to leave them to a gradual cooling for days, during which their
+treasures were unavailable, and those with deposits, small or large,
+were obliged to depend on the benevolence of the nation for food, such
+wealth as was left to them being locked up beyond their reach. It
+was the same with the United States Sub-Treasury, which was entirely
+destroyed by fire, its vaults, which contained all the cash on hand,
+being alone preserved. Guards were put over these to protect their
+contents against possible loss by theft.
+
+One serious effect of the conflagration was the general disorganization
+of the telegraph system. News items were sent over the wires, but
+private messages inquiring about missing friends for days failed to
+reach the parties concerned or to bring any return.
+
+That the world received news of the San Francisco disaster during the
+dread day after the earthquake is due in part to the courage of the
+telegraph operators, who stuck to their posts and, continued to send
+news and other messages in spite of great personal danger.
+
+The operators and officials of the Postal Telegraph Company remained in
+the main office of the company, at the corner of Market and Montgomery
+Streets, opposite the Palace Hotel, until they were ordered out of
+it because of the danger of the dynamite explosions in the immediate
+vicinity. The men proceeded to Oakland, across the bay, and took
+possession of the office there. That night the company operated seven
+wires from Oakland, all messages from the city being taken across the
+bay in boats. As the days passed on the service gradually improved, but
+a week or more passed away before the general service of the company
+became satisfactory.
+
+
+THE DANGER FROM THIRST.
+
+
+Such news as came from the city was full of tales of horror. For a
+number of days one of the chief sources of trouble was from thirst.
+Although the earthquake shocks had broken water mains in probably
+hundreds of places, strange to say, no water, or very little at least,
+appeared on the surface of the ground. Public fountains on Market
+Street gave out no relief to the thirsty thousands. At Powell and Market
+Streets a small stream of water spurted up through the cobblestones and
+formed a muddy pool, at which the thirsty were glad enough to drink. The
+soldiers, disregarding the order not to let people move about, permitted
+bucket brigades to go forth and bring back water to relieve the women
+and the crying children. To reach the water it was necessary sometimes
+to go a mile to one of the four reservoirs which top the hills.
+
+Here is a story told by one observer of incidents in the city during the
+fire:
+
+"I talked to one man who slept in Alta Plaza. The fire was going on
+in the district south of them, and at intervals all night exhausted
+fire-fighters made their way to the plaza and dropped, with the breath
+out of them, among the huddled people and the bundles of household
+goods. The soldiers, who are administering affairs with all the justice
+of judges and all the devotion of heroes, kept three or four buckets
+of water, even from the women, for these men, who kept coming all night
+long. There was a little food, also kept by the soldiers for these
+emergencies, and the sergeant had in his charge one precious bottle
+of whisky, from which he doled out drinks to those who were utterly
+exhausted.
+
+"Over in a corner of the plaza a band of men and women were praying, and
+one fanatic, driven crazy by horror, was crying out at the top of his
+voice:
+
+"'The Lord sent it, the Lord!'
+
+"His hysterical crying got in the nerves of the soldiers and bade fair
+to start a panic among the women and children, so the sergeant went over
+and stopped it by force. All night they huddled together in this hell,
+with the fire making it bright as day on all sides; and in the morning
+the soldiers, using their sense again, commandeered a supply of bread
+from a bakery, sent out another water squad, and fed the refugees with a
+semblance of breakfast.
+
+"There was one woman in the crowd who had been separated from her
+husband in a rush of the smoke and did not know whether he was living.
+The women attended to her all night and in the morning the soldiers
+passed her through the lines in her search. A few Chinese made their
+way into the crowd. They were trembling, pitifully scared and willing
+to stop wherever the soldiers placed them. This is only a glimpse of the
+horrible night in the parks and open places.
+
+"We learn here that many of the well-to-do people in the upper residence
+district have gathered in the strangers from the highways and byways and
+given them shelter and comfort for the night in their living rooms and
+drawing rooms. Shelter seems to have come more easily than food. Not an
+ounce of supplies, of course, has come in for two days, and most of the
+permanent stores are in the hands of the soldiers, who dole them out to
+all comers alike. But the hungry cannot always find the military stores
+and the news has not gotten about, since there are no newspapers and no
+regular means of communication.
+
+"An Italian tells me that he was taken in by a family living in a
+three-story house in the fashionable Pacific Avenue. There were twenty
+refugees who passed the night in the drawing room of that house, whose
+mistress took down hangings to make them comfortable. In the morning all
+the food that was left over in that home of wealth was enough flour and
+baking powder to shake together a breakfast for the refugees. They were
+hardly ready to leave that house when the fire came their way, and
+the people of the house, together with the refugees, who included two
+Chinese, made their way to the open ground of the Presidio. With them
+streamed a procession of folks carrying valuables in bundles.
+
+"There came out, too, tales of both heroism and crime. The firemen had
+been at it for thirty-six hours under such conditions as firemen never
+before faced, and they do little more than give directions, while the
+volunteers, thousands of young Western men who have remained to see it
+through, do the work. The troops have all that they can do to handle
+the crowds in the streets and prevent panics. The work of dynamiting,
+tearing down and rescuing is in the hands of the volunteers.
+
+"This morning an eddy of flame from the edge of the burning wholesale
+district ran up the slope of Russian Hill, the highest eminence in the
+city. All along the edge of that hill and up the slopes are little frame
+houses which hold Italians and Mexicans. A corps of volunteer aides ran
+along the edge of the fire, warning people out of the houses. But the
+flames ran too fast and three women were caught in the upper story of an
+old frame house. A young man tore a rail from a fence, managed to climb
+it, and reached the window. He bundled one woman out and slid her down
+the rail; then the roof caught fire. He seized another woman and managed
+to drop her on the rail, down which she slid without hurting herself a
+great deal. But the roof fell while he was struggling with another woman
+and they fell together into the flames. There must have been hundreds
+of such heroisms and dozens of such catastrophes. We are so drunken
+and dulled by horror that we take such stories calmly now. We are
+saturated."
+
+
+HOW LOOTING WAS HINDERED.
+
+
+One thing to be strictly guarded against in those days of destruction
+was the outbreak of lawlessness. A city as large as San Francisco is
+sure to hold a large number of the brigands of civilization, a horde
+who need to be kept under strict discipline at all times, and especially
+when calamity lets down for the time being the bars of the law, at
+which time many of the usually law-abiding would join their ranks if any
+license were allowed. The authorities made haste to guard against
+this and certain other dangers, Mayor Schmitz issuing on Wednesday the
+following proclamation:
+
+"The Federal troops, the members of the regular police force and special
+police officers have been authorized to kill any and all persons engaged
+in looting or in the commission of any other crime.
+
+"I have directed all the gas and electric lighting companies not to turn
+on gas or electricity until I order them to do so. You may, therefore,
+expect the city to remain in darkness for an indefinite time.
+
+"I request all citizens to remain at home from darkness until daylight
+every night until order is restored.
+
+"I warn all citizens of the danger of fire from damaged or destroyed
+chimneys, broken or leaking gas pipes or fixtures or any like causes."
+
+He also ordered that no lights should be used in the houses and no fires
+built in the houses until the chimneys had been inspected and repaired.
+
+There was need of vigilance in this direction, for the vandals were
+quickly at work. Routed out from their dens along the wharves, the
+rats of the waterfront, the drifters on the back eddy of civilization,
+crawled out intent on plunder. Early in the day a policeman caught one
+of these men creeping through the window of a small bank on Montgomery
+Street and shot him dead. But the police were kept too busy at other
+necessary duties to devote much time to these wretches, and for a time
+many of them plundered at will, though some of them met with quick and
+sure retribution.
+
+
+STORIES BY SIGHTSEERS.
+
+
+One onlooker says: "Were it not for the fact that the soldiers in charge
+of the city do not hesitate in shooting down the ghouls the lawless
+element would predominate. Not alone do the soldiers execute the law. On
+Wednesday afternoon, in front of the Palace Hotel, a crowd of workers in
+the mines discovered a miscreant in the act of robbing a corpse of its
+jewels. Without delay he was seized, a rope obtained, and he was strung
+up to a beam that was left standing in the ruined entrance of the hotel.
+No sooner had he been hoisted up and a hitch taken in the rope than
+one of his fellow-criminals was captured. Stopping only to obtain a few
+yards of hemp, a knot was quickly tied, and the wretch was soon adorning
+the hotel entrance by the side of the other dastard.
+
+"These are the only two instances I saw, but I heard of many that were
+seen by others. The soldiers do all they can, and while the unspeakable
+crime of robbing the dead is undoubtedly being practiced, it would be
+many times as prevalent were it not for the constant vigilance on all
+sides, as well as the summary justice."
+
+Another observer tells of an instance of this summary justice that came
+under his eyes:
+
+"At the corner of Market and Third Streets on Wednesday I saw a man
+attempting to cut the fingers from the hand of a dead woman in order
+to secure the rings which adorned the stiffened fingers. Three soldiers
+witnessed the deed at the same time and ordered the man to throw up his
+hands. Instead of obeying the command he drew a revolver from his pocket
+and began to fire at his pursuer without warning. The three soldiers,
+reinforced by half a dozen uniformed patrolmen, raised their rifles to
+their shoulders and fired. With the first shots the man fell, and when
+the soldiers went to the body to dump it into an alley nine bullets were
+found to have entered it."
+
+The warning this severity gave was accentuated in one instance in a most
+effective manner. On a pile of bricks, stones and rubbish was thrown the
+body of a man shot through the heart, and on his chest was pinned this
+placard:
+
+"Take warning!"
+
+Those of the ghouls who saw this were likely to desist from their
+detestable work, unless they valued spoils more than life.
+
+Willis Ames, a Salt Lake City man, tells of the kind of justice done to
+thieves, as it came under his observation:
+
+"I saw man after man shot down by the troops. Most of these were ghouls.
+One man made the trooper believe that one of the dead bodies lying on a
+pile of rocks was his mother, and he was permitted to go up to the body.
+Apparently overcome by grief, he threw himself across the corpse. In
+another instant the soldiers discovered that he was chewing the diamond
+earrings from the ears of the dead woman. 'Here is where you get what is
+coming to you,' said one of the soldiers, and with that he put a
+bullet through the ghoul. The diamonds were found in the man's mouth
+afterward."
+
+Others were shot to save them from the horror of being burned alive. Max
+Fast, a garment worker, tells of such an instance. He says:
+
+"When the fire caught the Windsor Hotel at Fifth and Market Streets
+there were three men on the roof, and it was impossible to get them
+down. Rather than see the crazed men fall in with the roof and be
+roasted alive the military officer directed his men to shoot them, which
+they did in the presence of 5,000 people."
+
+He further states: "At Jefferson Square I saw a fatal clash between the
+military and the police. A policeman ordered a soldier to take up a dead
+body to put it in the wagon, and the soldier ordered the policeman to do
+it. Words followed, and the soldier shot the policeman dead."
+
+Among the many stories of this character on record is that of a
+concerted effort to break into and rob the Mint, which led to the death
+of fourteen men, who were shot down by the guard in charge. They
+had disregarded the command of the officer in charge to desist. They
+disobeyed, and the death of nearly the whole of them followed.
+
+
+DEATH FOR SLIGHT OFFENSE.
+
+
+As may well be imagined, the privilege given to fire at will was very
+likely to lead to examples of unjustifiable haste in the use of the
+rifle. Such haste is not charged against the United States troops, but
+the militia and volunteer guards showed less judgment in the use of
+their weapons. Thus we are told that one man was shot for the minor
+offense of washing his hands in drinking water which had been brought
+with great trouble for the thirsty people gathered in Columbia Park. It
+is also said that a bank clerk, searching the ruins of his bank under
+orders, was killed by a soldier who thought he was looting. More than
+one seems to have been shot as looters for entering their own homes.
+
+Among the reports there is one that two men were shot through the
+windows of their houses because they disobeyed the general orders and
+lit candles, and one woman because she lighted a fire in her cook
+stove. Yet, if such unwarranted acts existed, there were others better
+deserved. It is said that three men were lined up and shot before ten
+thousand people. One was caught taking the rings from a woman who had
+fainted, another had stolen a piece of bread from a hungry child, and
+the third, little more than a boy, was found in the act of robbing
+tents. One thief who escaped the bullet richly deserved it. He came
+upon a Miss Logan when lying unconscious on the floor of the St. Francis
+Hotel after the earthquake, and, rather than take the time to wrench
+some valuable rings from her hand, cut off the finger bearing them, and
+left her to the horrors of the coming fire.
+
+The climax in the too free use of the rifle came on the 23d, when Major
+H. C. Tilden, a prominent member of the General Relief Committee, was
+shot and killed in his automobile by members of the citizens' patrol.
+Two others in the car were struck by bullets. The automobile had been
+used as an ambulance and the Red Cross flag was displayed on it. The
+excuse of the shooters was that they did not see the flag and that the
+car did not stop when challenged. This act led to an order forbidding
+the carrying of firearms by the citizens' committees and to stricter
+regulation of the soldiers in the use of their weapons.
+
+Later on looting took a new form different from that at first shown and
+was practiced by a different class of people. These were the sightseers,
+many of them people of prominence, who entered upon a crusade of relic
+hunting in Chinatown, gathering and carrying off from the ashes of this
+quarter valuable pieces of chinaware, bronze ornaments, etc. It became
+necessary to put a stop to this, and on April 30th four militiamen were
+arrested while digging in the ruins of the Chinese bazaars, and others
+were frightened away by shots fired over their heads. A strong military
+line was then drawn around the district, and this last resource of the
+looter came to an end.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+The Panic Flight of a Homeless Host.
+
+
+The scene that was visible in the streets of San Francisco on that dread
+Wednesday morning was one to make the strongest shudder with horror.
+Those three minutes of devastating earth tremors were moments never to
+be forgotten. In such a time it is the human instinct to get into the
+open air, and the people stumbled from their heaving and quivering
+houses to find even the solid earth was swaying and rising and falling,
+so that here and there great rents opened in the streets. To the
+panic-stricken people the minutes that followed seemed years of terror.
+Doubtless some among them died of sheer fright and more went mad with
+terror. There was a roar in the air like a burst of thunder, and from
+all directions came the crash of falling walls. They would run forward,
+then stop, as another shock seemed to take the earth from under their
+feet, and many of them flung themselves face downward on the ground in
+an agony of fear.
+
+Two or three minutes seemed to pass before the fugitives found their
+voices. Then the screams of women and the wild cries of men rent the
+air, and with one impulse the terror-stricken host fled toward the
+parks, to get themselves as far as possible from the tottering and
+falling walls. These speedily became packed with people, most of them
+in the night clothes in which they had leaped or been flung from their
+beds, screaming and moaning at the little shocks that at intervals
+followed the great one. The dawn was just breaking. The gas and electric
+mains were gone and the street lamps were all out. The sky was growing
+white in the east, but before the sun could fling his early rays from
+the horizon there came another light, a lurid and threatening one, that
+of the flames that had begun to rise in the warehouse district.
+
+The braver men and those without families to watch over set out for this
+endangered region, half dressed as they were. In the early morning light
+they could see the business district below them, many of the buildings
+in ruins and the flames showing redly in five or six places. Through the
+streets came the fire engines, called from the outlying districts by a
+general alarm. The firemen were not aware as yet that no water was to be
+had.
+
+
+THE PANIC IN THE SLUMS.
+
+
+On Portsmouth Square the panic was indescribable. This old tree plaza,
+about which the early city was built, is now in the centre of Chinatown,
+of the Italian district and of the "Barbary Coast," the "Tenderloin" of
+the Western metropolis. It is the chief slum district of the city. The
+tremor here ran up the Chinatown hill and shook down part of the crazy
+buildings on its southern edge. It brought ruin also to some of the
+Italian tenements. Portsmouth Square became the refuge of the terrified
+inhabitants. Out from their underground burrows like so many rats fled
+the Chinese, trembling in terror into the square, and seeking by beating
+gongs and other noise-making instruments to scare off the underground
+demons. Into the square from the other side came the Italian refugees.
+The panic became a madness, knives were drawn in the insanity of the
+moment, and two Chinamen were taken to the morgue, stabbed to death
+for no other reason than pure madness. Here on one side dwelt 20,000
+Chinese, and on the other thousands of Italians, Spaniards and Mexicans,
+while close at hand lived the riff-raff of the "Barbary Coast."
+
+Seemingly the whole of these rushed for that one square of open ground,
+the two streams meeting in the centre of the square and heaping up on
+its edges. There they squabbled and fought in the madness of panic and
+despair, as so many mad wolves might have fought when caught in the
+red whirl of a prairie fire, until the soldiers broke in and at the
+bayonet's point brought some semblance of order out of the confusion of
+panic terror.
+
+This scene in Portsmouth Square but illustrated the madness of fear
+everywhere prevailing. On every side thousands were fleeing from the
+roaring furnace that minute by minute seemed to extend its boundaries.
+
+
+THE FLIGHT FOR SAFETY.
+
+
+In the awful scramble for safety the half-crazed survivors disregarded
+everything but the thought of themselves and their property. In every
+excavation and hole throughout the north beach householders buried
+household effects, throwing them into ditches and covering the holes.
+Attempts were made to mark the graves of the property so that it could
+be recovered after the flames were appeased.
+
+The streets were filled with struggling people, some crying and
+weeping and calling for missing loved ones. Crowding the sidewalks were
+thousands of householders attempting to drag some of their effects to
+places of safety. In some instances men with ropes were dragging trunks,
+tandem style, while others had sewing machines strapped to the trunks.
+Again, women were rushing for the hills, carrying on their arms only the
+family cat or a bird cage.
+
+There were two ideas in the minds of the fugitives, and in many cases
+these two only. One of these was to escape to the open ground of Golden
+Gate Park and the Presidio reservation; the other was to reach the ferry
+and make their way out of the seemingly doomed city.
+
+At the ferry building a crowd numbering thousands gathered, begging for
+food and transportation across the bay. Hundreds had not even the ten
+cents fare to Oakland. Most of the refugees at this point were Chinamen
+and Italians, who had fled from their burned tenements with little or no
+personal property.
+
+Residents of the hillsides in the central portion of the city seemingly
+were safe from the inferno of flames that was consuming the business
+section. They watched the towering mounds of flames, and speculated
+as to the extent of the territory that was doomed. Suddenly there was
+whispered alarm up and down the long line of watchers, and they hurried
+away to drag clothing, cooking utensils and scant provisions through the
+streets. From Grant Avenue the procession moved westward. Men and
+women dragged trunks, packed huge bundles of blankets, boxes of
+provisions--everything. Wagons could not be hired except by paying the
+most extortionate rates.
+
+"Thank Heaven for the open space of the Presidio and for Golden Gate
+Park!" was the unspoken thank-offering of many hearts. The great park,
+with its thousand and more acres of area, extending from the thinly
+populated part of the city across the sand dunes to the Pacific, seemed
+in that awful hour a God-given place of refuge. Near it and extending to
+the Golden Gate channel is the Presidio military reservation, containing
+1,480 acres, and with only a few houses on its broad extent. Here also
+was a place of safety, provided that the forests which form a part of
+its area did not burn.
+
+
+THE EXODUS FROM THE BURNING CITY.
+
+
+To these open spaces, to the suburbs, in every available direction,
+the fugitives streamed, in thousands, in tens of thousands, finally
+in hundreds of thousands, safety from those towering flames, from
+the tottering walls of their dwellings, from a possible return of the
+earthquake, their one overmastering thought. There were many persons
+with scanty clothing, women in underskirts and thin waists and men in
+shirt sleeves. Many women carried children, while others wheeled
+baby carriages. It was a strange and weird procession, that kept up
+unceasingly all that dreadful day and through the night that followed,
+as the all-conquering flames spread the area of terror.
+
+At intervals news came of what was doing behind the smoke cloud. The
+area of the flames spread all night. People who had decided that their
+houses were outside of the dangerous area and had decided to pass the
+night, even after the terrible experience of the shake-up, under their
+roofs, hourly gave up the idea and struggled to the parks. There they
+lay in blankets, their choicest valuables by their sides, and the
+soldiers kept watch and order. Many lay on the bare grass of the park,
+with nothing between them and the chill night air. Fortunately, the
+weather was clear and mild, but among those who lay under the open sky
+were men and women who were delicately reared, accustomed all their
+lives to luxurious surroundings, and these must have suffered severely
+during that night of terror.
+
+The fire was going on in the district south of them, and at intervals
+all night exhausted fire-fighters made their way to the plaza and
+dropped, with the breath out of them, among the huddled people and the
+bundles of household goods. The soldiers, who were administering affairs
+with all the justice of judges and all the devotion of heroes, kept
+three or four buckets of water, even from the women, for these men, who
+continued to come all the night long. There was a little food, also
+kept by the soldiers for these emergencies, and the sergeant had in his
+charge one precious bottle of whisky, from which he doled out drinks to
+those who were utterly exhausted.
+
+But there was no panic. The people were calm, stunned. They did not
+seem to realize the extent of the calamity. They heard that the city
+was being destroyed; they told each other in the most natural tone
+that their residences were destroyed by the flames, but there was no
+hysteria, no outcry, no criticism.
+
+The trip to the hills and to the water front was one of terrible
+hardship. Famishing women and children and exhausted men were compelled
+to walk seven miles around the north shore in order to avoid the flames
+and reach the ferries. Many dropped to the street under the weight of
+their loads, and willing fathers and husbands, their strength almost
+gone, strove to pick up and urge them forward again.
+
+In the panic many mad things were done. Even soldiers were obliged in
+many instances to prevent men and women, made insane from the misfortune
+that had engulfed them, from rushing into doomed buildings in the hope
+of saving valuables from the ruins. In nearly every instance such action
+resulted in death to those who tried it. At Larkin and Sutter Streets,
+two men and a woman broke from the police and rushed into a burning
+apartment house, never to reappear.
+
+The rush to the parks and the dunes was followed in the days that
+followed by as wild a rush to the ferries, due to the mad desire to
+escape anywhere, in any way, from the burning city.
+
+
+THE WILD RUSH TO THE FERRIES.
+
+
+At the ferry station on Wednesday night there was much confusion.
+Mingled in an inextricable mass were people of every race and class
+on earth. A common misfortune and hunger obliterated all distinctions.
+Chinese, lying on pallets of rags, slept near exhausted white women with
+babies in their arms. Bedding, household furniture of every description,
+pet animals and trinkets, luggage and packages of every sort packed
+almost every foot of space near the ferry building. Men spread bedding
+on the pavement and calmly slept the sleep of exhaustion, while all
+around a bedlam of confusion reigned.
+
+Many of those who sought the ferry on that fatal Wednesday met a solid
+wall of flames extending for squares in length and utterly impassable.
+In their half insane eagerness to escape some of them would have rushed
+into fatal danger but for the soldiers, who guarded the fire line
+and forced them back. Only those reached the ferry who had come in
+precedence of the flames, or who made a long detour to reach that avenue
+of flight. When the news came to the camps of refugees that it was safe
+to cross the burned area a procession began from the Golden Gate Park
+across the city and down Market Street, the thoroughfare which had long
+been the pride of the citizens, and a second from the Presidio, along
+the curving shore line of the north bay, thence southward along the
+water front. Throughout these routes, eight miles long, a continuous
+flow of humanity dragged its weary way all day and far into the night
+amidst hundreds of vehicles, from the clumsy garbage cart to the modern
+automobile. Almost every person and every vehicle carried luggage.
+Drivers of vehicles were disregardful of these exhausted, hungry
+refugees and drove straight through the crowd. So dazed and deadened to
+all feeling were some of them that they were bumped aside by carriage
+wheels or bumped out of the way by persons.
+
+
+SCENES OF HUMOR AND PATHOS.
+
+
+As already stated, the scene had its humorous as well as its pathetic
+side, and various amusing stories are told by those who were in a frame
+of mind to notice ludicrous incidents in the horrors of the situation.
+Two race track men met in the drive.
+
+"Hello, Bill; where are you living now?" asked one.
+
+"You see that tree over there--that big one?" said Bill. "Well, you
+climb that. My room is on the third branch to the left," and they went
+away laughing.
+
+Another observer tells these incidents of the flight: "I saw one big fat
+man calmly walking up Market Street, carrying a huge bird cage, and the
+cage was empty. He seemed to enjoy looking at the wrecked buildings.
+Another man was leading a huge Newfoundland dog and carrying a kitten in
+his arms. He kept talking to the kitten. On Fell Street I noticed an old
+woman, half dressed, pushing a sewing machine up the hill. A drawer
+fell out, and she stopped to gather the fallen spools. Poor little
+seamstress, it was now her all."
+
+A more amusing instance of the spirit of saving is that told by another
+narrator, who says that he saw a lone woman patiently pushing an upright
+piano along the pavement a few inches at a time. Evidently in this case,
+too, it was the poor soul's one great treasure on earth.
+
+He also tells of a guest berating the proprietor of a hotel, a few
+minutes after the shock, because he had not obeyed orders to call him at
+five o'clock. He vowed he would never stop at that house again, a vow he
+might well keep, as the house is no more.
+
+In one room where two girls were dressing the floor gave way and one of
+them disappeared.
+
+"Where are you, Mary?" screamed her companion.
+
+"Oh, I'm in the parlor," said Mary calmly, as she wriggled out of the
+mass of plaster and mortar below.
+
+At the handsome residence of Rudolph Spreckels, the wealthy financier,
+the lawn was riven from end to end in great gashes, while the ornamental
+Italian rail leading to the imposing entrance was a battered heap. But
+the family, with a philosophy notable for the occasion, calmly set up
+housekeeping on the sidewalk, the women seated in armchairs taken from
+the mansion and wrapped in rugs and coverlets, the silver breakfast
+service was laid out on the stone coping and their morning meal spread
+out on the sidewalk. This, scene was repeated at other houses of the
+wealthy, the families too fearful of another shock to venture within
+doors.
+
+Another story of much interest in this connection is told. On Friday
+afternoon, two days and some hours after the scene just narrated, Mrs.
+Rudolph Spreckels presented her husband with an heir on the lawn in
+front of their mansion, while the family were awaiting the coming of the
+dynamite squad to blow up their magnificent residence. An Irish woman
+who had been called in to play the part of midwife at a birth elsewhere
+on Saturday, made a pertinent comment after the wee one's eyes were
+opened to the walls of its tent home.
+
+"God sends earthquakes and babies," she said, "but He might, in His
+mercy, cut out sending them both together."
+
+There were many pathetic incidents. Families had been sadly separated
+in the confusion of the flight. Husbands had lost their wives--wives
+had lost their husbands, and anxious mothers sought some word of their
+children--the stories were very much the same. One pretty looking woman
+in an expensive tailor-made costume badly torn, had lost her little
+girl.
+
+"I don't think anything has happened to her," said she, hopefully. "She
+is almost eleven years old, and some one will be sure to take her in and
+care for her; I only want to know where she is. That is all I care about
+now."
+
+A well-known young lady of good social position, when asked where she
+had spent the night, replied: "On a grave."
+
+"I thank God, I thank Uncle Sam and the people of this nation," said a
+woman, clad in a red woolen wrapper, seated in front of a tent at the
+Presidio nursing one child and feeding three others from a board propped
+on two bricks. "We have lost our home and all we had, but we have never
+been hungry nor without shelter."
+
+The spirit of '49 was vital in many of the refugees. One man wanted to
+know whether the fire had reached his home. He was informed that there
+was not a house standing in that section of the city. He shrugged his
+shoulders and whistled.
+
+"There's lots of others in the same boat," as he turned away.
+
+"Going to build?" repeated one man, who had lost family and home inside
+of two hours. "Of course, I am. They tell me that the money in the banks
+is still all right, and I have some insurance. Fifteen years ago I began
+with these," showing his hands, "and I guess I'm game to do it over
+again. Build again, well I wonder."
+
+Among the many pathetic incidents of the disaster was that of a woman
+who sat at the foot of Van Ness Avenue on the hot sands on the hillside
+overlooking the bay east of Fort Mason, with four little children,
+the youngest a girl of three, the eldest a boy of ten years. They were
+destitute of water, food and money.
+
+The woman had fled, with her children, from a home in flames in the
+Mission Street district, and tramped to the bay in the hope of sighting
+the ship which she said was about due, of which her husband was the
+captain.
+
+"He would know me anywhere," she said. And she would not move, although
+a young fellow gallantly offered his tent, back on a vacant lot, in
+which to shelter her children.
+
+
+THE GOLDEN GATE CAMP.
+
+
+In the Golden Gate Park there was the most woefully grotesque camp of
+sufferers imaginable. There was no caste, no distinction of rich and
+poor, social lines had been obliterated by the common misfortune, and
+the late owners of property and wealth were glad to camp by the side of
+the day laborer. As for shelter, there were a few army tents and some
+others which afforded a fair degree of comfort, but nine out of ten are
+the poorest suggestions of tents made out of bedclothes, rugs, raincoats
+and in some cases of lace curtains. None of the tents or huts has a
+floor, and it is impossible to see how a large number of women and
+children can escape the most disastrous physical effects.
+
+The unspeakable chaos that prevailed was apparent in no way more than
+in the system, or lack of system, of registration and location. At the
+entrance to Golden Gate Park stands a billboard, twenty feet high and
+a hundred feet long. Originally it bore the praises of somebody's beer.
+Covering this billboard, to a height of ten or twelve feet, were slips
+of paper, business cards, letter heads and other notices, addressed
+to "Those interested," "Friends and relatives," or to some individual,
+telling of the whereabouts of refugees.
+
+One notice read: "Mrs. Rogers will find her husband in Isidora Park,
+Oakland. W. H. Rogers." Another style was this: "Sue, Harry and Will
+Sollenberger all safe. Call at No. 250 Twenty-seventh Avenue."
+
+There were thousands of these dramatic notices on this billboard, and
+one larger than the others read: "Death notices can be left here; get as
+many as possible."
+
+Another method of finding friends and relatives was by printing notices
+on vehicles. On the side curtains of a buggy being driven to Golden Gate
+Park was the following sign: "I am looking for I. E. Hall."
+
+That searchers for lost ones might have the least trouble, all the
+tents, here known as camps, were tagged with the names or numbers. For
+instance, one tent of bed quilts carried this sign: "No. 40 Bush Street
+camp."
+
+Most of the tents were merely named for the family name of the
+occupants, the former streets number usually being given. But these tent
+tags told a wonderful story of human nature. A small army tent bore the
+name, "Camp Thankful," the one next to it was placarded "Camp Glory" and
+a few feet farther on an Irishman had posted the sign "Camp Hell."
+
+The cooking was all done on a dozen bricks for a stove, with such
+utensils as may usually be picked up in the ordinary residential alley.
+But in all of the camps the badge of the eternal feminine was to be
+found in the form of small pieces of broken mirrors, or hand mirrors
+fastened to trees or tent walls, in some cases the polished bottom of a
+tomato can serving the purposes of the feminine toilet.
+
+One woman, in whose improvised tent screeched a parrot, sat ministering
+to the wounds of the other family pet, a badly singed cat. The number of
+canaries, parrots, dogs and cats was one of the amusing features of the
+disaster.
+
+Among the interesting and thrilling incidents of the disaster is that
+connected with the telegraph service. For many hours virtually all the
+news from San Francisco came over the wires of the Postal Telegraph
+Company. The Postal has about fifteen wires running into San Francisco.
+They go under the bay in cables from Oakland, and thence run underground
+for several blocks down Market Street to the Postal building. About
+forty operators are employed to handle the business, but evidently there
+was only about one on duty when the earthquake began.
+
+What became of him nobody knows. But he seems to have sent the first
+word of the disaster. It came over the Postal wires about nine o'clock,
+just when the day's business had started in the East. It will long be
+preserved in the records of the company. This was the dispatch:
+
+"There was an earthquake hit us at 5.13 this morning, wrecking several
+buildings and wrecking our offices. They are carting dead from the
+fallen buildings. Fire all over town. There is no water and we lost our
+power. I'm going to get out of office, as we have had a little shake
+every few minutes, and it's me for the simple life."
+
+"R., San Francisco, 5.50 A. M."
+
+"Mr. R." evidently got out, for there was nothing doing for a brief
+interval after that. The operator in the East pounded and pounded at his
+key, but San Francisco was silent. The Postal people were wondering if
+it was all the dream of some crazy operator or a calamity, when the wire
+woke up again. It was the superintendent of the San Francisco force this
+time.
+
+"We're on the job, and are going to try and stick," was the way the
+first message came from him.
+
+This was what came over the wire a little later:
+
+"Terrific earthquake occurred here at 5.13 this morning. A number of
+people were killed in the city. None of the Postal people were killed.
+They are now carting the dead from the fallen buildings. There are many
+fires, with no one to fight them. Postal building roof wrecked, but not
+entire building."
+
+The fire got nearer and nearer to the Postal building. All of the water
+mains had been destroyed around the building, the operators said, and
+there was no hope if the fire came on. They also said that they could
+hear the sound of dynamite blowing up buildings. All this time the
+operators were sticking to their posts and sending and receiving all the
+business the wires could stand. At 12.45 the wire began to click again
+with a message for the little group of waiting officials.
+
+This message came in jerks: "Fire still coming up Market Street. It's
+one block from the Post Office now; back of the Palace Hotel is a
+furnace. I am afraid that the Grand Hotel and the Palace Hotel will get
+it soon. The Southern Pacific offices on California Street are safe,
+so far, but can't tell what will happen. California Street is on fire.
+Almost everything east of Montgomery Street and north of Market Street
+is on fire now."
+
+There was a pause, then: "We are beginning to pack up our instruments."
+
+"Instruments are all packed up, and we are ready to run," was another
+message. It was evident that just one instrument had been left connected
+with the world outside. In about ten minutes it began to click. Those
+who knew the telegraphers' language caught the word "Good-bye," and then
+the ticks stopped.
+
+At the end of an hour the instrument in the office began to click again.
+It was from an electrician by the name of Swain.
+
+"I'm back in the building, but they are dynamiting the building next
+door, and I've got to get out," was the way his message was translated.
+Dynamite ended the story, and the Postal's domicile in San Francisco
+ceased to exist.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Facing Famine and Praying for Relief.
+
+
+Frightful was the emergency of the vast host of fugitives who fled
+in terror from the blazing city of San Francisco to the open gates of
+Golden Gate Park and the military reservation of the Presidio. Food was
+wanting, scarcely any water was to be had, death by hunger and thirst
+threatened more than a quarter million of souls thus driven without
+warning from their comfortable and happy homes and left without food
+or shelter. Provisions, shelter tents, means of relief of various kinds
+were being hurried forward in all haste, but for several days the host
+of fugitives had no beds but the bare ground, no shelter but the open
+heavens, scarcely a crumb of bread to eat, scarcely a gill of water to
+drink. Those first days that followed the disaster were days of horror
+and dread. Rich and poor were mingled together, the delicately reared
+with the rough sons of toil to whom privation was no new experience.
+
+Those who had food to sell sought to take advantage of the necessities
+of the suffering by charging famine prices for their supplies, but the
+soldiers put a quick stop to this. When Thursday morning broke, lines
+of buyers formed before the stores whose supplies had not been
+commandeered. In one of these, the first man was charged 75 cents for a
+loaf of bread. The corporal in charge at that point brought his gun down
+with a slam.
+
+"Bread is 10 cents a loaf in this shop," he said.
+
+It went. The soldier fixed the schedule of prices a little higher than
+in ordinary times, and to make up for that he forced the storekeeper to
+give free food to several hungry people in line who had no money to pay.
+In several other places the soldiers used the same brand of horse sense.
+
+A man with a loaf of bread in his hand ran up to a policeman on
+Washington Street. "Here," he said, "this man is trying to charge me a
+dollar for this loaf of bread. Is that fair?"
+
+"Give it to me," said the policeman. He broke off one end of it and
+stuck it in his mouth. "I am hungry myself," he said when he had his
+mouth clear. "Take the rest of it. It's appropriated."
+
+As an example of the prices charged for food and service by the
+unscrupulous, we may quote the experience of a Los Angeles millionaire
+named John Singleton, who had been staying a day or two at the Palace
+Hotel. On Wednesday he had to pay $25 for an express wagon to carry
+himself, his wife and her sister to the Casino, near Golden Gate Park,
+and on Thursday was charged a dollar apiece for eggs and a dollar for a
+loaf of bread. Others tell of having to pay $50 for a ride to the ferry.
+
+One of the refugees on the shores of Lake Herced Thursday morning spied
+a flock of ducks and swans which the city maintained there for the
+decoration of the lake. He plunged into the lake, swam out to them and
+captured a fat drake. Other men and boys saw the point and followed. The
+municipal ducks were all cooking in five minutes.
+
+The soldiers were prompt to take charge of the famine situation, acting
+on their own responsibility in clearing out the supplies of the little
+grocery stores left standing and distributing them among the people in
+need. The principal food of those who remained in the city was composed
+of canned goods and crackers. The refugees who succeeded in getting out
+of San Francisco were met as soon as they entered the neighboring towns
+by representatives of bakers who had made large supplies of bread, and
+who immediately dealt them out to the hungry people.
+
+
+THE FOOD QUESTION URGENT.
+
+
+But the needs of the three hundred thousand homeless and hungry people
+in the city could not be met in this way, and immediate supplies in
+large quantities were necessary to prevent a reign of famine from
+succeeding the ravages of the fire. Danger from thirst was still more
+insistent than that from hunger. There was some food to be had, bakeries
+were quickly built within the military reservation there, and General
+Funston announced that rations would soon reach the city and the people
+would be supplied from the Presidio. But there was scarcely any water to
+relieve the thirst of the suffering. Water became the incessant cry
+of firemen and people alike, the one wanting it to fight the fire, the
+other to drink, but even for the latter the supply was very scant.
+There was water in plenty in the reservoirs, but they were distant and
+difficult to reach, and all night of the day succeeding the earth shock
+wagons mounted with barrels and guarded by soldiers drove through the
+park doling out water. There was a steady crush around these wagons, but
+only one drink was allowed to a person.
+
+Toward midnight a black, staggering body of men began to weave through
+the entrance. They were volunteer fire-fighters, looking for a place
+to throw themselves down and sleep. These men dropped out all along the
+line, and were rolled out of the driveways by the troops. There was much
+splendid unselfishness here. Women gave up their blankets and sat up or
+walked about all night to cover the exhausted men who had fought fire
+until there was no more fight in them.
+
+The common destitution and suffering had, as we have said, wiped out all
+social, financial and racial distinctions. The man who last Tuesday was
+a prosperous merchant was obliged to occupy with his family a little
+plot of ground that adjoined the open-air home of a laborer. The
+white man of California forgot his antipathy to the Asiatic race,
+and maintained friendly relations with his new Chinese and Japanese
+neighbors. The society belle who Tuesday night was a butterfly of
+fashion at the grand opera performance now assisted some factory girl
+in the preparation of humble daily meals. Money had little value. The
+family that had had foresight to lay in the largest stock of foodstuffs
+on the first day of disaster was rated highest in the scale of wealth.
+
+A few of the families that could secure wagons were possessors of cook
+stoves, but over 95 per cent. of the refugees did their cooking on
+little campfires made of brick or stone. Battered kitchen utensils that
+the week before would have been regarded as useless had become articles
+of high value. In fact, man had come back to nature and all lines
+of caste had been obliterated, while the very thought of luxury had
+disappeared. It was, in the exigency of the moment, considered good
+fortune to have a scant supply of the barest necessaries of life.
+
+As for clothing, it was in many cases of the scantiest, while numbers of
+the people had brought comfortable clothing and bedding. Many others had
+fled in their night garbs, and comparatively few of these had had the
+self-possession to return and don their daytime clothes. As a result
+there had been much improvisation of garments suitable for life in the
+open air, and as the days went on many of the women arrayed themselves
+in home-made bloomer costumes, a sensible innovation under the
+circumstances and in view of the active outdoor work they were obliged
+to perform.
+
+The grave question to be faced at this early stage was: How soon would
+an adequate supply of food arrive from outside points to avert famine?
+Little remained in San Francisco beyond the area swept by the fire, and
+the available supply could not last more than a few days. Fresh meat
+disappeared early on Wednesday and only canned foods and breadstuffs
+were left. All the foodstuffs coming in on the cars were at once seized
+by order of the Mayor and added to the scanty supply, the names of the
+consignees being taken that this material might eventually be paid for.
+The bakers agreed to work their plants to their utmost capacity and to
+send all their surplus output to the relief committee. By working night
+and day thousands of loaves could be provided daily. A big bakery in
+the saved district started its ovens and arranged to bake 50,000 loaves
+before night. The provisions were taken charge of by a committee
+and sent to the various depots from which the people were being fed.
+Instructions were issued by Mayor Schmitz on Thursday to break open
+every store containing provisions and to distribute them to the
+thousands under police supervision. A policeman reported that two
+grocery stores in the neighborhood were closed, although the clerks were
+present. "Smash the stores open," ordered the Mayor, "and guard them."
+In towns across the bay the master bakers have met and fixed the price
+of bread at 5 cents the loaf, with the understanding that they will
+refuse to sell to retailers who attempt to charge famine prices. The
+committee of citizens in charge of the situation in the stricken city
+proposed to use every effort to keep food down to the ordinary price and
+check the efforts of speculators, who in one instance charged as much as
+$3.50 for two loaves of bread and a can of sardines. Orders were issued
+by the War Department to army officers to purchase at Los Angeles
+immediately 200,000 rations and at Seattle 300,000 rations and hurry
+them to San Francisco. The department was informed that there were
+120,000 rations at the Presidio, that thousands of refugees were being
+sheltered there and that the army was feeding them. One million rations
+already had been started to San Francisco by the department. But in
+view of the fact that there were 300,000 fugitives to be fed the supply
+available was likely to be soon exhausted.
+
+
+FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY.
+
+
+Such was the state of affairs at the end of the second day of the great
+disaster. But meanwhile the entire country had been aroused by the
+tidings of the awful calamity, the sympathetic instinct of Americans
+everywhere was awakened, and it was quickly made evident that the people
+of the stricken city would not be allowed to suffer for the necessaries
+of life. On all sides money was contributed in large sums, the United
+States Government setting the example by an immediate appropriation of
+$1,000,000, and in the briefest possible interval relief trains were
+speeding toward the stricken city from all quarters, carrying supplies
+of food, shelter tents and other necessaries of a kind that could not
+await deliberate action.
+
+Shelter was needed almost as badly as food, for a host of the refugees
+had nothing but their thin clothing to cover them, and, though the
+weather at first was fine and mild, a storm might come at any time.
+In fact, a rain did come, a severe one, early in the week after the
+disaster, pouring nearly all night long on the shivering campers in
+the parks, wetting them to the skin and soaking through the rudely
+improvised shelters which many of the refugees had put up. A few days
+afterward came a second shower, rendering still more evident the need of
+haste in providing suitable shelter.
+
+All this was foreseen by those in charge, and the most strenuous efforts
+were made to provide the absolute necessities of life. Huge quantities
+of supplies were poured into the city. From all parts of California
+trainloads of food were rushed there in all haste. A steamer from the
+Orient laden with food reached the city in its hour of need; another was
+dispatched in all haste from Tacoma bearing $25,000 worth of food and
+medical supplies, ordered by Mayor Weaver, of Philadelphia, as a first
+installment of that city's contribution. Money was telegraphed from
+all quarters to the Governor of California, to be expended for food and
+other supplies, and so prompt was the response to the insistent demand
+that by Saturday all danger of famine was at an end; the people were
+being fed.
+
+
+WATER FOR THE THIRSTY.
+
+
+The broken waterpipes were also repaired with all possible haste, the
+Spring Valley Water Company putting about one thousand men at work upon
+their shattered mains, and in a very brief time water began to flow
+freely in many parts of the residence section and the great difficulty
+of obtaining food and water was practically at an end. Never in
+the history of the country has there been a more rapid and complete
+demonstration of the resourcefulness of Americans than in the way this
+frightful disaster was met.
+
+Food, water and shelter were not the only urgent needs. At first there
+was absolutely no sanitary provision, and the danger of an epidemic
+was great. This was a peril which the Board of Health addressed itself
+vigorously to meet, and steps for improving the sanitary conditions were
+hastily taken. Quick provision for sheltering the unfortunates was also
+made. Eight temporary structures, 150 feet in length by 28 feet wide
+and 13 feet high, were erected in Golden Gate Park, and in these
+sheds thousands found reasonably comfortable quarters. This was but a
+beginning. More of these buildings were rapidly erected, and by their
+aid the question of shelter was in part solved. The buildings were
+divided into compartments large enough to house a family, each
+compartment having an entrance from the outside. This work was done
+under the control of the engineering department of the United States
+army, which had taken steps to obtain a full supply of lumber and had
+put 135 carpenters to work. Those of the refugees who were without tents
+were the first to be provided for in these temporary buildings.
+
+
+THE CAMPS IN THE PARKS.
+
+
+To those who made an inspection of the situation a few days after
+the earthquake, the hills and beaches of San Francisco looked like an
+immense tented city. For miles through the park and along the beaches
+from Ingleside to the sea wall at North Beach the homeless were camped
+in tents--makeshifts rigged up from a few sticks of wood and a blanket
+or sheet. Some few of the more fortunate secured vehicles on which they
+loaded regulation tents and were, therefore, more comfortably housed
+than the great majority. Golden Gate Park and the Panhandle looked like
+one vast campaign ground. It is said that fully 100,000 persons, rich
+and poor alike, sought refuge in Golden Gate Park alone, and 200,000
+more homeless ones located at the other places of refuge.
+
+At the Presidio military reservation, where probably 50,000 persons
+were camped, affairs were conducted with military precision. Water was
+plentiful and rations were dealt out all day long. The refugees stood
+patiently in line and there was not a murmur. This characteristic was
+observable all over the city. The people were brave and patient, and the
+wonderful order preserved by them proved of great assistance. In Golden
+Gate Park a huge supply station had been established and provisions were
+dealt out.
+
+Six hundred men from the Ocean Shore Railway arrived on Saturday night
+with wagons and implements to work on the sewer system. Inspectors were
+kept going from house to house, examining chimneys and issuing permits
+to build fires. In fact, activity manifested itself in all quarters in
+the attempt to bring order out of confusion, and in an astonishingly
+short time the tented city was converted from a scene of wretched
+disorder into one of order and system.
+
+At Jefferson Park were camped thousands of people of every class in
+life. On the western edge of this park is the old Scott house, where
+Mrs. McKinley lay sick for two weeks in 1901. Three times a day the
+people all gathered in line before the provision wagons for their little
+handouts. "Yesterday," says an observer, "I saw, in order before the
+wagons, a Lascar sailor in his turban, about as low a Chinatown bum as I
+ever set eyes on, a woman of refined appearance, a barefooted child, two
+Chinamen, and a pretty girl. They were squeezed up together by the line,
+which extended for a quarter of a mile. It is civilization in the bare
+bones.
+
+"The great and rich are on a level with the poor in the struggle for
+bare existence, and over them all is the perfect, unbroken discipline
+of the soldiery. They came into the city and took charge on an hour's
+notice, they saved the city from itself in the three days of hell, and
+but for them the city, even with enough provisions to feed them in the
+stores and warehouses, must have gone hungry for lack of distributive
+organization."
+
+
+COMEDY AND PATHOS IN THE BREAD LINE.
+
+
+At one of the parks on Tuesday morning a handsomely dressed woman
+with two children at her skirts stood in a line of many hundreds where
+supplies were being given out. She took some uncooked bacon, and as she
+reached for it jewels sparkled on her fingers. One of the tots took a
+can of condensed milk, the other a bag of cakes.
+
+"I have money," she said, "'if I could get it and use it. I have
+property, if I could realize on it. I have friends, if I could get to
+them. Meantime I am going to cook this piece of bacon on bricks and be
+happy."
+
+She was only one of thousands like her.
+
+In a walk through the city this note of cheerfulness of the people in
+the face of an almost incredible week of horror was to a correspondent
+the mitigating element to the awfulness of disaster.
+
+In the streets of the residential district in the western addition,
+which the fire did not reach, women of the houses were cooking meals on
+the pavement. In most cases they had moved out the family ranges,
+and were preparing the food which they had secured from the Relief
+Committee.
+
+Out on Broderick street, near the Panhandle, a piano sounded. It was
+nigh ten o'clock and the stars were shining after the rain. Fires
+gleamed up and down through the shrubbery and the refugees sat huddled
+together about the flames, with their blankets about their heads,
+Apache-like, in an effort to dry out after the wetting of the afternoon.
+The piano, dripping with moisture, stood on the curb, near the front of
+a cottage which had been wrecked by the earthquake.
+
+A youth with a shock of red hair sat on a cracker box and pecked at the
+ivories. "Home Ain't Nothing Like This" was thrummed from the rusting
+wires with true vaudeville dash and syncopation. "Bill Bailey," "Good
+Old Summer Time," "Dixie" and "In Toyland" followed. Three young men
+with handkerchiefs wrapped about their throats in lieu of collars stood
+near the pianist and with him lifted up their voices in melody. The
+harmony was execrable, the time without excuse, but the songs ran
+through the trees of the Panhandle, and the crows, forgetting their
+misery for a time, joined the strange chorus.
+
+The people had their tales of comedy, one being that on the morning of
+the fire a richly dressed woman who lived in one of the aristocratic
+Sutter Street apartments came hurrying down the street, faultlessly
+gowned as to silks and sables, save that one dainty foot was shod with
+a high-heeled French slipper and the other was incased in a laborer's
+brogan. They say that as she walked she careened like a bark-rigged ship
+before a typhoon.
+
+An hour spent behind the counter of the food supply depot in the park
+tennis court yielded rich reward to the seeker after the outlandish. The
+tennis court was piled high with the plunder of several grocery stores
+and the cargoes of many relief cars. A square cut in the wire screen
+permitted of the insertion of a counter, behind which stood members
+of the militia acting as food dispensers. Before the improvised window
+passed the line of refugees, a line which stretched back fully 300 yards
+to Speedway track.
+
+"I want a can of condensed cream, so I can feed my baby and my dog,"
+said a large, florid-faced woman in a gaudy kimono, "and I don't care
+for crackers, but you can throw in some potted chicken if you have it."
+
+"What's in that bottle over there?" queried the next applicant. "Tomato
+ketchup? Well, of all the luck! Say, young man, just give me three."
+
+A little gray-haired woman in an India shawl peered timorously through
+the window. "Just a little bit of anything you may have handy, please,"
+she whispered, and she cast a careful eye about to see of any of her
+neighbors had recognized her standing there in the "bread line."
+
+"Yesterday, at the Western Union office," says one writer, "I saw a
+woman drive up in a large motor car and beg that the telegram on which a
+boy had asked a delivery fee of twenty-five cents be handed to her. She
+said she had not a penny and did not know when she would have any money,
+but that as soon as she had any she would pay for the message. It
+was given to her, and the manager told me that there were hundreds of
+similar cases."
+
+Many weddings resulted from the disaster. Women driven out of their
+homes and left destitute, appealed to the men to whom they were engaged,
+and immediate marriages took place. After the first day of the disaster
+an increase in the marriage licenses issued was noticed by County Clerk
+Cook. This increase grew until seven marriage licenses were issued in an
+hour.
+
+"I don't live anywhere," was the answer given in many cases when the
+applicant for a license was asked the locality of his residence. "I used
+to live in San Francisco."
+
+Births seem to have been about as common as marriages, in one night
+five children being born in Golden Gate Park. In Buena Vista Park eight
+births were recorded and others elsewhere, the population being thus
+increased at a rate hardly in accordance with the exigencies of the
+situation.
+
+
+THE EXODUS FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+
+We have spoken only of the camps of refugees within the municipal
+limits of San Francisco. But in addition to these was the multitude of
+fugitives who made all haste to escape from that city. This was with the
+full consent of the authorities, who felt that every one gone lessened
+the immediate weight upon themselves, and who issued a strict edict that
+those who went must stay, that there could be no return until a counter
+edict should be made public.
+
+From the start this was one of the features of the situation. Down
+Market Street, once San Francisco's pride, now leading through piles of
+tottering walls, piles of still hot bricks and twisted iron and heaps
+of smouldering debris, poured a huge stream of pedestrians. Men bending
+under the weight of great bundles pushed baby carriages loaded with
+bric-a-brac and children. Women toiled along with their arms full, but
+a large proportion were able to ride, for the relief corps had been
+thoroughly organized and wagons were being pressed into service from all
+sides.
+
+In constant procession they moved toward the ferry, whence the Southern
+Pacific was transporting them with baggage free wherever they wished to
+go. Automobiles meanwhile shot in all directions, carrying the Red Cross
+flag and usually with a soldier carrying a rifle in the front seat. They
+had the right of way everywhere, carrying messages and transporting the
+ill to temporary hospitals and bearing succor to those in distress.
+
+Oakland, the nearest place of resort, on the bay shore opposite San
+Francisco, soon became a great city of refuge, fugitives gathering there
+until 50,000 or more were sheltered within its charitable limits. Having
+suffered very slightly from the earthquake that had wrecked the great
+city across the bay, it was in condition to offer shelter to the
+unfortunate. All day Wednesday and Thursday a stream of humanity poured
+from the ferries, every one carrying personal baggage and articles saved
+from the conflagration. Hundreds of Chinese men, women and children, all
+carrying baggage to the limit of their strength, made their way into the
+limited Chinatown of Oakland.
+
+Multitudes of persons besieged the telegraph offices, and the crush
+became so great that soldiers were stationed at the doors to keep them
+in line and allow as many as possible to find standing room at the
+counters. Messages were stacked yards high in the offices waiting to
+be sent throughout the world. Every boat from San Francisco brought
+hundreds of refugees, carrying luggage and bedding in large quantities.
+Many women were bareheaded and all showed fatigue as the result of
+sleeplessness and exposure to the chill air. Hundreds of these persons
+lined the streets of Oakland, waiting for some one to provide them with
+shelter, for which the utmost possible provision was quickly made. No
+one was allowed to go hungry in Oakland and few lacked shelter. At the
+Oakland First Presbyterian Church 1,800 were fed and 1,000 people were
+provided with sleeping accommodations. Pews were turned into beds. Cots
+stood in the aisles, in the gallery and in the Sunday school room. Every
+available inch of space was occupied by some substitute for a bed.
+
+As the days wore on the number of refugees somewhat decreased. Although
+they still came in large numbers, many left on every train for different
+points. Requests for free transportation were investigated as closely
+as possible and all the deserving were sent away. Women and children and
+married men who wished to join their families in different parts of the
+State were given preference. The transportation bureau was on a street
+corner, where a man stood on a box and called the names of those
+entitled to passes.
+
+Along the principal streets of Oakland there was a picturesque
+pilgrimage of former householders, who dragged or carried the meagre
+effects they had been able to save. The refugees who could not be cared
+for in Oakland made an exodus to Berkeley and other surrounding cities,
+where relief committees were actively at work. Utter despair was
+pictured on many faces, which showed the effects of sleepless days and
+nights, and the want of proper food.
+
+Oakland was only one of the outside camps of refuge. At Berkeley
+over 6,000 refugees sought quarters, the big gymnasium of the State
+University being turned into a lodging house, while hundreds were
+provided with blankets to sleep in the open air under the University
+oaks. The students and professors of the University did all they could
+for their relief, and the Citizens' Relief Committee supplied them with
+food.
+
+The same benevolent sympathy was manifested at all the places near the
+ruined city which had escaped disaster, this aid materially reducing
+that needed within San Francisco itself.
+
+
+WORSHIP IN THE OPEN AIR.
+
+
+Sunday dawned in San Francisco; Sunday in the camp of the refugees. On a
+green knoll in Golden Gate Park, between the conservatory and the tennis
+courts, a white-haired minister of the Gospel gathered his flock. It was
+the Sabbath day and in the turmoil and confusion the minister did not
+forget his duty. Two upright stakes and a cross-piece gave him a rude
+pulpit, and beside him stood a young man with a battered brass cornet.
+Far over the park stole a melody that drew hundreds of men and women
+from their tents. Of all denominations and all creeds, they gathered on
+that green knoll, and the men uncovered while the solemn voice repeated
+the words of a grand old hymn, known wherever men and women meet to
+worship the Lord:
+
+
+"Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, oh,
+leave me not alone, still support and comfort me!"
+
+
+A moment before there had been shouting and confusion in the
+driveway where some red-striped artillerymen were herding a squad of
+gesticulating Chinamen as men herd sheep. The shouting died away as the
+minister's voice rose and fell and out of the stillness came the sobs of
+women. One little woman in blue was making no sound, but the tears were
+streaming down her cheeks. Her husband, a sturdy young fellow in his
+shirt sleeves, put his arm about her shoulders and tried to comfort her
+as the reading went on.
+
+
+"All my trust on Thee is stayed; all my help from Thee I bring; Cover my
+defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing."
+
+
+Then the cornet took up the air again and those helpless persons
+followed it in quivering tones, the white-haired man of God leading them
+with closed eyes. When the last verse was over, the minister raised his
+hands.
+
+"Let us pray," said he, and his congregation sank down in the grass
+before him. It was a simple prayer, such a prayer as might be offered by
+a man without a home or a shelter over his head--and nothing left to him
+but an unshaken faith in his Creator.
+
+"Oh, Lord, Thy ways are past finding out, but we still have faith in
+Thee. We know not why Thou hast visited these people and left them
+homeless. Thou knowest the reason of this desolation and of our utter
+helplessness. We call on Thee for help in the hour of our great need.
+Bless the people of this city, the sorrowing ones, the bereaved, gather
+them under Thy mighty wing and soothe aching hearts this day."
+
+The women were crying again, and one big man dug his knuckles into his
+eyes without shame. The man who could have listened to such a prayer
+unmoved was not in Golden Gate Park that day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Frightful Loss of Life and Wealth.
+
+
+While multitudes escaped from toppling buildings and crashing walls in
+the dread disaster of that fatal Wednesday morning of April 18th in San
+Francisco, hundreds of the less fortunate met their death in the ruins,
+and horrifying scenes were witnessed by the survivors. Many of those who
+escaped had tales of terror to tell. Mr. J. P. Anthony, as he fled from
+the Ramona Hotel, saw a score or more of people crushed to death, and
+as he walked the streets at a later hour saw bodies of the dead being
+carried in garbage wagons and all kinds of vehicles to the improvised
+morgues, while hospitals and storerooms were already filled with the
+injured. Mr. G. A. Raymond, of Tomales, Cal., gives evidence to the same
+effect. As he rushed into the street, he says that the air was filled
+with falling stones and people around him were crushed to death on all
+sides.
+
+Others gave testimony to the same effect. Samuel Wolf, of Salt Lake
+City, tells us that he saved one woman from death in the hotel. She was
+rushing blindly toward an open window, from which she would have fallen
+fifty feet to the stone pavement below. "On my way down Market Street,"
+he says, "the whole side of a building fell out and came so near me that
+I was covered and blinded by the dust. Then I saw the first dead come
+by. They were piled up in an automobile like carcasses in a butcher's
+wagon, all bloody, with crushed skulls, broken limbs and bloody faces."
+
+These are frightful stories, exaggerated probably from the nervous
+excitement of those terrible moments, as are also the following
+statements, which form part of the early accounts of the disaster. Thus
+we are told that "from a three-story lodging house at Fifth and Minna
+Streets, which collapsed Wednesday morning, more than seventy-five
+bodies were taken to-day. There are fifty other bodies in sight in the
+ruins. This building was one of the first to take fire on Fifth Street.
+At least 100 persons are said to have been killed in the Cosmopolitan,
+on Fourth Street. More than 150 persons are reported dead in the
+Brunswick Hotel, at Seventh and Mission Streets."
+
+Another statement is to the effect that "at Seventh and Howard Streets
+a great lodging house took fire after the first shock, before the guests
+had escaped. There were few exits and nearly all the lodgers perished.
+Mrs. J. J. Munson, one of those in the building, leaped with her child
+in her arms from the second floor to the pavement below and escaped
+unhurt. She says she was the only one who escaped from the house. Such
+horrors as this were repeated at many points. B. Baker was killed while
+trying to get a body from the ruins. Other rescuers heard the pitiful
+wail of a little child, but were unable to get near the point from which
+the cry issued. Soon the onrushing fire ended the cry and the men turned
+to other tasks."
+
+
+ESTIMATES OF THE DEATH LIST.
+
+
+The questionable point in those statements is that the numbers of dead
+spoken of in these few instances exceed the whole number given in the
+official records issued two weeks after the disaster. Yet they go to
+illustrate the actual horrors of the case, and are of importance for
+this reason. As regards the whole number killed, in fact, there is not,
+and probably never will be, a full and accurate statement. While about
+350 bodies had been recovered at the end of the second week, it was
+impossible to estimate how many lay buried under the ruins, to be
+discovered only as the work of excavation went on, and how many more
+had been utterly consumed by the flames, leaving no trace of their
+existence. The estimates of the probable loss of life ran up to 1,500
+and more, while the injured were very numerous.
+
+The shock of the earthquake, the pulse of deep horror to which it gave
+rise, the first wild impulse to flee for life, gave way in the minds of
+many to a feeling of intense sympathy as agonized cries came from those
+pinned down to the ruins of buildings or felled by falling bricks or
+stones, and as the sight of dead bodies incrimsoned with blood met the
+eyes of the survivors in the streets. From wandering aimlessly about,
+many of these went earnestly to work to rescue the wounded and recover
+the bodies of the slain. In this merciful work the police and the
+soldiers lent their aid, and soon there was a large corps of rescuers
+actively engaged.
+
+
+BURYING THE DEAD.
+
+
+Soon numbers were taken, alive or dead, from the ruins, passing vehicles
+were pressed into the service, and the labor of mercy went on rapidly,
+several buildings being quickly converted into temporary hospitals,
+while the dead were conveyed to the Mechanics' Pavilion and other
+available places. Portsmouth Square became for a time a public morgue.
+Between twenty and thirty corpses were laid side by side upon the
+trodden grass in the absence of more suitable accommodations. It is said
+that when the flames threatened to reach the square, the dead, mostly
+unknown, were removed to Columbia Square, where they were buried when
+danger threatened that quarter. Others were taken to the Presidio, and
+here the soldiers pressed into service all men who came near and forced
+them to labor at burying the dead, a temporary cemetery being opened
+there. So thick were the corpses piled up that they were becoming a
+menace, and early in the day the order was issued to bury them at any
+cost. The soldiers were needed for other work, so, at the point of
+rifles, the citizens were compelled to take to the work of burying. Some
+objected at first, but the troops stood no trifling, and every man
+who came within reach was forced to work. Rich men, unused to physical
+exertion, labored by the side of the workingmen digging trenches in
+which to bury the dead. The able-bodied being engaged in fighting the
+flames, General Funston ordered that the old men and the weaklings
+should take the work in hand. They did it willingly enough, but had they
+refused the troops on guard would have forced them. It was ruled that
+every man physically capable of handling a spade or a pick should dig
+for an hour. When the first shallow graves were ready the men, under the
+direction of the troops, lowered the bodies, several in a grave, and
+a strange burial began. The women gathered about crying. Many of them
+knelt while a Catholic priest read the burial service and pronounced
+absolution. All Thursday afternoon this went on.
+
+In this connection the following stories are told:
+
+Dr. George V. Schramm, a young medical graduate, said:
+
+"As I was passing down Market Street with a new-found friend, an
+automobile came rushing along with two soldiers in it. My doctor's badge
+protected me, but the soldiers invited my companion, a husky six-footer,
+to get into the automobile. He said:
+
+"'I don't want to ride, and have plenty of business to attend to.'
+
+"Once more they invited him, and he refused. One of the soldiers pointed
+a gun at him and said:
+
+"'We need such men as you to save women and children and to help fight
+the fire.'
+
+"The man was on his way to find his sister, but he yielded to the
+inevitable. He worked all day with the soldiers, and when released to
+get lunch he felt that he could conscientiously desert to go and find
+his own loved ones."
+
+"Half a block down the street the soldiers were stopping all pedestrians
+without the official pass which showed that they were on relief
+business, and putting them to work heaving bricks off the pavement. Two
+dapper men with canes, the only clean people I saw, were caught at the
+corner by a sergeant, who showed great joy as he said:
+
+"'I give you time to git off those kid gloves, and then hustle, damn
+you, hustle!' The soldiers took delight in picking out the best dressed
+men and keeping them at the brick piles for long terms. I passed them
+in the shelter of a provision wagon, afraid that even my pass would not
+save me. Two men are reported shot because they refused to turn in and
+help."
+
+Many of the dead, of course, will never be identified, though the names
+were taken of all who were known and descriptions written of the others.
+A story comes to us of one young girl who had followed for two days the
+body of her father, her only relative. It had been taken from a house
+on Mission Street to an undertaker's shop just after the quake. The fire
+drove her out with her charge, and it was placed in Mechanics' Pavilion.
+That went, and the body rested for a day at the Presidio, waiting
+burial. With many others, she wept on the border of the burned area,
+while the women cared for her.
+
+
+VICTIMS TAKEN FROM THE RUINS.
+
+
+On Friday eleven postal clerks, all alive, were taken from the debris of
+the Post Office. All at first were thought to be dead, but it was found
+that, although they were buried under the stone and timber, every one
+was alive. They had been for three days without food or water.
+
+Two theatrical people were in a hotel in Santa Rosa when the shock came.
+The room was on the fourth floor. The roof collapsed. One of them was
+thrown from the bed and both were caught by the descending timbers and
+pinned helplessly beneath the debris. They could speak to each other and
+could touch one another's hands, but the weight was so great that they
+could do nothing to liberate themselves. After three hours rescuers
+came, cut a hole in the roof and both were released uninjured.
+
+Even the docks were converted into hospitals in the stringent exigency
+of the occasion, about 100 patients being stretched on Folsom street
+dock at one time. In the evening tugs conveyed them to Goat Island,
+where they were lodged in the hospital. The docks from Howard Street to
+Folsom Street had been saved, the fire at this point not being permitted
+to creep farther east than Main Street. Another series of fatalities
+occurred, caused by the stampeding of a herd of cattle at Sixth and
+Folsom Streets. Three hundred of the panic-stricken animals ran amuck
+when they saw and felt the flames and charged wildly down the street,
+trampling under foot all who were in the way. One man was gored through
+and through by a maddened bull. At least a dozen persons', it is said,
+were killed, though probably this is an overestimate. One observer tells
+us that "the first sight I saw was a man with blood streaming from his
+wounds, carrying a dead woman in his arms. He placed the body on the
+floor of the court at the Palace Hotel, and then told me he was the
+janitor of a big building. The first he knew of the catastrophe he found
+himself in the basement, his dead wife beside him. The building had
+simply split in two, and thrown them down."
+
+In the camps of refuge the deaths came frequently. Physicians were
+everywhere in evidence, but, without medicine or instruments, were
+fearfully handicapped. Men staggered in from their herculean efforts at
+the fire lines, only to fall gasping on the grass. There was nothing to
+be done. Injured lay groaning. Tender hands were willing, but of water
+there was none. "Water, water, for God's sake get me some water," was
+the cry that struck into thousands of souls of San Francisco.
+
+The list of dead was not confined to San Francisco, but extended to many
+of the neighboring towns, especially to Santa Rosa, where sixty were
+reported dead and a large number missing, and to the insane asylum in
+its vicinity, from the ruins of which a hundred or more of dead bodies
+were taken.
+
+
+THE FREE USE OF RIFLES.
+
+
+A citizen tells us that "in the early part of the evening, and while
+the twilight lasts, there is a good deal of trafficking up and down
+the sidewalks. Having finished their dinners of government provisions,
+cooked on the street or in the parks, the people promenade for half an
+hour or so. By half-past eight the town is closed tight. A rat scurrying
+in the street will bring a soldier's rifle to his shoulder. Any one not
+wearing a uniform or a Red Cross badge is a suspicious character and may
+be shot unless he halts at command. Even the men in uniform do well to
+stop still, for it is hard to tell a uniform in the half light thrown up
+by the burning town and the great shadows.
+
+"Last night two of us ventured out on Van Ness Avenue a little late.
+There came up the noise of some kind of a shooting scrape far down
+the street. We hurried in that direction to see what was doing. An
+eighteen-year-old boy in a uniform barred the way, levelled his rifle
+and said in a peremptory way:
+
+"'Go home.'
+
+"We took a course down the block, where an older soldier, more
+communicative but equally peremptory, informed us that we were trifling
+with our lives, news or no news.
+
+"'We've shot about 300 people for one thing or another,' he said. 'Now,
+dodge trouble. Git!' That ended the expedition."
+
+
+THE LOSS IN WEALTH.
+
+
+If we pass now from the record of the loss of lives to that of the
+destruction of wealth, the estimates exceed by far any fire losses
+recorded in history.
+
+The truth is that when flames eat out the heart of a great city, devour
+its vast business establishments, storehouses and warehouses, sweep
+through its centres of opulence, destroy its wharves with their
+accumulation of goods, spread ruin and havoc everywhere, it is
+impossible at first to estimate the loss. Only gradually, as time goes
+on, is the true loss discovered, and never perhaps very accurately,
+since the owners and the records of riches often disappear with the
+wealth itself. In regard to San Francisco, the early estimate was that
+three-fourths of the city, valued at $500,000,000, was destroyed.
+
+But early estimates are apt to be exaggerated, and on Friday, two days
+after the disaster, we find this estimate reduced to $250,000,000. A few
+more days passed and these figures shrunk still further, though it was
+still largely conjectural, the means of making a trustworthy estimate
+being very restricted. Later on the pendulum swung upward again, and two
+weeks after the fire the closest estimates that could be made fixed the
+property loss at close to $350,000,000, or double that of the Chicago
+fire. But as the actual loss in the latter case proved considerably
+below the early estimates, the same may prove to be the case with San
+Francisco.
+
+Special personal losses were in many cases great. Thus the Palace Hotel
+was built at a cost of $6,000,000, and the St. Francis, which originally
+cost $4,000,000, was being enlarged at great expense. Several of the
+great mansions on Nob's Hill cost a million or more, the City Hall was
+built at a cost of $7,000,000, the new Post Office was injured to the
+extent of half a million, while a large number of other buildings might
+be named whose value, with their contents, was measured in the millions.
+
+It was not until May 3d that news came over the wires of another serious
+item of loss. The merchants had waited until then for their fire-proof
+safes and vaults to cool off before attempting to open them. When this
+was at length done the results proved disheartening. Out of 576 vaults
+and safes opened in the district east of Powell and north of Market
+Street, where the flames had raged with the greatest fury, it was found
+that fully forty per cent. had not performed their duty. When opened
+they were found to contain nothing but heaps of ashes. The valuable
+account books, papers and in some cases large sums of money had
+vanished, the loss of the accounts being a severe calamity in a business
+sense. As all the banks were equipped with the best fire-proof vaults,
+no fear was felt for the safety of their contents.
+
+
+LOOTERS IN CHINATOWN.
+
+
+Chinatown suffered severely, the merchants of that locality possessing
+large stocks of valuable goods, many of which were looted by seemingly
+respectable sightseers after the ruins had cooled off, bronze, porcelain
+and other valuable goods being taken from the ruins. One example
+consisted in a mass of gold and silver valued at $2,500, which had been
+melted by the fire in the store of Tai Sing, a Chinese merchant. This
+was found by the police on May 3d in a place where it had been hidden by
+looters.
+
+But with all its losses San Francisco does not despair. The spirit of
+its citizens is heroic, and there are some hopeful signs in the air. The
+insurances due are estimated to approximate $175,000,000, and there
+are other moneys likely to be spent on building during the coming year,
+making a total of over $200,000,000. Eastern capitalists also talk of
+investing $100,000,000 of new capital in the rebuilding of the
+city, while the San Francisco authorities have a project of issuing
+$200,000,000 of municipal bonds, the payment to be guaranteed by the
+United States Government. Thus, two weeks after the earthquake, daylight
+was already showing strongly ahead and hope was fast beginning to
+replace despair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Wonderful Record of Thrilling Escapes.
+
+
+Shuddering under the memories of what seems more like a nightmare than
+actual reality to the survivors of this frightful calamity, they have
+tried to picture in words far from adequate the days of terror and the
+nights of horror that fell to the lot of the people of the Golden Gate
+city and their guests.
+
+They recount the roar of falling structures and the groans and pitiful
+cries of those pinned beneath the timbers of collapsing buildings. They
+speak of their climbing over dead bodies heaped in the streets, and of
+following tortuous ways to find the only avenue of escape--the ferry,
+where men and women fought like infuriated animals, bent on escape from
+a fiery furnace.
+
+These refugees tell of the great caravan composed of homeless persons
+in its wild flight to the hills for safety, and in that great procession
+women, harnessed to vehicles, trudging along and tugging at the shafts,
+hauling all that was left of their earthly belongings, and a little food
+that foresight told them would be necessary to stay the pangs of hunger
+in the hours of misery that must follow.
+
+We give below an especially accurate picture from the description of the
+well-known writer, Jane Tingley, who, an eye-witness of it all, did so
+much to help the sufferers, and who, with all the unselfishness of true
+American womanhood, sacrificed her own comfort and needs for those of
+others.
+
+"May God be merciful to the women and children in this land of
+desolation and despair!" she wrote on April 21st.
+
+"Men have done, are doing such deeds of sublime self-sacrifice, of
+magnificent heroism, that deserve to make the title of American manhood
+immortal in the pages of history. The rest lies with the Almighty.
+
+"I spent all of last night and to-day in that horror city across the
+bay. I went from this unharmed city of plenty, blooming with abounding
+health, thronged with happy mothers and joyous children, and spent hours
+among the blackened ruins and out on the windswept slopes of the sand
+hills by the sea, and I heard the voice of Rachel weeping for her
+children in the wilderness and mourning because she found them not.
+
+"I climbed to the top of Strawberry Hill, in Golden Gate Park, and saw
+a woman, half naked, almost starving, her hair dishevelled and an
+unnatural lustre in her eyes, her gaze fixed upon the waters in the
+distance, and her voice repeating over and over again: 'Here I am, my
+pretties; come here, come here.'
+
+"I took her by the hand and led her down to the grass at the foot of the
+hill. A man--her husband--received her from me and wept as he said: 'She
+is calling our three little children. She thinks the sounds of the ocean
+waves are the voices of our lost darlings.'
+
+"Ever since they became separated from their children in that first
+terrific onrush of the multitude when the fire swept along Mission
+Street these two had been tramping over the hills and parks without food
+or rest, searching for their little ones. To all whom they have met they
+have addressed the same pitiful question: 'Have you seen anything of our
+lost babies?' They will not know what has become of them until order has
+been brought out of chaos; until the registration headquarters of the
+military authorities has secured the names of all who are among the
+straggling wanderers around the camps of the homeless. Perhaps then it
+will be found that these children are in a trench among the corpses of
+the weaklings who have succumbed to the frightful rigors of the last
+three days.
+
+"Last night a soldier seized me by the arm and cried: 'If you are a
+woman with a woman's heart, go in there and do whatever you can.'
+
+"'In there' meant behind a barricade of brush, covered with a blanket
+that had been hastily thrown together to form a rude shelter. I went in
+and saw one of my own sex lying on the bare grass naked, her clothing
+torn to shreds; scattered over the green beside her. She was moaning
+pitifully, and it needed no words to tell a woman what the matter was,
+I bade my man escort to find a doctor, or at least send more women
+at once. He ran off and soon two sympathetic ladies hastened into the
+shelter. In an hour my escort returned with a young medical student.
+Under the best ministrations we could find, a new life was ushered into
+this hell, which, a few hours before, was the fairest among cities.
+
+"'There have been many such cases,' said the medical student. 'Many of
+the mothers have died--few of the babies have lived. I, personally, know
+of nine babies that have been born in the park to-day. There must have
+been many others here, among the sand hills, and at the Presidio.'"
+
+"Think of it, you happy women who have become mothers in comfortable
+homes, attended with every care that loving hands can bestow. Think of
+the dreadful plight of these poor members of your sex. The very thought
+of it is enough to make the hearts of women burst with pity.
+
+"To-day I walked among the people crowded on the Panhandle. Opposite
+the Lyon Street entrance, on the north side, I saw a young woman sitting
+tailor-fashion in the roadway, which, in happier days, was the carriage
+boulevard. She held a dishpan and was looking at her reflection in the
+polished bottom, while another girl was arranging her hair. I recognized
+a young wife, whose marriage to a prominent young lawyer eight months
+ago was a gala event among that little handful of people who clung to
+the old-time fashionable district of Valencia Street, like the Phelan
+and Dent families, and refused to move from that aristocratic section
+when the new-made, millionaires began to build their palaces on Nob Hill
+and Pacific Heights. I spoke to the young woman about the disadvantages
+of making her toilet under such untoward circumstances.
+
+"'Ah, Julia, dear, you must stay to luncheon,' she said, extending her
+fingers just as though she stood in her own drawing-room."
+
+
+MISERY DRIVES SOME INSANE.
+
+
+"I looked at the maid in astonishment, for I had never met the young
+society woman before. The maid shook her head and whispered when she got
+the chance:
+
+"'My mistress is not in her right mind.'
+
+"'Where is her husband?' I asked.
+
+"'He has gone to try to get some food,' said the girl. 'She imagines
+that she is in her own home, before her dressing table, and is having me
+do up her hair against some of her friends dropping in.'
+
+"'She must have suffered,' I said, 'to cause such a mental derangement.'
+
+"The girl's eyes filled with tears. She told me that her mistress had
+seen her brother killed by falling timbers while they were hurrying to
+a place of safety. A little farther on I saw two women concealed as best
+they might be behind a tuft of sand brush, one lying face down on the
+ground, while the other vigorously massaged her bare back. I asked if
+I might help, and learned that the ministering angel was the unmarried
+daughter of one of the city's richest merchants, and that the girl whom
+she succored had been employed as a servant in her father's household.
+The girl's back had been injured by a fall, and her mistress' fair hands
+were trying to make her well again.
+
+"Thus has this overwhelming common woe levelled all barriers of caste
+and placed the suffering multitude on a basis of democracy. On a rock
+behind a manzanita bush near the edge of Stow Lake I saw a Chinaman
+making a pile of broken twigs in the early morning. The man felt inside
+his blouse and swore a gibbering, unintelligible Asiatic oath as his
+hand came forth empty. Observing my escort, the Chinaman approached and
+said:
+
+"'Bosse, alle same, catchee match?'
+
+"My escort gave him the desired article, and the Chinaman made a fire of
+his pile of twigs. 'Why are you making a fire, John?' I asked.
+
+"'Bleakfast,' he replied laconically.
+
+"I asked him where his food might be, and he gave us a quick glance of
+suspicion as he said briefly, 'No sabbe.'
+
+"We stood watching him, evidently to his great distress, and finally he
+made bold to say, 'You no stand lound, bosse. You go 'way.'
+
+"We left him, but after making the tour around the lake came back to
+the same place. There sat four people on the ground eating fried pork,
+potatoes and Chinese cakes. In a young woman of the group I recognized
+one whom I had seen dancing at one of Mr. Greenway's Friday Night
+Cotillion balls in the Palace Hotel's maple room during the winter. They
+offered to share their meal with us, but we told them that we had just
+come from breakfast in Oakland. I told them about the strange conduct
+of their Chinaman, who was traveling back and forth from his fire to the
+'table' with the food as it became ready to serve.
+
+"The father of the family laughed."
+
+
+SOCIETY FOLKS COMPELLED TO CAMP.
+
+
+"'Yes,' he said, 'that is Charlie's way. He has been with us many years,
+and when our home was destroyed he came out here with us in preference
+to seeking refuge among his countrymen in Chinatown. Yesterday we were
+without food, and Charlie disappeared. I thought he had deserted us,
+but toward dark he came back with a bamboo pole over his shoulder and
+a Chinese market gardener's basket suspended from either end. In one of
+the baskets he had a pile of blankets and a lot of canvas. In the other
+was an assortment of pork, flour, Chinese cakes and vegetables, besides
+a half-dozen chickens and a couple of bagfuls of rice.'
+
+"'Charlie had been foraging in Chinatown for us before the fire reached
+that quarter. He made a tent and improvised beds for us, and he has the
+food concealed somewhere in the vicinity, but where he will not tell
+us, for fear that we will give some of it to others and reduce our own
+supply. Charlie boils rice for himself. He will not touch the other
+food. Without him we should have been starving.'"
+
+G. A. Raymond, who was in the Palace Hotel when the earthquake occurred,
+says:
+
+"I had $600 in gold under my pillow. I awoke as I was thrown out of
+bed. Attempting to walk, the floor shook so that I fell. I grabbed my
+clothing and rushed down into the office, where dozens were already
+congregated. Suddenly the lights went out, and every one rushed for the
+door.
+
+"Outside I witnessed a sight I never want to see again. It was dawn
+and light. I looked up. The air was filled with falling stones. People
+around me were crushed to death on all sides. All around the huge
+buildings were shaking and waving. Every moment there were reports like
+100 cannon going off at one time. Then streams of fire would shoot out,
+and other reports followed.
+
+"I asked a man standing by me what had happened. Before he could answer
+a thousand bricks fell on him and he was killed. A woman threw her arms
+around my neck. I pushed her away and fled. All around me buildings were
+rocking and flames shooting. As I ran people on all sides were crying,
+praying and calling for help. I thought the end of the world had come.
+
+"I met a Catholic priest, and he said: 'We must get to the ferry.' He
+knew the way, and we rushed down Market Street. Men, women and children
+were crawling from the debris. Hundreds were rushing down the street,
+and every minute people were felled by falling debris.
+
+"At places the streets had cracked and opened. Chasms extended in all
+directions. I saw a drove of cattle, wild with fright, rushing up Market
+Street. I crouched beside a swaying building. As they came nearer they
+disappeared, seeming to drop into the earth. When the last had gone I
+went nearer and found they had indeed been precipitated into the earth,
+a wide fissure having swallowed them. I worked my way around them and
+ran out to the ferry. I was crazy with fear and the horrible sights.
+
+"How I reached the ferry I cannot say. It was bedlam, pandemonium and
+hell rolled into one. There must have been 10,000 people trying to get
+on that boat. Men and women fought like wild cats to push their way
+aboard. Clothes were torn from the backs of men and women and children
+indiscriminately. Women fainted, and there was no water at hand with
+which to revive them. Men lost their reason at those awful moments. One
+big, strong man, beat his head against one of the iron pillars on the
+dock, and cried out in a loud voice: 'This fire must be put out! The
+city must be saved!' It was awful."
+
+
+TERRIBLE SCENE AT THE FERRY.
+
+
+"When the gates were opened the mad rush began. All were swept aboard in
+an irresistible tide. We were jammed on the deck like sardines in a
+box. No one cared. At last the boat pulled out. Men and women were still
+jumping for it, only to fall into the water and probably drown."
+
+The members of the Metropolitan Opera Company, of New York, were in San
+Francisco at this time, and nearly all of these famous singers, known
+all over the world, suffered from the great disaster.
+
+All of the splendid scenery, stage fittings, costumes and musical
+instruments were lost in the fire, which destroyed the Grand Opera
+House, where the season had just opened to splendid audiences.
+
+Many of the operatic stars have given very interesting accounts of their
+experiences. Signor Caruso, the famous tenor and one of the principals
+of the company, had one of the most thrilling experiences. He and Signor
+Rossi, a favorite basso, and his inseparable companion, had a suite
+on the seventh floor and were awakened by the terrific shaking of the
+building. The shock nearly threw Caruso out of bed. He said:
+
+"I threw open the window, and I think I let out the grandest notes I
+ever hit in all my life. I do not know why I did this. I presume I was
+too excited to do anything else."
+
+
+GREAT SINGERS ESCAPE.
+
+
+"Looking out of the window, I saw buildings all around rocking like the
+devil had hold of them. I wondered what was going on. Then I heard Rossi
+come scampering into my room. 'My God, it's an earthquake!' he yelled.
+'Get your things and run!' I grabbed what I could lay my hands on and
+raced like a madman for the office. On the way down I shouted as loud as
+I could so the others would wake up.
+
+"When I got to the office I thought of my costumes and sent my valet,
+Martino, back after them. He packed things up and carried the trunks
+down on his back. I helped him take them to Union Square."
+
+It is said that ten minutes later he was seen seated on his valise in
+the middle of the street. But to continue his story:
+
+"I walked a few feet away to see how to get out, and when I came back
+four Chinamen were lugging my trunks away. I grabbed one of them by the
+ears, and the others jumped on me. I took out my revolver and pointed
+it at them. They spit at me. I was mad, but I hated to kill them, so I
+found a soldier, and he made them give up the trunks.
+
+"Ah, that soldier was a fine fellow. He went up to the Chinamen and
+slapped them upon the face, once, twice, three times. They all howled
+like the devil and ran away. I put my revolver back into my pocket, and
+then I thanked the soldier. He said: 'Don't mention it. Them Chinks
+would steal the money off a dead man's eyes.'"
+
+They say that Rossi, though almost in tears, was heard trying his voice
+at a corner near the Palace Hotel.
+
+
+TEDDY'S PICTURE PROVES "OPEN SESAME."
+
+
+"I went to Lafayette Square and slept on the grass. When I tried to get
+into the square the soldiers pushed me back. I pleaded with them, but
+they would not listen. I had under my arm a large photograph of Theodore
+Roosevelt, upon which was written: 'With kindest regards from Theodore
+Roosevelt.' I showed them this, and one of them said: 'If you are a
+friend of Teddy, come in and make yourself at home.'
+
+"I put my trunks in the cellar of the Hotel St. Francis and thought they
+would be safe. The hotel caught fire, and my trunks were all burned up.
+To think I took so much trouble to save them!"
+
+In spite of the news of all the woe and suffering which we hear, it is
+cheering to learn also of the many thousands of heroic deeds by brave
+men during the terrible scenes enacted through the four days passing
+since the eventful morning when the earth began to demolish splendid
+buildings of business and residence and fire sprang up to complete the
+city's destruction. The Mayor and his forces of police, the troops
+under command of General Funston, volunteer aids to all these, and the
+husbands of terrified wives, and the sons, brothers and other relatives
+who toiled for many consecutive hours through smoke and falling walls
+and an inferno of flames and explosions and traps of danger of all
+kinds, often without food or water--toiling as men never toiled before
+to save life and relieve distress of all kinds--all these were examples
+of heroism and devotion to duty seldom witnessed in any scenes of terror
+in all time. There are brave, unselfish men and heroic women yet in the
+world, and all of the best of human nature has been exhibited in large
+dimensions in the terrible disaster at San Francisco.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Disaster Spreads Over the Golden State
+
+
+The first news that the world received of the earthquake came direct
+from San Francisco and was confined largely to descriptions of
+the disaster which had overwhelmed that city. It was so sudden, so
+appalling, so tragic in its nature, that for the time being it
+quite overshadowed the havoc and misery wrought in a number of other
+California towns of lesser note.
+
+As the truth, however, became gradually sifted out of the tangle of
+rumors, the horror, instead of being diminished, was vastly increased.
+It became evident that instead of this being a local catastrophe, the
+full force of the seismic waves had travelled from Ukiah in the north
+to Monterey in the south, a distance of about 180 miles, and had made
+itself felt for a considerable distance from the Pacific westward,
+wrecking the larger buildings of every town in its path, rending and
+ruining as it went, and doing millions of dollars worth of damage.
+
+
+THE DESTRUCTION OF SANTA ROSA.
+
+
+In Santa Rosa, sixty miles to the north of San Francisco, and one of
+the most beautiful towns of California, practically every building
+was destroyed or badly damaged. The brick and stone business blocks,
+together with the public buildings, were thrown down. The Court House,
+Hall of Records, the Occidental and Santa Rosa Hotels, the Athenaeum
+Theatre, the new Masonic Temple, Odd Fellows' Block, all the banks,
+everything went, and in all the city not one brick or stone building was
+left standing, except the California Northwestern Depot.
+
+In the residential portion of the city the foundations receded from
+under the houses, badly wrecking about twenty of the largest and
+damaging every one more or less; and here, as in San Francisco, flames
+followed the earthquake, breaking out in a dozen different places at
+once and completing the work of devastation. From the ruins of the
+fallen houses fifty-eight bodies were taken out and interred during
+the first few days, and the total of dead and injured was close to a
+hundred. The money loss at this small city is estimated at $3,000,000.
+
+The destruction of Santa Rosa gave rise to general sorrow among the
+residents of the interior of the State. It was one of the show towns of
+California, and not only one of the most prosperous cities in the
+fine county of Sonoma, but one of the most picturesque in the State.
+Surrounding it there were miles of orchards, vineyards and corn fields.
+The beautiful drives of the city were adorned with bowers of roses,
+which everywhere were seen growing about the homes of the people. In
+its vicinity are the famous gardens of Luther Burbank, the "California
+wizard," but these fortunately escaped injury.
+
+At San Jose, another very beautiful city of over 20,000 population,
+not a single brick or stone building of two stories or over was left
+standing. Among those wrecked were the Hall of justice, just completed
+at a cost of $300,000; the new High School, the Presbyterian Church and
+St. Patrick's Cathedral. Numbers of people were caught in the ruins and
+maimed or killed. The death list appears to have been small, but the
+property damage was not less than $5,000,000. The Agnew State Insane
+Asylum, in the vicinity of San Jose, was entirely destroyed, more than
+half the inmates being killed or injured.
+
+
+THE STANFORD UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+The Leland Stanford, Jr., University, at Palo Alto (about thirty miles
+south of San Francisco), felt the full force of the earthquake and was
+badly wrecked. Only two lives were lost as a result of the earthquake,
+one of a student, the other of a fireman, but eight students were
+injured more or less seriously. The damage to the buildings is estimated
+by President Jordan to amount to about $4,000,000.
+
+The memorial church, with its twelve marble figures of the apostles,
+each weighing two tons, was badly injured by the fall of its Gothic
+spire, which crashed through the roof and demolished much of the
+interior; the great entrance archway was split in twain and wrecked; so,
+too, were the library, the gymnasium and the power house. A number of
+other buildings in the outer quadrangle and some of the small workshops
+were seriously damaged.
+
+Encina Hall and the inner quadrangle were practically uninjured, and the
+bulk of the books, collections and apparatus escaped damage.
+
+Sacramento, together with all the smaller cities and towns that dot the
+great Sacramento Valley for a distance fifty miles south and 150 miles
+north of the capital, escaped without injury, not a single pane of glass
+being broken or a brick displaced in Sacramento and no injury done in
+the other places, they lying eastward of the seat of serious earthquake
+activity.
+
+Los Angeles and Santa Barbara escaped with a slight trembling; Stockton,
+103 miles north of San Francisco, felt a severe shock and the Santa Fe
+bridge over the San Joaquin River at this point settled several inches.
+The only place in Southern California that suffered was Brawley, a small
+town lying 120 miles south of Los Angeles, about 100 buildings in the
+town and the surrounding valley being injured, though none of them were
+destroyed.
+
+
+THE EARTHQUAKE AT OTHER CITIES.
+
+
+At Alameda, on the bay opposite San Francisco, a score of chimneys were
+shaken down and other injuries done. Railroad tracks were twisted, and
+over 600 feet of track of the Oakland Transit Company's railway sank
+four feet. The total damage done amounted to probably $200,000, but no
+lives were lost. Tomales, a place of 350 inhabitants, was left a pile of
+ruins.
+
+At Los Panos several buildings were wrecked, causing damage to the
+extent of $75,000, but no lives were lost.
+
+At Loma Prieta the earthquake caused a mine house to slip down the side
+of a mountain, ten men being buried in the ruins.
+
+Fort Bragg, one of the principal lumbering towns in Mendocino County,
+was practically wiped out by fire following the earthquake, but out of a
+population of 5,000 only one was killed, though scores were injured.
+
+The town of Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco, suffered
+considerable damage from twisted structures, fallen walls and broken
+chimneys, the greatest injury being in the collapse of the town hall
+and the ruin of the deaf and dumb asylum. The University of California,
+situated here, was fortunate in escaping injury, it being reported
+that not a building was harmed in the slightest degree. Another public
+edifice of importance and interest, in a different section of the State,
+the famous Lick Astronomical Observatory, was equally fortunate, no
+damage being done to the buildings or the instruments.
+
+
+AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+Salinas, a town down the coast near Monterey, suffered severely, the
+place being to a large extent destroyed, with an estimated loss of over
+$1,000,000. The Spreckels' sugar factory and a score of other buildings
+were reported ruined and a number of lives lost. During the succeeding
+week several other shocks of some strength were reported from this town.
+
+Thus the ruinous work of the earthquake stretched over a broad track
+of prosperous, peaceful and happy country, embracing one of the best
+sections of California, laying waste not only the towns in its path,
+but doing much damage to ranch houses and country residences. Strange
+manifestations of nature were reported from the interior, where the
+ground was opened in many places like a ploughed field. Great rents
+in the earth were reported, and for many miles north from Los Angeles
+miniature geysers are said to have spouted volcano-like streams of hot
+mud.
+
+Railroad tracks in some localities were badly injured, sinking or
+lifting, and being put out of service until repaired. In fact, the
+ruinous effects of the earthquake immensely exceeded those of any
+similar catastrophe ever before known in the United States, and when
+the destruction done by the succeeding conflagration in San Francisco is
+taken into account the California earthquake of 1906 takes rank with the
+most destructive of those recorded in history.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+All America and Canada to the Rescue
+
+
+During the first three days after the terrible news had been flashed
+over the world the relief fund from the nation had leaped beyond the
+$5,000,000 mark. New York took the lead in the most generous giving that
+the world has ever seen. From every town and country village the people
+hastened to the Town Halls, the newspaper offices and wherever help was
+to be found most quickly, to add their savings and to sacrifice all but
+necessities for their stricken fellow-countrymen. Never has there been
+such a practical illustration of brotherly love. A perfect shower of
+gold and food was poured out to the sufferers to give them immediate
+assistance and to help them to a new start in life. All relief records
+were broken within two days of the disaster, but still the purses of the
+rich and poor alike continued to add to the huge contributions. Though
+the relief records were broken, every succeeding dispatch from the West
+told too plainly the terrible fact that all records of necessity were
+also broken.
+
+Over the entire globe Americans wherever they were hastened to cable or
+telegraph their bankers to add their share to the great work. A large
+fund was at once started in London, and with contributions of from
+$2,000 to $12,000 the sum was soon raised to hundreds of thousands of
+dollars.
+
+Individual contributions of $100,000 were common. In addition to John
+D. Rockefeller's gift of this sum, his company, the Standard Oil, gave
+another $100,000. The Steel Corporation and Andrew Carnegie each
+gave $100,000. From London William Waldorf Astor cabled his American
+representative, Charles A. Peabody, to place $100,000 at once at
+the disposal of Mayor Schmitz, of San Francisco, which was done. The
+Dominion Government of Canada made a special appropriation of $100,000
+and the Canadian Bank of Commerce, at Toronto, gave $10,000. And two of
+the great steamship companies owned in Germany sent $25,000 each.
+
+
+RIGHT OF WAY FOR FOOD TRAINS.
+
+
+On nearly a dozen roads, two days before the fire was over, great trains
+of freight cars loaded with foodstuffs were hastening at express
+speed to San Francisco. They had the right of way on every line. E. H.
+Harriman, in addition to giving $200,000 for the Union Pacific, Southern
+Pacific and other Harriman roads, issued orders that all relief trains
+bound for the desolated city should have Precedence over all other
+business of the roads.
+
+Advices from many points indicated that at least 150 freight cars loaded
+with the necessaries so eagerly awaited in San Francisco were speeding
+there as fast as steam could drive them. In addition, several steamers
+from other Pacific coast points, all food-laden, were rushing toward the
+stricken city.
+
+The rapidity with which the various relief funds in every city grew was
+almost magical.
+
+From corporations, firms, labor unions, religious societies,
+individuals, rich and poor, money flowed. Even the children in the
+schools gave their pennies. Every grade of society, every branch of
+trade and commerce seemed inspired by a spirit of emulation in giving.
+
+The United States Government at once voted a contribution of $1,000,000,
+and government supplies were rushed from every post in the West.
+
+The $1,000,000 government gift, which formed the nucleus of the relief
+fund, was doubled on Saturday by a resolution appropriating another, and
+a vote was taken on Monday to increase this sum to $1,500,000, making a
+total government contribution of $2,500,000. This was largely expended
+in supplies of absolute necessaries, furnished from the stores of the
+War Department, and those first sent being five carloads of army medical
+supplies from St. Louis. A cargo of evaporated cream was also sent to
+use in the care of little children, while the Red Cross Society shipped
+a carload of eggs from Chicago. Dr. Edward Devine, special Red Cross
+agent in San Francisco, was appointed to distribute these supplies.
+
+
+CARGOES OF SUPPLIES.
+
+
+Trainloads of other supplies were dispatched in all haste from various
+points in the West and East, carrying provisions of all kinds, tents,
+cots, clothing, bedding and a great variety of other articles. A special
+train of twenty-six cars was dispatched from Portland, Oregon, on
+Thursday night, conveying ten doctors, twenty trained nurses and 800,000
+pounds of provisions. Chicago sent meat. Minneapolis sent flour, and,
+in fact, every part of the country moved in the greatest haste for the
+relief of the stricken city.
+
+There was urgent need of haste. On Friday, while the flames were still
+making their way onward, General Funston telegraphed: "Famine seems
+inevitable." The people of the country took a more hopeful view of it,
+and by Saturday night the spectre of famine was definitely driven from
+the field and food for all the fugitives was within reach.
+
+
+THE SYMPATHY OF THE PEOPLE AWAKES.
+
+
+On all sides the people were awake and doing. In all the great
+cities agencies to receive contributions were opened, and many of the
+newspapers undertook the task of collecting and forwarding supplies. The
+smaller towns were equally alert in furnishing their quota to the good
+work, and from countryside and village contributions were forwarded
+until the fund accumulated to an unprecedented amount. Collections were
+made in factories, in stores, in offices, in the public schools; cash
+boxes or globes stood in all frequented places and were rapidly filled
+with bank notes; theatrical and musical entertainments were given for
+the benefit of the earthquake sufferers; never had there been such an
+awakening. As an instance of the spirit displayed, one man came running
+into a banking house and threw a thousand dollar bill on the counter.
+
+"For San Francisco," he said, as he turned toward the door.
+
+"What name?" asked the teller.
+
+"Put it down to 'cash,'" he answered, as he vanished.
+
+Rapidly the fund accumulated. A few days brought it up to the $5,000,000
+mark. Then it grew to $10,000,000. Within ten days' time the relief fund
+was estimated at $18,000,000, and the good work was still going on--in
+less profusion, it is true, but still the spirit was alive.
+
+
+FOREIGN OFFERS OF AID.
+
+
+The generous impulse was not confined to the United States. From all
+countries came offers of aid. Canada was promptly in the field, and
+the chief nations of Europe were quick to follow, while Japan made a
+generous offer, and in far Australia funds were started at the various
+cities for the sufferers. No doubt a large sum from foreign lands would
+have been available had not President Roosevelt declined to accept
+contributions from abroad, as not needed in view of America's abundant
+response. To the Hamburg-Line which offered $25,000, the following
+letter was sent:
+
+"The President deeply appreciates your message of sympathy, and desires
+me to thank you heartily for the kind offer of outside aid. Although
+declining, the President earnestly wishes you to understand how much he
+appreciates your cordial and generous sympathy."
+
+All other offerings from abroad were in the same thankful spirit
+declined, even those from our immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
+Some feeling was aroused by this, especially in the relief committee at
+San Francisco, which felt that the need of that city was so great and
+urgent that no offer of relief should have been declined. In response
+the President explained that he only spoke for the government, in his
+official capacity, and that San Francisco was in no sense debarred from
+accepting any contributions made directly to it.
+
+It may justly be said for the people of this country that their
+spontaneous generosity in the presence of a great calamity, either at
+home or abroad, is always magnificent. It never waits for solicitation.
+It does not delay even until the necessity is demonstrated, but it
+assumes that where there is great destruction of property and homes are
+swept away there must be distress which calls for immediate relief.
+
+There is one ray of light in the gloom caused by the calamity at San
+Francisco. A truly splendid display of brotherly love and sympathy has
+been shown by the people of this country, and a similar display was
+ready to be shown by the people of the civilized world had it been felt
+that the occasion demanded it and that the exigency surpassed the power
+of our people to meet it.
+
+
+ENTERPRISE IN SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+
+In the face of an appalling and death-dealing disaster, rendering an
+entire community dependent for the bare necessities of life and putting
+it in imminent danger of greater horrors, the nation has been stirred
+as it has rarely been before, and there have been awakened those deeper
+feelings of brotherhood which are referred to in the oft-quoted passage
+that "one touch of nature makes the whole world akin."
+
+The nature indicated in this instance is human nature in its highest
+manifestation, the sympathetic sentiment that stirs deeply in all our
+hearts and needs but the occasion to make itself warmly manifested.
+There is something incomparably splendid in the spectacle of an entire
+nation straining every nerve to send succor to the helpless and the
+suffering, and this spectacle has warmed the hearts of our people to the
+uttermost and inspired them to make the most strenuous efforts to drive
+away the gaunt wolf of famine from the ruined homes of our far Pacific
+brethren.
+
+It may be said that San Francisco will be willing to accept this relief
+only so long as stern necessity demands it. At this writing only two
+weeks have passed since the dread calamity, and already active steps
+are being taken to provide for themselves. As an example of their
+enterprise, it may be said that their newspapers hardly suspended at
+all, the Evening Post alone suspending publication for a time from
+being unable to acquire a plant in the vicinity of the city. When the
+conflagration made it apparent that all plants would be destroyed, the
+Bulletin put at work a force in its composing rooms, a hand-bill was
+set and some hundreds of copies run off on the proof-press, giving the
+salient features of the day's news.
+
+The morning papers, the Call, Chronicle and Examiner, retired to
+Oakland, on the other side of the bay, and there, on Thursday morning,
+issued a joint paper from the office of the Oakland Tribune. On Friday
+morning they split forces again, the Examiner retaining the use of the
+Tribune plant and the Call and Chronicle issuing from the office of
+the Oakland Herald. Two days later the Call secured the service of
+the Oakland Enquirer plant. Meantime, on Friday, the Bulletin, after a
+suspension of one day, made arrangements for the use in the afternoon
+of the Oakland Herald equipment, and from these sources and under such
+circumstances the San Francisco papers have been issuing.
+
+Offices were hurriedly opened on Fillmore Street, which today is the
+main thoroughfare of San Francisco, and from these headquarters the news
+of the day as it is gathered is transmitted by means of automobiles and
+ferry service to the Oakland shore.
+
+There also were accepted such advertisements as had been offered. The
+number of these was, perhaps, the best visual sign of the resurrection
+of the new city. It was noted that in a fourteen-page paper printed
+within two weeks after the fire by the Examiner there were over nine
+pages of advertisements, and in a sixteen-page paper published by the
+Chronicle at least fifty per cent. of its space was devoted to the same
+end.
+
+Many of the larger factories left unharmed were also quick to start
+work. At the Union Iron Works 2,300 men were promptly employed, and the
+management expected within a fortnight to have the full complement of
+its force, nearly 4,000 men, engaged. No damage was done to the three
+new warships being built at these works for the government, the cruisers
+California and Milwaukee and the battleship South Dakota. The steamer
+City of Puebla, which was sunk in the bay, has been raised and is being
+repaired. Workmen are also engaged fixing the steamship Columbia, which
+was turned on her side. The hulls of the new Hawaiian-American Steamship
+Company's liners were pitched about four feet to the south, but were
+uninjured and only need to be replaced in position.
+
+As for the working people at large, those without funds for their own
+support, abundant employment will quickly be provided for them in the
+necessary work of clearing away the debris, thus opening the way to a
+resumption of business and reducing the number requiring relief. The
+ukase has already been issued that all able-bodied men needing aid must
+go to work or leave the city.
+
+This dictum of Chief of Police Dinan's will be strictly enforced. The
+relief work and distribution of food and clothing are attracting a
+certain element to the city which does not desire to labor, while some
+already here prefer to live on the generosity of others. Chief Dinan has
+determined that those who apply for relief and refuse work when it
+is offered them shall leave the city or be arrested for vagrancy. The
+police judges have suggested establishing a chain gang and putting all
+vagrants and petty offenders at work clearing up the ruins.
+
+Perhaps never in the history of the city has there been so little crime
+in San Francisco. With the saloons closed, Chinatown, the Barbary Coast,
+and other haunts of criminals wiped out, and soldiers and marines on
+almost every block in the residence districts, there have been few
+crimes of any kind. It is the opinion of the police that most of the
+criminal element has left the city. The saloons, in all probability will
+remain closed for two more months.
+
+
+THE PROBLEM OF THE CHINESE.
+
+
+In conclusion of this chapter it is advisable to refer to the situation
+of one of the elements of San Francisco's population, the people of
+Chinatown. One of the problems facing the relief committees on both
+sides of the bay is the sheltering of the Chinese. Many of them are
+destitute. It has long been a question in San Francisco what should be
+done with Chinatown, and moving the Chinese in the direction of Colma
+has been agitated. Now they are without homes and without prospects of
+procuring any. They can get no land. The limits of Oakland's Chinatown
+have already been extended, and the strictest police regulations are in
+force to prevent further enlargement. On this side of the bay they are
+camping in open lots. Unless the government undertakes their relief,
+they are in grave danger. Those who have money cannot purchase property,
+as no one will sell to them. Few, however, even of the wealthiest
+merchants in Chinatown, saved anything of value, for their wealth was
+invested in the Oriental village which had sprung up in the heart of the
+area burned.
+
+Yet it is the desire of the municipality not to harass this portion of
+its foreign population, and the vexatious problem of placing the new
+Chinatown will probably be settled to the satisfaction of the Chinese
+colony. This colony diverts an important part of the trade of San
+Francisco to that city, and if its members are dealt with unjustly there
+is danger of losing this trade. The question is one that must be left
+for the future to decide, but no doubt care will be taken that a new
+Chinatown with the unsavory conditions of the old shall not arise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+San Francisco of the Past
+
+
+The story of San Francisco's history and tragedy appeal with
+extraordinary force to the imagination of all civilized men. For several
+generations the city was looked upon as an Arabian Night's dream--a
+place where gold lay in the streets and joy and happiness were
+unlimited. Its settlement, or, rather, its real rise as a city, was as
+by magic. It was first a city of tents, of shanties, of "shacks," lying
+on the rim of a great, spacious bay. Ships of all sizes and rigs brought
+gold-seekers and provisions from the East, all the way round Cape Horn,
+after voyages of weary months, and at San Francisco their crews deserted
+and hundreds of these craft were left at their moorings to rot. Ashore
+was a riot of money, prodigious extravagance, mean, shabby appointments,
+sudden riches, great disappointment, revelry, improvidence and suicide.
+
+The streets that now lay squares from the water were then at the water's
+edge and batteaus brought cargoes ashore. Long wharves--one was for
+years called the Long Wharf even after there were others built much
+longer--led out over the shallow water. These shallows were later filled
+and streets built upon them, and upon them arose warehouses, hotels,
+factories, lodging houses and business places.
+
+The city grew rapidly in the direction away from the bay. But in its
+early days it was a city with no confidence in its own stability, and
+its buildings were accordingly unstable. A few minor earthquakes shook
+some of these down years ago and established in the minds of the people
+a horror of earthquakes. Frame houses became the rule.
+
+In its ensuing life San Francisco developed the attributes of a city of
+gayety tempered by business. The population, for the most part, affected
+light-hearted scorn of money, or, rather, of saving money. It made
+mirth of life, habituated itself to expect windfalls such as miners
+and prospectors dream of, developed a moderate amount of business, and
+enjoyed the day while there was sunlight and the night when there was
+artificial light. The windfalls grew less frequent, mining became a
+costly and scientific process, and agriculture succeeded it. But, though
+it was only necessary to tickle the land with a hoe and pour water upon
+the tickled spot, to have it laugh with two, three or even four harvests
+a year, agriculturists continued scarce. The Chinese truck farms, some
+of which lay within the city's lines, supplied the small fruits and
+vegetables. Across the bay white men farmed, and grapes, fruits,
+vegetables and flowers of prodigious variety and monstrous dimensions
+were grown. But Eastern men came to do the farming. The Californian who
+himself was an "Argonaut," or whose father was an Argonaut, found no
+attractions in the steady labor of farming.
+
+There followed a period of depression, ascribed by many to the influx of
+the Chinese and their effect upon the labor market, though the army of
+the unemployed were as a rule unwilling to do the work their Celestial
+rivals engaged in, that of truck farming, fruit raising, manual
+household labor, wood cutting and the like. A heavy weight settled on
+the city; business grew slack; the army of the unemployed, of ruined
+speculators and moneyless newcomers grew steadily greater, and for an
+era San Francisco saw its dark side.
+
+But this was not a long duration. There was fast developing a new and
+important business, resulting from the development of the real resources
+of the State--the fruits, particularly the citrous fruits that grew
+abundantly in the warm valley. Fortunes were made in oranges, lemons,
+limes, grapes, almonds and pears. Raisins, whose size defied anything
+heretofore known, were made from the huge grapes that grew in the San
+Joaquin Valley. Sonoma sent its grapes to be made into wine. Capital
+flowed in from every side. Eastern men in search of health, others in
+search of wealth, came to the Golden State. No matter who came, where
+they came from, or where they were going, they spent a few days, or
+many, and some money, or much, in "'Frisco." The enterprise of the
+second edition pioneers quickly transformed the State and city.
+
+
+AGRICULTURE BRINGS NEW WEALTH.
+
+
+Luxury was startling. San Francisco's mercantile community equaled the
+best, the stores and shops were as beautiful as anywhere in the
+world and proportionately as well patronized. Theatres, music halls,
+restaurants, hotel bars and the like were ablaze with lights at night,
+and patronized by a gay throng. Sutro's bath, near the Cliff House, was
+a species of entertainment unequaled anywhere. The Presidio, as the army
+post is still known, as in the Spanish nomenclature, gave its drills,
+regarded as free exhibitions for the people. Golden Gate Park was an
+endless daily picnic ground.
+
+The crowds in the streets of San Francisco were noticeably well dressed
+and usually gay, without that fixed, drawn, saturnine look noticeable
+among the people of the East. It is doubtful whether, upon the whole,
+the earnings of the San Francisco man equaled those of his Eastern
+brother, but his holidays were frequent and his joys greater. The grind
+of life was not yet steady--men had not become mere machines.
+
+The climate of California is peculiar; it is hard to give an impression
+of it. In the first place, all the forces of nature work on laws of
+their own in that part of California. There is no thunder or lightning;
+there is no snow, except a flurry once in five or six years; there are
+perhaps half a dozen nights in the winter when the thermometer drops
+low enough so that there is a little film of ice on exposed water in the
+morning. Neither is there any hot weather. Yet most Easterners remaining
+in San Francisco for a few days remember that they were always chilly.
+
+
+A PECULIAR YET DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE.
+
+
+For the Gate is a big funnel, drawing in the winds and the mists which
+cool off the great, hot interior valley of San Joaquin and Sacramento.
+So the west wind blows steadily ten months of the year and almost all
+the mornings are foggy. This keeps the temperature steady at about 55
+degrees--a little cool for comfort of an unacclimated person, especially
+indoors. Californians, used to it, hardly ever think of making fires in
+their houses except in the few exceptional days of the winter season,
+and then they rely mainly upon fireplaces. This is like the custom of
+the Venetians and the Florentines.
+
+But give an Easterner six months of it, and he, too, learns to exist
+without a chill in a steady temperature a little lower than that to
+which he is accustomed at home. After that one goes about with perfect
+indifference to the temperature. Summer and winter San Francisco women
+wear light tailor-made clothes, and men wear the same fall-weight suits
+all the year around.
+
+Except for the modern buildings, the fruit of the last ten years, the
+town presented at first sight to the newcomer a disreputable appearance.
+Most of the buildings were low and of wood. In the middle period of the
+70's, when a great part of San Francisco was building, there was some
+atrocious architecture perpetrated. In that time, too, every one put
+bow windows on his house, to catch all of the morning sunlight that was
+coming through the fog, and those little houses, with bow windows and
+fancy work all down their fronts, were characteristic of the middle
+class residence districts.
+
+Then the Italians, who tumbled over Telegraph Hill, had built as they
+listed and with little regard for streets, and their houses hung crazily
+on a side hill which was little less than a precipice. For the most part
+the Chinese, although they occupied an abandoned business district, had
+remade the houses Chinese fashion, and the Mexicans and Spaniards had
+added to their houses those little balconies without which life is not
+life to a Spaniard.
+
+The hills are steep beyond conception. Where Vallejo Street ran up
+Russian Hill it progressed for four blocks by regular steps like a
+flight of stairs.
+
+With these hills, with the strangeness of the architecture, and with the
+green gray tinge over everything, the city fell always into vistas and
+pictures, a setting for the romance which hung over everything, which
+has always hung over life in San Francisco since the padres came and
+gathered the Indians about Mission Dolores.
+
+And it was a city of romance and a gateway to adventure. It opened out
+on the mysterious Pacific, the untamed ocean, and most of China, Japan,
+the South Sea Islands, Lower California, the west coast of Central
+America, Australia that came to this country passed in through the
+Golden Gate. There was a sprinkling, too, of Alaska and Siberia.
+From his windows on Russian Hill one saw always something strange and
+suggestive creeping through the mists of the bay. It would be a South
+Sea Island brig, bringing in copra, to take out cottons and idols; a
+Chinese junk with fan-like sails, back from an expedition after sharks'
+livers; an old whaler, which seemed to drip oil, back from a year of
+cruising in the Arctic. Even, the tramp windjammers were deep-chested
+craft, capable of rounding the Horn or of circumnavigating the globe;
+and they came in streaked and picturesque from their long voyaging.
+
+
+A MIXTURE OF RACES.
+
+
+In the orange colored dawn which always comes through the mists of that
+bay, the fishing fleet would crawl in under triangular lateen sails, for
+the fishermen of San Francisco Bay are all Neapolitans, who have brought
+their costumes and sail with lateen rigs shaped like the ear of a horse
+when the wind fills them and stained an orange brown.
+
+The "smelting pot of the races" Stevenson called the region along the
+water front, for here the people of all these craft met, Italians,
+Greeks, Russians, Lascars, Kanakas, Alaska Indians, black Gilbert
+Islanders, Spanish-Americans, wanderers and sailors from all the world,
+who came in and out from among the queer craft to lose themselves in the
+disreputable shanties and saloons. The Barbary Coast was a veritable bit
+of Satan's realm. The place was made up of three solid blocks of dance
+halls, for the delectation of the sailors of the world. Within those
+streets of peril the respectable never set foot; behind the swinging
+doors of those saloons anything might be happening, crime was as common
+here as drink, and much went on of which the law was blankly ignorant.
+
+Not far removed from this haunt of crime was the world-famous Chinatown,
+a district six blocks long and two wide, and housing when at its fullest
+some 30,000 Chinese. Old business houses at first, the new inmates added
+to them, rebuilt them, ran out their own balconies and entrances, and
+gave them that feeling of huddled irregularity which makes all Chinese
+built dwellings fall naturally into pictures. Not only this, they
+burrowed to a depth equal to three stories under the ground, and through
+this ran passages in which the Chinese transacted their dark and devious
+affairs--as the smuggling of opium, the traffic in slave girls and the
+settlement of their difficulties, by murder if they saw fit. The law was
+powerless to prevent or discover and convict the murderers.
+
+Chinatown is gone; the Barbary Coast is gone; the haunts of crime have
+been swept by the devouring flames, and if the citizens can prevent
+they will never be restored. The old San Francisco is dead. The gayest,
+lightest-hearted, most pleasure-loving city of this continent, and
+in many ways the most interesting and romantic, is a horde of huddled
+refugees living among ruins. It may rebuild; it probably will; but those
+who have known that peculiar city by the Golden Gate and have caught its
+flavor of the Arabian Nights feel that it can never be the same. When it
+rises out of its ashes it will probably doubtless resemble other modern
+cities and have lost its old strange flavor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Life in the Metropolis of the Pacific
+
+
+Brought up in a bountiful country, where no one really has to work very
+hard to live, nurtured on adventure, scion of a free and merry stock,
+the real, native Californian is a distinctive type; as far from the
+Easterner in psychology as the extreme Southern is from the Yankee. He
+is easy going, witty, hospitable, lovable, inclined to be unmoral rather
+than immoral in his personal habits, and above all easy to meet and to
+know.
+
+Above all there is an art sense all through the populace which sets it
+off from any other part of the country. This sense is almost Latin in
+its strength, and the Californian owes it to the leaven of Latin blood.
+
+
+THE 'FRISCO RESTAURANTS.
+
+
+With such a people life was always gay. If they did not show it on the
+streets, as do the people of Paris, it was because the winds made
+open cafes disagreeable at all seasons of the year. The gayety went on
+indoors or out on the hundreds of estates that fringed the city. It was
+noted for its restaurants. Perhaps people who cared not how they spent
+their money could get the best they wished, but for a dollar down to as
+low as fifteen cents the restaurants furnished the best fare to be had
+anywhere at the price.
+
+The country all about produced everything that a cook needs, and that
+in abundance--the bay was an almost untapped fish-pond, the fruit
+farms came up to the very edge of the town, and the surrounding country
+produced in abundance fine meats, all cereals and all vegetables.
+
+But the chefs who came from France in the early days and liked this land
+of plenty were the head and front of it. They passed their art to other
+Frenchmen or to the clever Chinese. Most of the French chefs at the
+biggest restaurants were born in Canton, China. Later the Italians,
+learning of this country where good food is appreciated, came and
+brought their own style. Householders always dined out one or two
+nights of the week, and boarding houses were scarce, for the unattached
+preferred the restaurants. The eating was usually better than the
+surroundings.
+
+
+THE FAMOUS POODLE DOG.
+
+
+Meals that were marvels were served in tumbledown little hotels. Most
+famous of all the restaurants was the Poodle Dog. There have been no
+less than four restaurants of this name, beginning with a frame shanty
+where, in the early days, a prince of French cooks used to exchange
+recipes for gold dust. Each succeeding restaurant of the name has moved
+farther downtown; and the recent Poodle Dog stands--or stood--on the
+edge of the Tenderloin in a modern five-story building. And it typified
+a certain spirit that there was in San Francisco.
+
+On the ground floor was a public restaurant where there was served the
+best dollar dinner on earth. It ranked with the best and the others were
+in San Francisco. Here, especially on Sunday night, almost everybody
+went to vary the monotony of home cooking. Every one who was any one in
+the town could be seen there off and on. It was perfectly respectable. A
+man might take his wife and daughter there.
+
+On the second floor there were private dining rooms, and to dine there,
+with one or more of the opposite sex, was risque but not especially
+terrible. But the third floor--and the fourth floor--and the fifth! The
+elevator man of the Poodle Dog, who had held the job for many years and
+never spoke unless spoken to, wore diamonds and was a heavy investor in
+real estate.
+
+There were others as famous in their way--Zinkaud's, where, at one time,
+every one went after the theatre, and Tate's, which has lately bitten
+into that trade; the Palace Grill, much like the grills of Eastern
+hotels, except for the price; Delmonico's, which ran the Poodle Dog neck
+and neck in its own line, and many others, humbler, but great at the
+price.
+
+
+THE BOHEMIAN CLUB.
+
+
+To the visitor who came to see the city and who put himself in the hands
+of one of its well-to-do citizens for the purpose, the few days that
+followed were apt to be a whirl of mirth and sight-seeing, made up of
+breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, drives, little trips across the bay,
+dashes down the peninsula to the polo and country clubs, hours spent
+in Bohemia, trips around the world among all the races of the habitable
+globe, all of whom had their colonies in this most cosmopolitan of
+American cities.
+
+In club life the Bohemian stood first and foremost, the famous club
+whose meeting place, with all its art treasures, is now a heap of ashes,
+but which was formerly 'Frisco's head-centre of mirth. Founded by Henry
+George, the world-famous single tax advocate, when he was an impecunious
+scribbler on the San Francisco Post, it grew to be the choicest place of
+resort in the Pacific metropolis.
+
+Within its walls the possession of dollars was a bar rather than an
+"open sesame," the master key to its circles being the knack of telling
+a good story or the possession of quick and telling wit. Fun-making was
+the rule there, and the only way to escape being made its victim was
+the power to deliver a ready and witty retort. In this home of good
+fellowship all the artists, actors, wits, literati, fiddlers, pianists
+and bon vivants were members. Here an impoverished painter could square
+his grill and buffet account by giving the club a daub to hang on its
+walls. Here in days of old the Sheriff used to camp regularly once a
+month until the members rustled up the money to replevin the furniture.
+But these days of poverty passed away, and in later years the club came
+to know prosperity beyond the dreams of the good fellows who founded it.
+
+
+THE WICKEDEST AND GAYEST.
+
+
+The Bohemian is gone, but the spirit that founded and made it still
+exists, and we may look to see it rise, like the phoenix, from its
+ashes.
+
+San Francisco was often called the wickedest city in America. It was
+hardly that, it was simply the gayest. It was not the home of purity;
+neither is any other city. What other cities do behind closed doors San
+Francisco did not hesitate to do in the open.
+
+In Eastern cities the police have driven vice into tenements, lodging
+houses and apartments. San Francisco did not do that. She had certain
+quarters where, according to unwritten law, vice was allowed to abide,
+and she did not try to hide the fact that it could be found there. She
+was not secretly immoral; she was frankly unmoral.
+
+She did not believe in driving her vice from the open where it could be
+recognized and controlled--prevented from doing any more harm than it
+was possible to stop--into districts of the city where good people dwell
+and purity would feel its contaminating influence. There were regions in
+which the respectable never set foot, haunts of acknowledged vice which
+for virtue to enter would be to lose caste.
+
+As for its gayety, San Francisco was proud of the reputation of being
+the Paris of America. Its women were beautiful, and they knew it. They
+liked to adorn their beauty with fine clothes and peacock along the
+streets on matinee days. If you asked a San Francisco girl why she wore
+such expensive clothes, she would say, frankly, "Because I like to have
+the men admire me," and she would see no harm in saying it. There was
+very little sham about the San Francisco women. Their men understood
+them and worshiped them. They bore themselves with the freedom that
+was theirs by right of their heritage of open-air living, the Bohemian
+atmosphere they breathed, the unconventional character of their
+surroundings. Their figures were strong and well moulded, their faces
+bloomed with health like the roses in their gardens. They drew the wine
+of laughter from their balmy California air. Sorrow and trouble sat
+lightly on their shoulders.
+
+There was no end of enjoyments. After the theatre they would go to
+Zinkaud's, Tate's, the Palace or some other of the many places of
+resort, for a snack to eat and a spell under the music, which was to be
+heard everywhere.
+
+Another part of the gay life of the city was for a private dance to keep
+going all night in a fashionable residence, and at daylight, instead of
+everybody going to bed, to jump into automobiles or carriages or take
+the trolley cars and whizz off to the beach for a dip in the cold salt
+water pool at Sutro's baths, and then, with ravenous appetites, sit down
+on the Cliff House balcony to an open-air breakfast while watching the
+ships sail in and out at the Golden Gate and hearing the seals barking
+on the rocks. After that home and to rest.
+
+
+AN ALL-NIGHT TOWN.
+
+
+The city never went to sleep altogether. It was "an all-night" town. Few
+of the restaurants ever closed, none of the saloons did. Always during
+the whole twenty-four hours of the day there was "something doing" in
+the Tenderloin. No hour of the night was ever free of revelry. It was
+marvelous how they kept it up. The average San Franciscan could stay
+awake all night at a card game, take a cold wash and a good breakfast
+in the morning, and go straight downtown to business and feel none the
+worse for it.
+
+It was a gay town, a captivating, piquant, audacious, but not especially
+wicked city. A Frenchy, a risque city it might justly have been called,
+but it was not wicked in the sense that sordid vice, vulgar crime and
+wretched squalor constitute wickedness.
+
+It was a lovable place that everybody longed to get back to, once
+having been there. A woman, leaving it for years, watched it from the
+ferryboat, and, weeping, said, "San Francisco, oh, my San Francisco, I
+am leaving thee."
+
+Will those who left it after the fire ever get back to their old
+city again? We have already expressed our doubt of this. The old San
+Francisco is probably gone, never to return. The new San Francisco will
+be a cleaner, saner and safer city, destitute of its rookeries, its
+tenements and its Chinatown. It will be a greater and more sightly
+city than that of the past, but to those who knew and loved the old San
+Francisco--San Francisco the captivating, the maddest, gayest, liveliest
+and most rollicking in the country--there must be something impressibly
+sad to its old inhabitants in the reflection that the new city of the
+Golden Gate can never be quite the same as the haven of their early
+affections.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Plans to Rebuild San Francisco.
+
+
+Almost as soon as the terrible conflagration had been checked and gotten
+under control by the heroic efforts of the soldiers and firemen, a
+little group of the leading citizens of the desolated city had met
+in the office of Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz and had begun to plan the
+restoration of their municipality. It was an admirable courage, bred in
+the stock of those men who in 1849 left comfortable homes in the East to
+seek their fortune in the Golden State, that inspired the loyal leaders
+of the present day citizens to provide with far-seeing eyes for
+the rebuilding of their homes and business houses with more orderly
+precision after the fire than had been possible during the hustle of
+early days in a new city.
+
+The old San Francisco was no more, and never could be recalled save as
+a memory. The local color, atmosphere, that which might be termed the
+feeling of the old city, vanished with the clustered houses, as rich
+in tradition as the ancient missions in whose cloisters worshiped the
+Spanish padre "before the Gringo came." Heartrending as it was to the
+citizens who loved their homes and haunts to see them disappear into
+smoke, there was an attraction about the city of the Golden Gate which
+endeared it to all Americans.
+
+One of San Francisco's charms was in its defiance of precedent. There
+were hills to be conquered, and San Francisco' s expanding traffic
+hurled itself at the face of them. It went up and up, with no thought
+of finding a way around. So it happened that on some of the streets the
+steepness was too great for horses. In the centre there are cable roads,
+and on either side of the rails grass grows through the cobbles. The
+earlier structures on the level were put together in haste. For the most
+part they remained essentially unchanged until they fell with a
+crash. True, they had become stained by time, unkempt, dwarfed by new
+neighbors, but nobody desired to efface them. Away from the business
+section houses appeared on the various hills, perched precariously near
+the brink; houses reached by long flights and grown over with roses. The
+bathing fogs touched them with gray. Moss grew on their roofs. In the
+little, lofty yards calla lilies bloomed with the profusion of weeds.
+The natural beauty of the site, the quaintness of the commercial and
+social development of which it became the centre, attracted the poet
+and the artist. It incited them to paint the attractions and to sing the
+praises of their chosen home.
+
+But the loyal sons of those brave pioneers who founded the metropolis
+were not in the least daunted by the problem of raising from its ruins
+the whole vast number of dwellings and business houses. The leaders of
+the people, the men who had been identified with San Francisco since
+its early days, and whose great fortunes were almost swept away by the
+cataclysm, lent courage to all the wearied thousands by firm statements
+of their optimism.
+
+James D. Phelan, former Mayor of the city and one of its richest
+capitalists, immediately announced his intention of rebuilding his
+properties at Market and O'Farrell Streets, in the heart of the ruined
+business district. William H. Crocker, one of the heaviest losers, a
+nephew of Charles Crocker, who founded the Central Pacific Railroad with
+Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford and others, stated emphatically
+that he would put his shoulder to the wheel. On receiving the first news
+of the disaster, and before he knew what his losses would amount to, he
+said:
+
+"Mark my words, San Francisco will arise from these ashes a greater and
+more beautiful city than ever. I don't take any stock in the belief of
+some people that investors and residents will be panicky and afraid to
+build up again. This calamity, terrible as it is, will mean nothing less
+than a new and grander San Francisco. It is preposterous to suggest the
+abandonment of the city. It is the natural metropolis of the Pacific
+coast. God made it so. D. O. Mills, the Spreckels family, everybody I
+know, have determined to rebuild and to invest more than ever before.
+Burnham, the great Chicago architect, has been at work for a year or
+more on plans to beautify San Francisco. Terrible as this destruction
+has been, it serves to clear the way for the carrying out of these
+plans. Why, even now we are figuring on rebuilding. More than that, I am
+confident that, except for what fire has absolutely laid waste, it
+will be found that the buildings are less injured than was supposed.
+Plastering, ornamental work, glass and more or less loose material has
+been shaken down, but the framework, I am sure, will be found intact in
+many big buildings."
+
+D. Ogden Mills, of New York, who owned enormous properties in the
+stricken city, was equally confident.
+
+"We will go ahead," said he, "and build the city, and build it so that
+earthquakes will not shake it down and so fire will not destroy it, and
+we will have a water system which will enable us to draw water from the
+sea for fire extinguishing service and other municipal purposes. We will
+thus have less to fear from the destruction of the land mains. The whole
+point with all of us who own property down there is that we have to
+build. To let it lie idle, piled with its ruins, would mean the throwing
+away of money, and I am sure none of us intends to do that. The city
+will go up like Baltimore did, and Galveston, and Charleston, and
+Chicago, and there will be no lack of capital. California spirit and
+California enterprise, which are always associated with the State of
+California, will rise superior to this calamity."
+
+George Crocker, elder brother of William H. Crocker; Archer M.
+Huntington, son of Collis P. Huntington; Mrs. Herman Oelrichs, Mrs. W.
+K. Vanderbilt, Jr., members of the wealthy Spreckels family and others
+all expressed, before the great conflagration had ceased burning, the
+confident expectation that the city would rise, Phoenix-like, from its
+ashes and become more beautiful and prosperous than it had ever been in
+the past.
+
+So complete was the calamity that the Government of the United States
+lent a hand in the earliest work of restoration. On April 20th, two days
+after the earthquake, Congress took immediate steps to repair or replace
+all the public buildings damaged or destroyed in San Francisco. The
+willingness of Congress to assist those in need of work by immediately
+beginning the reconstruction of the Federal buildings was indicated
+when Senator Scott, chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and
+Grounds, introduced a resolution calling upon the Secretary of the
+Treasury for full information as to the exact condition of the various
+government buildings in San Francisco, and instructing him to submit an
+estimate showing the aggregate sum needed to repair or rebuild them.
+The resolution suggested that steel frames be used in any new buildings.
+This resolution was adopted. It was soon learned that the new Post
+Office, the Mint and the old Customs House were practically undamaged.
+The branch of the United States Mint, on Fifth Street, and the new Post
+Office at Seventh and Mission Streets, were striking examples of the
+superiority of workmanship put into Federal buildings. The old Mint
+building, surrounded by a wide space of pavement, was absolutely
+unharmed. The Mint made preparations to resume business at once.
+The Post Office building also was virtually undamaged by fire. The
+earthquake shock did some damage to the different entrances to the
+building, but the walls were left standing in good condition. President
+Roosevelt also sent a message to Congress asking that $300,000 be at
+once appropriated to finish the Mare Island Navy Yard, in order that
+employment might be given to the many workmen who were in extreme need
+of money for the necessities of life.
+
+It was a most fortunate circumstance that the property records in the
+Hall of Records were unharmed either by earthquake or fire. Endless
+disputes and litigation over the questions of ownerships would
+undoubtedly have otherwise impeded the work of those sincerely
+anxious to repair their shattered fortunes and opened the way for the
+unscrupulous to take unfair advantage of the general chaos.
+
+But the temper of the people was such that only the boldest would have
+dared to use trickery for his own ends. Every man stood at the side of
+his neighbor working for himself and for the good of all. Before the
+embers were cool the owners of some of the damaged skyscrapers gave
+commands to proceed instantly with their reconstruction. The Spreckels
+Building, the Hayward Building, the St. Francis Hotel, the Merchants'
+Exchange and structures that permitted it were ordered rushed into shape
+as quickly as possible. And already contracts had been drawn up
+for other steel-frame buildings to be erected with all speed. Many
+substantial business men and property owners of San Francisco were in
+consultation with the architects within a few days. While the work of
+clearing away the debris went forward, a corps of draughtsmen was busily
+occupied preparing plans for the new buildings to adorn the city.
+
+Mayor Schmitz telegraphed to the Mayors of all leading cities, inquiring
+how many architects or architectural draughtsmen could be induced to
+leave for San Francisco at once, and hundreds of young men immediately
+responded to the call. Experts of the several great contracting
+companies hurried to the scene and were ready to deposit material and
+labor on the ground for the work of restoration. Daniel H. Burnham,
+a leading architect of Chicago, who had previously drawn plans for
+beautifying the city, was summoned to superintend the work.
+
+All the horses, mules and wagons obtainable were immediately pressed
+into service to remove the debris and clear the streets so that traffic
+could be resumed. Within a week after the first earthquake shock trolley
+cars were running in the principal streets, telephone communication had
+been re-established in the most needed quarters, electric lights were
+available and business had begun again on a limited scale.
+
+Yet, in spite of the indomitable courage of the citizens and the
+efficient labor of the public officers and the utility companies, an
+enormous amount of work remained. Virtually every bank in San Francisco
+had to be rebuilt. Only the Market Street National Bank was left nearly
+undamaged. An official list of the condition of the school buildings
+throughout the city showed that twenty-nine school buildings were
+destroyed and that forty-four were partially, at least, spared. Many
+of the latter were so damaged that they had to be either pulled down or
+thoroughly repaired, and arrangements were made to resume the short
+term in tents erected in the parks, where thousands of the homeless had
+already found temporary shelter. With these two vital classes of public
+institutions prepared to care for the demands about to be made on them,
+confidence was not lacking in other parts. Most of the foundries and
+factories near the water front and south of Market Street immediately
+called in all their employees and began to clear away the wreckage
+and make ready for continuing business. Great credit is due to the
+newspapers, nearly all of which continued their daily issues without
+interruption, although their buildings, with offices and printing
+plants, were entirely destroyed by the flames which followed the
+earthquake. Those whose premises were early threatened with destruction
+betook themselves to Oakland, seven miles distant across the bay, and
+published their sheets from the establishments of the Oakland papers. A
+thorough inspection shows that comparatively little damage was done in
+the vicinity of the Cliff. The Cliff House, which was at first reported
+to have been hurled into the sea, not only stood, but the damage
+sustained by it from the earthquake was slight. The famous Sutro baths,
+located near the Cliff House, with the hundreds of thousands of square
+feet of glass roofing, also were practically unharmed. Only a few of
+the windows in the Sutro baths and the Cliff House were broken, and
+the lofty chimney of the pumping plant of the former establishment
+was cracked only a trifle. When the situation was finally summed
+up, however, nearly three-fourths of the city had to be rebuilt or
+remodeled, and the cost of doing this was enough to appal the strongest
+hearts.
+
+Financially the prospect was encouraging. Not a bank lost the contents
+of its fireproof vaults and remained practically unharmed, so far as
+credit was concerned.
+
+For a number of days it was impossible to open any strong boxes on
+account of the great heat which the thick walls retained, and this
+naturally caused some embarrassment and lack of ready money. Nearly all
+of them, however, had strong connections in Eastern cities and large
+balances to their credit in other banks of America and Europe. They
+were also favored by the fact that the United States Mint and the
+Sub-Treasury held between them some $245,000,000 in ready money. The
+Secretary of the Treasury immediately deposited $10,000,000 to the
+credit of the local banks, and financiers of the great business centres
+of the country added to public confidence by prompt statements that they
+would facilitate the reconstruction of the city by a liberal advancement
+of funds.
+
+One prominent Eastern capitalist expressed the general conviction in the
+following words:
+
+"No great city, unless it dried up entirely from lack of commercial life
+blood, was ever annihilated by such a disaster as that of San Francisco.
+Pompeii and Herculaneum were not great cities in the first place, and in
+the second, they were completely covered, smothered as it were, with the
+ashes and molten lava of the adjoining volcano, and nearly all of
+their inhabitants perished. If it be admitted that three-fourths of the
+superstructures, so to speak, of San Francisco, estimated according to
+valuation, is destroyed, we have yet the fact remaining that the lives
+of only about one four-hundredth of its population have been lost.
+
+"San Francisco was not merely land and the buildings erected upon
+it, but it was people, and one of the most active, most hopeful, most
+vivacious human communities on the face of the earth. You cannot long
+discourage such a community, unless you wipe out three-fourths of
+its members. Will San Francisco rise again? Most certainly it will.
+Galveston and Baltimore, not to mention Charleston, Boston and Chicago,
+showed the spirit of material resurrection in American communities,
+sore-smitten by calamity. After Galveston had been made a desert of sand
+and debris, there were predictions that it would never rise again. What
+was the outcome? A finer Galveston than before, and finer than many
+years of slow improvement in the natural course would have made it.
+Baltimore is busier commercially than it was before the great fire.
+
+"San Francisco is exceedingly fortunate in the fact that its moneyed
+institutions remain strong, with abundant supplies of funds. It is
+true that many of them undoubtedly hold large numbers of real estate
+mortgages as securities for loans, and that much of the property thus
+represented is now in ashes. But with care and an accommodating spirit
+practically all of those mortgaged can be so nursed that they will be
+made absolutely good. The banks will be found to be only too eager to
+afford new loans which will enable realty owners to rebuild. You will
+see San Francisco rise a more splendid city than ever, and better
+prepared to resist future earthquake shocks. Because it has had this
+dreadful visitation is no reason for apprehension that another like it
+will come within the life of the present generation, or two or three
+after. The destruction of Lisbon in the middle of the eighteenth
+century and its subsequent immunity from seismic damage is a reassuring
+example."
+
+The municipality was in excellent financial condition to meet and rise
+above the extraordinary needs of the situation. It had a bonded debt
+of only $4,245,100, while its realty valuation was $402,127,261 and
+its personalty $122,258,406. The question of issuing further amounts
+of bonds was therefore one of the first measures considered by Mayor
+Schmitz and his co-workers, and an appeal was made to the Federal
+Government to guarantee the proposed loans, so that the most urgent work
+which lay in the city's province could be undertaken at once and without
+an excessive burden of interest.
+
+The vast insurance loss was divided among 107 companies, and, though
+only a little more than half the damage was covered by policies, the
+total swelled toward the colossal sum of $150,000,000. Several of the
+largest companies were seriously crippled by the disaster and some were
+forced into liquidation. To the great relief of the entire country,
+nevertheless, the financial situation was not severely affected, and
+there was every reason to believe that the great bulk of the insurance
+would be paid.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+The Earthquake Wave Felt Round the Earth.
+
+
+The outbreak of earth forces at San Francisco did not stand alone. There
+were others elsewhere at nearly the same time, the whole seeming to
+indicate a general disturbance in the interior of the earth's crust.
+Some scientists, indeed, declared that no possible connection could
+exist between the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the earthquake at San
+Francisco, but others were inclined to view certain facts in regard to
+recent seismic and volcanic activity as, to say the least, suggestive.
+
+As to the actual cause of the California earthquake, the wisest
+confession we can make is that of ignorance, there being almost as
+little known as to the origin, period and coming of earthquakes as when
+Pliny wrote 1,800 years ago. The Roman observer knew that the tremor
+passed like a wave through the surface of the earth; he knew that it
+had a given direction, and he knew that certain regions were rife with
+seismic disturbance. More he could not say, and when this is said all
+has been said that is known to-day.
+
+Setting aside these general considerations, let us return to the
+question of the disaster at San Francisco on that fatal morning of April
+18th. The shock did not come unexpectedly. A month previous there had
+been a severe earthquake in the Island of Formosa, and many lives were
+lost there, while an enormous amount of damage was done. Only a few days
+before the event in San Francisco there was another earthquake in the
+same island. Still greater havoc was caused by it than by the earthquake
+in March, but fewer lives were lost, the reason being that the people
+were warned in time. Early in April the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
+reached its height and devastated the country around the volcano,
+covering an enormous territory with ashes, and caused the loss of
+hundreds of lives.
+
+On Tuesday night, April 17th, word was received from Piatigorsk,
+Circassia, that there had been two severe earthquake shocks the previous
+day in Northern Caucasia. The same night a telegram from Madrid said
+that the newspapers there reported that the long-dormant volcano on
+Palma, the largest of the Canary Islands, was showing signs of eruption,
+columns of smoke issuing from the crater.
+
+
+WIDESPREAD EARTH TREMORS.
+
+
+While scientists as a rule doubt that there was any connection between
+these volcanic phenomena and the earthquake at San Francisco, yet
+reports from the Mount Weather observation station in Virginia, a few
+miles from Washington, show that the eruptions of Vesuvius acted on
+the magnetic instruments by electro-magnetic waves in such a way as
+to disturb the electrical potentials at that place. Be this as it may,
+there is one remarkable circumstance in regard to all this activity. All
+the places mentioned--Formosa, Southern Italy, Caucasia, and the Canary
+Islands--lie within a belt bounded by lines a little north of the
+fortieth parallel and a little south of the thirtieth parallel. San
+Francisco is just south of the fortieth parallel, while Naples is just
+north of it. The latitude of Calabria, where the terrible earthquakes
+occurred in 1905, is the same as that of the territory affected by the
+recent earthquake in the United States. This may or may not have some
+bearing on the question.
+
+Whatever be thought of all this, one thing is certain, the earthquake
+which laid San Francisco in ruins was felt the world over, wherever
+there were instruments in position to detect and record it. The
+seismograph in the government observatory at Washington showed that
+the first wave, on April 18th, came at 8.19--equivalent to 5.19 at San
+Francisco; that at 8.25 there was a stronger wave motion, and that from
+8.32 to 8.35 the recording pen was carried off the paper. The vibrations
+did not entirely cease until 12.35 P. M., during this period there
+having been nearly half an inch of to and fro motion in the surface of
+the earth.
+
+
+RECORDS OF FOREIGN OBSERVATIONS.
+
+
+From far away New Zealand, on the same date, the government seismograph
+at the capital, Wellington, recorded seismic waves that apparently
+passed round the earth five times at intervals of about four hours each.
+
+Across the Atlantic, at Heidelberg, in Germany, the records showed
+vibrations lasting one hour. At Sarayevo, in Bosnia, there was a sharp
+shock at 11 A. M., undulating from west to east. At Funfkirchen, in
+Hungary, at Laibach, in Austria, in the Isle of Wight, off the coast
+of England, and all through Italy, from north to south, the shocks were
+felt.
+
+At Hancock, Mich., a shock was felt on April 19th a mile below the
+surface in the Quincy mine of such severity that one man was killed and
+four injured by a fall of rock loosened by the trembling of the earth.
+There is no evidence, however, that this had any connection with the
+California disaster, the dates not coinciding.
+
+Turning to the Far East, across the Pacific, seismographs in the
+Imperial University of Tokio showed that the earthquake was felt there
+eleven minutes later than in San Francisco, and similar instruments in
+Manila detected the arrival of the seismic waves twenty minutes after
+the San Francisco shock. In this there was a slight difference in time
+compared with Tokio, but, considering the distance, near enough to prove
+that the disturbances came from the same source.
+
+Not until the day following was any noticeable disturbance felt in
+Honolulu, but on April 19th shocks were plainly felt for six minutes and
+the water in the harbor rose rapidly. Panic seemed imminent just before
+the shocks subsided. While earthquakes are by no means infrequent in
+these islands, this was more severe than any recorded in recent years,
+causing buildings to sway to and fro and partly demolishing some of
+frail construction.
+
+If, as the majority of men qualified to discuss earthquakes seem to
+think, the San Francisco earthquake had no connection with volcanic
+action, but was caused by what is technically known as a "fault" in the
+formation of the crust of the earth, it seems easy enough to account
+for these wave motions travelling round the earth. How widely this may
+really have made itself felt it is not possible to say. Several of the
+great earthquakes in Japan have been recorded in the seismographs of
+the observatories on every continent and in Australia, showing that in
+severe disturbances of this kind the whole surface strata quiver, alike
+under the oceans and over the continents and islands. At the time of a
+shock, of course, half of the world is in darkness and asleep. This is
+taken to account for the fact that so far only a few observatories have
+reported catching the San Francisco vibrations.
+
+The instruments invented for the recording of the motions of the
+earth's crust are looked upon by scientists as the most delicate of all
+machines. So highly sensitive are they, indeed, that the very slightest
+vibratory motion is recorded perfectly. Even the tread of feet cannot
+escape this instrument if sufficient to cause a vibration.
+
+There are three classes of instruments for the automatic recording
+of earth tremors, each with its own particular function. First is the
+seismoscope, which will merely detect and record the fact that there
+has been such a tremor. Some of these are so equipped as to indicate the
+time of the disturbance.
+
+Second, is the seismometer, the function of which is to measure the
+maximum force of the shock, either with or without an indication of its
+direction. The third instrument is the seismograph, which is so arranged
+that it will accurately record the number, succession, direction,
+amplitude and period of successive oscillations. This last instrument is
+by far the most delicate of the three.
+
+In the construction of this earthquake recording machine the maker must
+so suspend a heavy body that when its normal position is disturbed in
+the most infinitesimal degree no reactionary force will be developed
+tending to restore it to its original position. The inventor has never
+been found who could accomplish this suspension of a body to perfection.
+The seismograph of to-day, however, has reached a stage of perfection
+where close approximations are obtained in the records made.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Vesuvius Devastates the Region of Naples.
+
+
+We have in other chapters described the terrible work of Mount Vesuvius
+in the past, from the far-off era of the destruction of Pompeii down to
+the end of the last century. There comes before us now another frightful
+eruption, one of the greatest in its history, that of 1906. For thirty
+years before this outbreak the mighty volcano had been comparatively
+quiet, rarely ceasing, indeed, to smoke and fume, but giving little
+indication of the vast forces buried in its heart. It showed some
+sympathy with Mont Pelee in 1902, and continued restless after that
+time, but it was not until about the middle of February, 1906, that it
+became threatening, lava beginning to overflow from the crater and make
+its lurid way down the mountain's side.
+
+It was in the middle of the first week of April that these indications
+rose to the danger point, the flow of lava suddenly swelling from a
+rivulet to a river, pouring in a gleaming flood over the crater's rim,
+and meeting the other streams that came streaming down the volcano's
+rugged flank. While this went on the mountain remained comparatively
+quiet, there being no explosions, though a huge cloud of volcanic ash
+and cinders rose high in the air until it hung over the crater in the
+shape of an enormous pine tree, while from it a shower of dust and sand,
+soon to become terrible, began to descend upon the surrounding fields
+and towns.
+
+Dangerous as is Vesuvius at any time, the people of the vicinity dare
+its perils for the allurement of its fertile soil. A ring of populous
+villages encircles it, flourishing vineyards and olive groves extend
+on all sides, and the hand of industry does not hesitate to attack its
+threatening flanks. The intervals between its death-dealing throes are
+so long that the peasants are always ready to dare destruction for the
+hope of winning the means of life from its soil.
+
+
+THE RIVERS OF LAVA.
+
+
+All this locality was now a field of terror and death. Down on the
+vineyards and villages poured the smothering ashes in an ever increasing
+rain; toward them slowly and threateningly crawled the fiery serpents
+of the lava streams; and from their homes fled thousands of the
+terror-stricken people, frantic with horror and dismay. A number of
+populous villages were threatened by the lurid lava streams, the most
+endangered being Bosco Trecase, with its 10,000 inhabitants. Toward this
+devoted town poured steadily the irresistible flood of molten rock. The
+soldiers who had been hurried to the front sought to divert its flow by
+digging a wide ditch across its course and throwing up a high bank of
+earth, but they worked in vain. The demon of destruction was not to be
+robbed of its prey. The liquid stream advanced like a colossal serpent
+of fire, turning its head like a crawling snake to the right and left,
+but keeping steadily on toward the fated town. The ditch was filled; the
+bank gave way; the first house was reached and burst into flames; the
+creeping stream of fire pushed on to the next houses in its way; only
+then did the despairing people desert their homes and flee for their
+lives, carrying with them the little they could snatch of their
+treasured possessions.
+
+F. Marion Crawford, the novelist, who was present at this scene, thus
+describes the flight of the terrified people:
+
+"I saw men, women and children and infants, whose mothers carried them
+at the breast or in their aprons, fleeing in an endless procession.
+Dogs, too, and cats were on the carts, and sometimes even chickens, tied
+together by the legs, and piles of mattresses and pillows and shapeless
+bundles of clothes. All were white with dust. Under the lurid glare I
+saw one old woman lying on her back across a cart, ghastly white and,
+if not dead already of fear and heat and suffocation, certainly almost
+gone. We ourselves could hardly breathe."
+
+It was on Saturday, the 7th, that Bosco Trecase became the prey of the
+river of molten rock. During that night and the following day the crisis
+of the eruption came. The observatory on the mountain side was occupied
+by Professor Matteucci, his assistant, Professor Perret, of New York,
+and two domestics, all others having been sent away. Their description
+of the scene in which they found themselves is vividly picturesque. At
+midnight the situation in the observatory was terrible. The forces
+of the earthquake were let loose and the ground rocked so that it
+was almost impossible to stand. The roaring of the main crater was
+deafening, while the volcano poured forth its contents like a fountain,
+and the electric display was terrifying, constant claps of thunder
+following the lurid flashes of lightning, which gave the sky a blood-red
+hue.
+
+Shortly after three o'clock in the morning the explosive energy of the
+mighty mass culminated. The whole cone burst open with a tremendous
+earthquake shock, from the heart of the recently silent mountain came a
+deafening roar, and red-hot rocks, like the balls from nature's mighty
+artillery, were hurled a half mile into the air, while a dense mass of
+ashes and sand was flung to three or four times this height. All the
+next day the terrible detonation kept up, and a hail of bullet-like
+stones poured downward from the skies. Rarely has a more terrible Sunday
+been seen. It was as if the demons of earth and air were let loose and
+were seeking to destroy man and his puny works.
+
+
+THE CRISIS OF THE ERUPTION.
+
+
+This frightful explosion of the 8th of April was the worst of the
+dreadful display of volcanic forces, but the work kept up with
+diminishing intensity much of the following week. The ashes and cinders
+continued to pour down in suffocating showers, covering the ground to
+a depth of four or five feet in the vicinity of the volcano and to a
+considerable depth at Naples, ten miles away. The sun disappeared
+behind the thick cloud that filled the air, and the scene resembled that
+described by Pliny more than eighteen hundred years before.
+
+Of Bosco Trecase nothing was left but the large stone church and a few
+houses. Another river of lava reached the outskirts of Torre del Greco,
+and a third stopped at the cemetery of Torre Annunziata. Those towns
+escaped, but thousands of acres of fertile cultivated land, with farm
+houses and stock, were destroyed. The peninsular railway up the mountain
+was ruined and the large hotel burned. One writer tells the following
+tale of what he saw on that fatal Saturday and Sunday:
+
+"On the road I met hundreds of families in flight, carrying their few
+miserable possessions. The spectacle of collapsing carts and fainting
+women was frequently seen. When one reached the lava stream a stupefying
+spectacle presented itself. From a point on the mountain between the
+towns I saw four rivers of molten fire, one of which, 200 feet wide
+and over 40 deep, was moving slowly and majestically onward, devouring
+vineyards and olive groves. I witnessed the destruction of a farm house
+enveloped on three sides by lava. Immediately overhead the great crater
+was belching incandescent rock and scoria for an incredible distance.
+The whole scene was wreathed with flames, and a perpetual roar was
+heard. Ever and anon the cone of the volcano was encircled with vivid
+electric phenomena, amid which a downpour of liquid fire on all sides of
+the crater was revealed in magnificent awfulness. In the evening there
+was a frightful shock of earthquake, which was repeated at two o'clock
+on Sunday morning. Simultaneously the lava streams redoubled their
+onrush, and men, women and children fled precipitately toward the sea.
+The lava had invaded the road behind them."
+
+
+A REIGN OF TERROR.
+
+
+The great loss of life was due to the vast fall of ashes, which crushed
+in hundreds of roofs and buried the occupants within the ruins of their
+homes. In all the neighboring towns buildings were destroyed in great
+numbers, an early estimate being that fully 5,000 houses had been partly
+crushed or utterly destroyed. On the Ottajano side of the mountain,
+where the ashes fell in greatest profusion, all the houses of the
+villages were damaged, and Ottajano itself was left a wreck, several
+hundred dead bodies being taken from its ruins. In Naples the ash fall
+was so incessant that those who could afford it wore automobile coats,
+caps and goggles, while the people generally sought to save their
+eyes and faces by the aid of paper masks and umbrellas. The drivers of
+trolley cars were obliged to wear masks of some transparent material
+under the vizors of their caps.
+
+
+DISASTERS AT SAN GIUSEPPE AND NAPLES.
+
+
+There were two special disasters attended by serious loss of life. On
+the 9th, while a congregation of two hundred or more were attending mass
+in the church at San Giuseppe, the roof crushed in from the weight of
+ashes upon it and fell upon the worshippers below, few or none of whom
+escaped unhurt. Fifty-four dead bodies were taken from the ruins and a
+large number were severely injured. The Mayor of the town was dismissed
+from his office for leaving his post of duty in the face of danger.
+
+The second disaster, one of the same character, took place at Naples.
+This was on Tuesday, April 10th. Just previous to it the people had been
+marching in religious processions through the streets, to render thanks
+for the apparent cessation of the activity of Vesuvius. Motley but
+picturesque processions were these, headed by boys carrying candles,
+which burned simply in the full sunshine and bearing aloft images of the
+Madonna or saints, clad in gorgeous robes of cheap blue or yellow
+satin. Their joy was suddenly changed to grief by tidings of a frightful
+disaster. The roof of the Monte Oliveto market, fronting on the Toledo,
+the main thoroughfare, had suddenly crushed in, burying more than 200
+people beneath its heavy fall.
+
+The market had been crowded with buyers and their children, and it was
+the busiest hours of the day in the great roofed courtyard, covering a
+space 600 feet square, when, with scarcely a tremor of warning, there
+came a frightful crash and a dense cloud of dust covered the scene, from
+out of which came heartrending screams of agony. The volcanic ash which,
+unnoticed, had gathered thickly on the roof, had broken it in by its
+weight.
+
+The news set the people frantic with grief and indignation. They
+insisted that the authorities knew that the roof was unsafe and had
+neglected their duty. Cursing and screaming in their intense excitement,
+they surrounded the market, endeavoring with frantic haste to remove the
+heavy beams from beneath which came the appealing calls for help, many
+of the rescuers sobbing aloud as they worked. It required a large force
+of police and soldiers to keep them back and permit the firemen and
+other trained workers to carry on more systematically the work of
+relief. Twelve persons proved to have been killed, two fatally injured,
+twenty-four seriously hurt and over a hundred badly bruised and cut.
+Among these were many children, whose parents had sent them to do the
+marketing without a dream of danger, and the grief of the parents was
+intense. The Duke of Aosta, Prefect of Naples, directed the work of
+rescue, while his wife assisted in the care of the injured. As the
+Duchess bent in the hospital to give a cooling drink to a badly bruised
+little girl she felt a kiss upon her hand. Looking down, she saw a woman
+kneeling at her feet, who gratefully said: "Your Excellency, she is all
+I have. I am a widow. May God reward you."
+
+While this scene of horror was taking place in Naples the fate of the
+town and villages grouped around the foot of the volcano seemed as
+hopeless as ever. Early on the 10th the showers of ashes and streams
+of lava diminished and almost ceased, but later the same day they began
+again, and the terrified inhabitants feared that a catastrophe like that
+which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum was about to visit them. The lava
+which reached the cemetery of Torre Annunziata turned in the direction
+of Pompeii as if to freshly entomb that exhumed city of the past. A
+violent storm of sulphurous rain fell at San Giuseppe, Vesuviana and
+Sariano, and on all sides the fall of sand and ashes came on again in
+full strength. Even with the sun shining high in the heavens the light
+was a dim yellow, in the midst of which the few persons who still
+haunted the stricken towns moved about in the awful stillness of
+desolation like gray ghosts, their clothing, hair and beards covered
+with ashes.
+
+
+THE ERUPTION RESUMED.
+
+
+A typical case was that of Torre del Greco. Though for thirty hours
+the place had been deserted, a few ghostly figures could be seen
+at intervals when the vivid flashes of lightning illuminated the
+gloom-covered scene, wandering desolately about, hungry and thirsty,
+their throats parched by smoke and dust, yet unable to tear themselves
+away from the ruins of their late comfortable homes.
+
+So deep was the ash fall that railway or tramway travel to the inner
+circle of towns was impossible, and the great depth of fallen dust
+choked the roads so as to render travel by carriage or on foot very
+difficult. A party of officials made a tour of inspection by automobile,
+visiting a number of the town, but were prevented by the state of the
+roads from reaching others. Ottajano was thus cut off from travel, and
+a heavy fall of ashes followed the officials in their retreat. At Bosco
+Trecase the lava had gathered into a lake, already growing solid on top,
+but a mass of liquid rock beneath.
+
+The lava carried vast masses of burnt stone and sulphur on its surface,
+like dross on melted lead, and nothing was visible toward Bosco
+Trecase but endless acres of dark scoriae, broken here and there by the
+greenish, curling smoke of sulphur. At one point a great cone pine tree,
+torn up by its roots and turned to black charcoal, stuck out of the mass
+at a sharp angle. The air was almost unbearable, the heat intense, and
+few could long bear the dangers and discomfort of the situation.
+
+
+SCENES OF HORROR.
+
+
+The greatest depth of ashes encountered was in the vicinity of Ottajano.
+Here large areas were buried to a depth of several feet. Soldiers had
+been sent there with military carts, carrying provisions and surgical
+appliances, with orders to lend their aid in the work of relief. They
+found it almost impossible to make their way through the deep fine dust,
+and the tales of horror and heroism they had to tell resembled those
+that must of old have been borne to Rome by the fleeing inhabitants of
+Pompeii.
+
+Efforts were made to remove the children and old persons in the carts,
+but when these had gone a few hundred feet it was found that, although
+there were four horses harnessed to each vehicle, they could not pull
+their loads through the ashes. This caused a panic among the children,
+who expected to be buried in the incessant fall from the volcano, and
+they fled in all directions in the darkness and blinding rain. Searching
+parties went after them, but in spite of continuous shouting and calling
+no trace was found of the little ones, and numbers of the children were
+undoubtedly smothered by the ashes and sand.
+
+Many of the inhabitants had been buried in the ruins of their houses,
+and the scenes when the victims were unearthed were often piteous and
+terrible. The positions of the bodies showed that the victims had died
+while in a state of great terror, the faces being convulsed with fear.
+Three bodies were found in a confessional of one of the fallen churches.
+One body was that of an old woman who was sitting with her right arm
+raised as though to ward off the advancing danger. The second was that
+of a child about eight years old. It was found dead in a position, which
+would indicate that the child had fallen with a little dog close to it
+and had died with one arm raised across its face, to protect itself
+and pet from the crumbling ruins. The third body, that of a woman, was
+reduced to an unrecognizable mass. These three victims were reverently
+laid side by side while a procession of friends and relatives offered up
+prayers beside them.
+
+One soldier rode his horse through the ashes reaching up to its flanks,
+calling out, "Who wants help?" He was rewarded by hearing a woman's
+voice reply in weak tones and, springing from his horse, he floundered
+through the ashes to the ruined walls of a house from which the voice
+seemed to come. As he made his way through the soft, treacherous
+layer of scoriae which surrounded the destroyed habitation, and with
+difficulty worked his way toward the building the soldier shouted
+words of encouragement and, climbing over a heap of ruins and braving a
+toppling wall, entered the building. In the cellar he found the bodies
+of three children. Near them was a woman, barely alive, who by almost
+superhuman efforts for hours had succeeded in freeing herself from a
+mass of debris which had fallen upon her. The soldier picked the woman
+up in his arms and carried her to a place of safety. It was found that
+both legs were broken and that she had been badly crushed about the
+body.
+
+Some extraordinary escapes from death took place. A man and his
+four children were rescued after having been lost in the ash-covered
+wilderness for fifty-six hours. They were terribly exhausted, and were
+reduced almost to skeletons.
+
+Robert Underwood Johnson, one of the editors of the "Century Magazine",
+who happened to be in Rome at the time of the eruption, made one of a
+party who ventured as near the scene of destruction as they could safely
+approach. From his graphic story of his experiences we copy some of the
+most interesting details.
+
+
+AN AMERICAN OBSERVER.
+
+
+"We caught a train for Torre Annunziata, three miles this side of
+Pompeii and two miles from the southern end of the wedge of lava which
+destroyed Bosco Trecase. We had a magnificent view of the eruption,
+eight miles away. Rising at an angle of fifty degrees, the vast mass of
+tumult roundness was beautifully accentuated by the full moon, shifting
+momentarily into new forms and drifting south in low, black clouds of
+ashes and cinders reaching to Capri. At Torre del Greco we ran under
+this terrifying pall, apparently a hundred feet above, the solidity of
+which was soon revealed in the moonlight. The torches of the railway
+guards added to the effect, but greatly relieved the sulphurous
+darkness.
+
+"We reached Torre Annunziata at three in the morning. There was little
+suggestion of a disaster as we trudged through the sleeping town to the
+lava, two miles away. The brilliant moon gave us a superb view of the
+volcano, a gray-brown mass rising, expanding and curling in with a
+profile like a monstrous cyclopean face. But nothing in mythology gives
+a suggestion of the fascination of this awful force, presenting the
+sublime beauty above, but in its descent filled with the mysterious
+malignance of God's underworld.
+
+"We reached the lava at a picturesque cypress-planted cemetery on
+the northern boundary of Torre Annunziata. It was as if the dead had
+effectually cried out to arrest the crushing river of flames which
+pitilessly engulfed the statue of St. Anne with which the people of
+Bosco Reale tried to stay it, as at Catania the veil of St. Agathe is
+said to have stayed a similar stream from Mount Etna.
+
+"We climbed on the lava. It was cool above but still alive with fire
+below. We could see dimly the extent of the destruction beyond the
+barrier of brown which had enclosed the streets, torn down the houses,
+invaded the vineyards and broken Cook's railways. A better idea of the
+surroundings was obtained at dawn from the railway. We saw north what
+was left of Bosco Trecase--a great, square stone church and a few houses
+inland in a sea of dull, brown lava. North and east rose a thousand
+patches of blue smoke like swamp miasma. All was dull and desolate slag,
+with nowhere the familiar serpentine forms of the old lava streams. In
+terrible contrast with the volcanic evidences were strong cypresses and
+blooming camelias in a neighboring cemetery.
+
+"We ate a hasty luncheon before sunrise, when the great beauty of the
+scene was revealed. The column now seemed higher and more massive,
+rising to three times the height of Vesuvius. Each portion had a
+concentric motion and new aspects. The south edges floating toward the
+sea showed exquisite curved surfaces, due to the upper moving current.
+It was like the decoration of the side of a great sarcophagus. As a
+yellow dust hangs over Naples and hides the volcano, I count myself
+fortunate to have seen all day from leeward this spectacle of changing,
+undiminishing beauty.
+
+"The wedge of cultivated land ruined east of the volcano extended at
+least ten miles, with a width of twenty or thirty miles. Fancy a rich
+and thickly populated country of vineyards lying under three to six
+inches of ashes and cinders of the color of chocolate with milk, while
+above, to the west, the volcano in full activity is distributing to the
+outer edges of the circle the same fate, and you will get an idea of the
+desolate impression of the scene, a tragedy colossal and heartrending.
+Like that of Calabria, it enlists the sympathy of the civilized world.
+It takes time for such a calamity to be realized.
+
+"Two miles below San Giuseppe we struck cinders which the soldiers
+were shoveling, making a narrow road for the refugees. Our wagon driver
+begged off from completing his contract to take us to San Giuseppe. We
+had not the heart to insist, so the rest of the journey to the railway
+at Palma, eight miles, was made laboriously on foot for three hours
+through sliding cinders.
+
+"In many places temporary shelters had been built by the roadside,
+like children's playhouses. Here women were huddled with their bedding,
+awaiting the coming of supplies which the army had begun to distribute.
+The men were largely occupied with shoveling cinders from the stronger
+roofs and floors into heaps three to six feet deep along the roadside.
+Many two-wheeled carts loaded with salvage, drawn by donkeys or pushed
+by peasants, were making their way along, the women with bundles on
+their heads or carrying poultry.
+
+"In the square of San Giuseppe was an encampment of soldiers, with low
+tents. Near a destroyed church, in coarse yellow linen shrouds, were the
+bodies of thirty-three of the persons who there lost their lives. The
+peasants were sad, but uncomplaining; in fact, for so excitable a people
+they were wonderfully calm. As evidence of the thrift and self-respect
+of these, we were not once asked for alms during the afternoon."
+
+
+THE KING AT THE FRONT.
+
+
+The Italian Government did all it could at the moment to alleviate the
+horrors of the situation, sending money to be expended in relief
+work and dispatching high officials of the government to give aid and
+encouragement by their presence. The King, Victor Emmanuel, and Queen
+Helene reached the scene of destruction as early as possible and lent
+their personal assistance to the work of rescue.
+
+Obliged to leave his automobile, which could not move over the
+cinder-choked road, the King went forward with difficulty on horseback,
+the animal floundering through four feet of ashes, stumbling into holes,
+and half blinded by the fall of dust and cinders.
+
+"How did you escape?" he asked a priest whom he met in his journey.
+
+"I put myself in safety," was the reply.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the King.
+
+"Realizing the danger, I left Nola."
+
+"What!" cried the King, with a flush of anger. "You, a minister of God,
+were not here to share the danger of your people and administer the last
+sacraments? You did very wrong and forgot your duty."
+
+Reaching Ottejano, the King did what he could to expedite the work
+of rescue at that central point of disaster, more than a hundred dead
+bodies being taken from the ruins in his presence. He stood with set
+pale face watching the removal of the victims and directing the movement
+of the workers. During his visit at the front he inspected the temporary
+camp hospitals, in which the soldiers were caring for the injured and
+suffering, speaking to the poor victims, giving them what comfort he
+could, and asking what he could do to relieve their distress. Every
+request or desire was received with sympathy and orders given to have it
+fulfilled.
+
+A pitiful scene took place when the King bent over a poor man, whose
+right leg had been amputated, and asked what he could do to comfort and
+aid him in his affliction.
+
+"Send me my son, who is serving as a soldier," said the maimed peasant.
+
+The King, visibly affected, clasped the old man's hand and exclaimed:
+
+"My poor fellow! I can do much, but to grant your request would mean
+breaking the laws, which I must be the first to respect. I would give
+anything I have were it possible by so doing to send your son to you,
+but I cannot do so."
+
+While the King was thus engaged at the scenes of desolation, Queen
+Helene visited the charitable institutions at Naples and inspected the
+places where the refugees were housed, doing what she could to improve
+conditions and add to the comfort of the sufferers. The Princess of
+Schleswig-Holstein, who was in Naples, made an automobile visit to the
+afflicted towns, but the motor broke down, and she was forced to return
+on foot, walking a distance of twelve miles through the ashes and
+displaying a power of endurance that surprised the natives.
+
+
+THE CANOPY OF DUST.
+
+
+By Friday, April 13th, the eruption was practically at an end. Vesuvius
+had spent itself in the enormous convulsion of the 7th and 8th and
+the subsequent minor explosions and had returned to its normal state,
+ceasing to give any signs of life, except the cloud of smoke which still
+rose from its crater and spread like a thick curtain over and around the
+mountain. Looked at from Naples, there was none of the familiar aspects
+of the volcano, with its output of smoke and ashes by day and fiery
+gleam by night. Now it lay buried in darkness and obscurity, clothed
+in a dense pall of smoke. At Rome there was sunshine, but twenty miles
+south hung a misty veil, and twenty-five miles above Naples a zone of
+semi-obscurity began, blotting out the sun, whose light trickled through
+with a sickly glare. Everything was whitened with powdery dust; pretty
+white villas were daubed and dripping with mud, and people were busy
+shoveling the ashes from their roofs.
+
+The crowds at the stations resembled millers, their clothes flour
+covered; the Campania presented the appearance of a Dakota prairie after
+a blizzard of snow, though everything was gray instead of white. The
+ashes lay in drifts knee deep. As the volcano was approached semi-night
+replaced the day, the gloom being so deep that telegraph poles twenty
+feet away could not be seen. Breathing was difficult, and the smoke made
+the eyes water. At Naples, however, a favorable wind had cleared the air
+of smoke, the sun shone brightly, and the versatile people were happy
+once more. The goggles and eye-screens had disappeared, but the streets
+were anything but comfortable, for some six thousand men were at work
+clearing the ashes from the roofs and main streets and piling them in
+the middle of the narrow streets, making the passage of vehicles very
+difficult and the sidewalks far from comfortable for foot passengers.
+
+But while brightness and joy reigned at Naples, there were gruesome
+scenes within the volcanic zone. At Bosco Trecase soldiers carried on
+the work of exhumation, being able to work only an hour at a time on
+account of the advanced stage of decomposition of the bodies. Many of
+these were shapeless, unrecognizable masses of flesh and bones, while
+others were little disfigured. To lessen the danger of an epidemic the
+bodies were buried as quickly as possible in quicklime.
+
+On Sunday, the 15th, the searchers at Ottejano were surprised at finding
+two aged women still alive, after six days' entombment in the ruins.
+They were among those who had been buried by the falling walls a week
+before. The rafters of the house had protected them, and a few morsels
+of food in their pockets aided to keep them alive. At some points there
+the ashes were ten feet deep. At San Giuseppe bodies of women were found
+in whose hands were coins and jewels, and one woman held a jewelled
+rosary. This recalls the results of exploration at Herculaneum and
+Pompeii, where were similar instances of death overtaking the victims of
+the volcano while fleeing with their jewels in their hands.
+
+It is interesting to learn that two men stood heroically to their post
+of duty during the whole scene of the explosion, Professor Matteucci,
+Director of the Royal Observatory, and his American assistant, Professor
+Frank A. Perret, of New York. Though the building occupied by them
+was exposed to the full force of the rain of stones from the burning
+mountain, they remained undauntedly at their post through that week of
+terror. On the 14th some of that venturesome fraternity, the newspaper
+correspondents, reached their eyrie on the highest habitable point on
+Vesuvius and heard the story of their experiences.
+
+
+THE HEROES OF THE OBSERVATORY.
+
+
+For several days Professors Matteucci and Perret and their two servants
+had been cut off from the outside world and bombarded by the volcano,
+their rations consisting of bread, cheese and dried onions, until on
+Friday a hardy guide was induced to push through to them with
+some provisions. During the eruption the Professor had kept at his
+instruments, taking observations day and night and making calculations
+in the midst of the inferno. Roughly dressed, he looked like a Western
+cowboy after a hard ride in a dust storm. The portico where he stood was
+knee deep in ashes, and from the observatory terrace narrow paths had
+been cut through the ashes, but as far as the eye could reach an ocean
+of ashes and twisted rivers were alone visible, with Vesuvius rising
+grimly in the midst. The great monster was enveloped in a cloak of
+white, as if buried under a snowstorm, its surface being here and there
+slit with gulches in which lava ran. At the bottom of one of those
+gulches lay the wrecked remnants of the peninsular railway, a portion
+of its twisted cable protruding through the ashes. As the correspondents
+ascended the mountain they were surprised by the apparition of
+natives, men wrinkled with age, who emerged from dugouts just below
+the observatory and offered them milk and eggs, just as if they were
+ordinary visitors to the volcano. As they descended they heard the
+sound of a mandolin from one of these dugouts. Evidently Vesuvius had no
+terrors for these case-hardened veterans.
+
+We have already told the story gleaned by the correspondents from the
+daring scientists. Matteucci completed his record of boldness on Friday,
+the 13th, by climbing to a point far above the observatory, at the
+imminent risk of his life, to observe the conditions then existing. From
+what he says he believed the end of the disturbance near, though he did
+not venture to predict. As for the ashes, which a light wind was then
+blowing in a direction away from Naples, he said: "The ill wind is now
+blowing good to other places, for ashes are the best fertilizer it is
+possible to use. It is merely a question just now of having too much of
+a good thing."
+
+This is a fact so far as the volcanic ash is concerned. An examination
+of the ashes a few days ago shows that they will prove an active and
+valuable fertilizer. The fertile slopes of Vesuvius have ever been an
+allurement to the vine-grower, four crops a year being a temptation no
+possible danger could drive him from, and as soon as the mountain grows
+surely peaceful after this eruption, we shall find its farmers risking
+again the chance of its uncertain temper. But this is not the case with
+the land covered with lava and cinders. Time for their disintegration
+is necessary before they can be brought under cultivation, and this is
+a matter of years. After the great eruption of 1871-72 the land covered
+with cinders did not bear crops for seven years, and there is no reason
+that they will do so sooner on the present occasion. So for years to
+come much of the volcanic soil must remain a barren and desert void.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Great Lisbon and Calabrian Earthquakes.
+
+
+To our account of the great earth convulsions of San Francisco it is in
+place to append a description of some similar events of older date. It
+is due to the same causes, whatever these causes may be, the imprisoned
+forces within the earth acting over great distances during the
+earthquake, while they are concentrated within some limited space when
+the volcano begins its work. The earthquake is the most terrible to
+mankind of all the natural agencies of destruction. While the volcano
+usually has a greater permanent effect upon surface conditions, it is,
+as a rule, much less destructive to human life, the earthquake often
+shaking down cities and burying all their inhabitants in one common
+grave. Violent earthquakes are also of far more frequent occurrence than
+destructive volcanic eruptions, many hundreds of them having taken place
+during the historic period.
+
+While the earthquake is only indirectly connected with the subject of
+our work, it seems desirable to make some mention of it here, at least
+so far as relates to those terrible convulsions whose destructiveness
+has given them special prominence in the history of great disasters.
+Ancient notable examples are those which threw down the famous Colossus
+of Rhodes and the Pharos of Alexandria. The city of Antioch was a
+terrible sufferer from this affliction, it having been devastated some
+time before the Christian era, while in the year 859 more than 15,000
+of its houses were destroyed. Of countries subject to earthquakes, Japan
+has been an especial sufferer, in some cases mountains or islands being
+elevated in association with shocks; in others, great tracts of land
+being swallowed up by the sea. The number of deaths in some of these
+instances was enormous.
+
+Numerous thrilling examples of the destructive work of the earthquake
+at various periods are on record. Of these we have given elsewhere a
+tabular list of the more important, and shall confine ourselves to a
+few striking examples of its destructive action. In the record of great
+earthquakes, one of the most famous is that which in 1755 visited the
+city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and left that populous, place
+in ruin and dire distress. It may be well to recall the details of this
+dire event to the memories of our readers.
+
+
+THE GREAT LISBON EARTHQUAKE
+
+
+On the night of the 31st of October, 1755, the citizens of the fair city
+of Lisbon lay down to sleep, in merciful ignorance of what was awaiting
+them on the morrow. The morning of the 1st of November dawned, and gave
+no sign of approaching calamity. The sun rose in its brightness, the
+warmth was genial, the breezes gentle, the sky serene. It was All
+Saints' Day--a high festival of the Church of Rome. The sacred edifices
+were thronged with eager crowds, and the ceremonies were in full
+progress, when the assembled throngs were suddenly startled from their
+devotions. From the ground beneath came fearful sounds that drowned
+the peal of the organ and the voices of the choirs. These underground
+thunders having rolled away, an awful silence ensued. The panic-stricken
+multitudes were paralyzed with terror. Immediately after the ground
+began to heave with a long and gentle swell, producing giddiness and
+faintness among the people. The tall piles swayed to and fro, like
+willows in the wind. Shrieks of horror rose from the terrified assembly.
+Again the earth heaved, and this time with a longer and higher wave.
+Down came the ponderous arches, the stately columns, the massive walls,
+the lofty spires, tumbling upon the heads of priests and people. The
+graven images, the deified wafers, and they who had knelt in adoration
+before them--the worshipped and the worshippers alike--were in a moment
+buried under one undistinguishable mass of horrible ruins. Only a few,
+who were near the doors, escaped to tell the tale.
+
+It fared no better with those who had remained in their dwellings. The
+terrible earth-wave overthrew the larger number of the private houses in
+the city, burying their inhabitants under the crumbling walls. Those who
+were in the streets more generally escaped, though some there, too, were
+killed by falling walls.
+
+The sudden overthrow of so many buildings raised vast volumes of fine
+dust, which filled the atmosphere and obscured the sun, producing a
+dense gloom. The air was full of doleful sounds--the groans of agony
+from the wounded and the dying, screams of despair from the horrified
+survivors, wails of lamentation from the suddenly bereaved, dismal
+howlings of dogs, and terrified cries of other animals.
+
+In two or three minutes the clouds of dust fell to the ground, and
+disclosed the scene of desolation which a few seconds had wrought. The
+ruin, though general, was not universal. A considerable number of houses
+were left standing--fortunately tenantless--for a third great earth-wave
+traversed the city, and most of the buildings which had withstood the
+previous shocks, already severely shaken, were entirely overthrown.
+
+
+WATER ADDS TO THE DESTRUCTION
+
+
+The last disaster filled the surviving citizens with the impulse of
+flight. The more fortunate of them ran in the direction of the open
+country, and succeeded in saving their lives; but a great multitude
+rushed down to the harbor, thinking to escape by sea. Here, however,
+they were met by a new and unexpected peril. The tide, after first
+retreating for a little, came rolling in with an immense wave, about
+fifty feet in height, carrying with it ships, barges and boats, and
+dashing them in dire confusion upon the crowded shore. Overwhelmed
+by this huge wave, great numbers were, on its retreat, swept into the
+seething waters and drowned. A vast throng took refuge on a fine new
+marble quay, but recently completed, which had cost much labor and
+expense. This the sea-wave had spared, sweeping harmless by. But, alas!
+it was only for a moment. The vast structure itself, with the whole of
+its living burden, sank instantaneously into an awful chasm which opened
+underneath. The mole and all who were on it, the boats and barges moored
+to its sides, all of them filled with people, were in a moment ingulfed.
+Not a single corpse, not a shred of raiment, not a plank nor a splinter
+floated to the surface, and a hundred fathoms of water covered the
+spot. To the first great sea-wave several others succeeded, and the bay
+continued for a long time in a state of tumultuous agitation.
+
+About two hours after the first overthrow of the buildings, a new
+element of destruction came into play. The fires in the ruined houses
+kindled the timbers, and a mighty conflagration, urged by a violent
+wind, soon raged among the ruins, consuming everything combustible, and
+completing the wreck of the city. This fire, which lasted four days, was
+not altogether a misfortune. It consumed the thousands of corpses which
+would otherwise have tainted the air, adding pestilence to the other
+misfortunes of the survivors. Yet they were threatened with an enemy not
+less appalling, for famine stared them in the face. Almost everything
+eatable within the precincts of the city had been consumed. A set
+of wretches, morever, who had escaped from the ruins of the prisons,
+prowled among the rubbish of the houses in search of plunder, so that
+whatever remained in the shape of provisions fell into their hands and
+was speedily devoured. They also broke into the houses that remained
+standing, and rifled them of their contents. It is said that many of
+those who had been only injured by the ruins, and might have escaped by
+being extricated, were ruthlessly murdered by those merciless villains.
+
+The total loss of life by this terrible catastrophe is estimated at
+60,000 persons, of whom about 40,000 perished at once, and the remainder
+died afterwards of the injuries and privations they sustained. Twelve
+hundred were buried in the ruins of the general hospital, eight hundred
+in those of the civil prison, and several thousands in those of the
+convents. The loss of property amounted to many millions sterling.
+
+
+WIDE-SPREAD DESTRUCTION
+
+
+Although the earth-wave traversed the whole city, the shock was felt
+more severely in some quarters than in others. All the older part of the
+town, called the Moorish quarter, was entirely overthrown; and of the
+newer part, about seventy of the principal streets were ruined.
+Some buildings that withstood the shocks were destroyed by fire. The
+cathedral, eighteen parish churches, almost all the convents, the halls
+of the inquisition, the royal residence, and several other fine palaces
+of the nobility and mansions of the wealthy, the custom-houses, the
+warehouses filled with merchandise, the public granaries filled with
+corn, and large timber yards, with their stores of lumber, were either
+overthrown or burned.
+
+The king and court were not in Lisbon at the time of this great
+disaster, but were living in the neighborhood at the castle of Belem,
+which escaped injury. The royal family, however, were so alarmed by the
+shocks, that they passed the following night in carriages out of
+doors. None of the officers of state were with them at the time. On
+the following morning the king hastened to the ruined city, to see what
+could be done toward restoring order, aiding the wounded, and providing
+food for the hungry.
+
+The royal family and the members of the court exerted themselves to the
+uttermost, the ladies devoting themselves to the preparation of lint and
+bandages, and to nursing the wounded, the sick, and the dying, of whom
+the numbers were overwhelming. Among the sufferers were men of quality
+and once opulent citizens, who had been reduced in a moment to absolute
+penury. The kitchens of the royal palace, which fortunately remained
+standing, were used for the purpose of preparing food for the starving
+multitudes. It is said that during the first two or three days a pound
+of bread was worth an ounce of gold. One of the first measures of the
+government was to buy up all the corn that could be obtained in the
+neighborhood of Lisbon, and to sell it again at a moderate price, to
+those who could afford to buy, distributing it gratis to those who had
+nothing to pay.
+
+For about a month afterward earthquake shocks continued, some of them
+severe. It was several months before any of the citizens could summon
+courage to begin rebuilding the city. But by degrees their confidence
+returned. The earth had relapsed into repose, and they set about the
+task of rebuilding with so much energy, that in ten years Lisbon again
+became one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe.
+
+
+CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE
+
+
+The most distinguishing peculiarities of this earthquake were the
+swallowing up of the mole, and the vast extent of the earth's surface
+over which the shocks were felt. Several of the highest mountains in
+Portugal were violently shaken, and rent at their summits; huge masses
+falling from them into the neighboring valleys. These great fractures
+gave rise to immense volumes of dust, which at a distance were mistaken
+for smoke by those who beheld them. Flames were also said to have been
+observed: but if there were any such, they were probably electrical
+flashes produced by the sudden rupture of the rocks.
+
+The portion of the earth's surface convulsed by this earthquake is
+estimated by Humboldt to have been four times greater than the whole
+extent of Europe. The shocks were felt not only over the Spanish
+peninsula, but in Morocco and Algeria they were nearly as violent. At a
+place about twenty-four miles from the city of Morocco, there is said
+to have occurred a catastrophe much resembling what took place at the
+Lisbon mole. A great fissure opened in the earth, and an entire village,
+with all its inhabitants, upwards of 8,000 in number, were precipitated
+into the gulf, which immediately closed over its prey.
+
+
+EARTHQUAKES IN CALABRIA
+
+
+Of the numerous other examples of destructive earthquakes which might
+be chosen from Old World annals, it will not be amiss to append a brief
+account of those which took place in Calabria, Italy, in 1783. These,
+while less wide-spread in their influence, were much longer in duration
+than the Lisbon cataclysm, since they continued, at intervals, from the
+5th of February until the end of the year. The shocks were felt all over
+Sicily and as far north as Naples, but the area of severe convulsion was
+comparatively limited, not exceeding five hundred square miles.
+
+The centre of disturbance seems to have been under the town of Oppido in
+the farther Calabria, and it extended in every direction from that
+spot to a distance of about twenty-two miles, with such violence as to
+overthrow every city, town and village lying within that circle. This
+ruin was accomplished by the first shock on the 5th of February. The
+second, of equal violence, on the 28th of March, was less destructive,
+only because little or nothing had been left for it to overthrow.
+
+At Oppido the motion was in the nature of a vertical upheaval of the
+ground, which was accompanied by the opening of numerous large chasms,
+into some of which many houses were ingulfed, the chasms closing over
+them again almost immediately. The town itself was situated on the
+summit of a hill, flanked by five steep and difficult slopes; it was
+so completely overthrown by the first shock that scarcely a fragment of
+wall was left standing. The hill itself was not thrown down, but a fort
+which commanded the approach to the place was hurled into the gorge
+below. It was on the flats immediately surrounding the site of the town
+and on the rising grounds beyond them that the great fissures and chasms
+were opened. On the slope of one of the hills opposite the town there
+appeared a vast chasm, in which a large quantity of soil covered with
+vines and olive-trees was engulfed. This chasm remained open after the
+shock, and was somewhat in the form of an amphitheatre, 500 feet long
+and 200 feet in depth.
+
+
+MOST CALAMITOUS OF THE LANDSLIPS
+
+
+The most calamitous of the landslips occurred on the sea-coast of the
+Straits of Messina, near the celebrated rock of Scilla, where huge
+masses fell from the tall cliffs, overwhelming many villas and gardens.
+At Gian Greco a continuous line of precipitous rocks, nearly a mile in
+length, tumbled down. The aged Prince of Scilla, after the first great
+shock on the 5th of February, persuaded many of his vassals to quit
+the dangerous shore, and take refuge in the fishing boats--he himself
+showing the example. That same night, however, while many of the people
+were asleep in the boats, and others on a flat plain a little above the
+sea-level, another powerful shock threw down from the neighboring Mount
+Jaci a great mass, which fell with a dreadful crash, partly into the
+sea, and partly upon the plain beneath. Immediately the sea rose to a
+height of twenty feet above the level ground on which the people were
+stationed, and rolling over it, swept away the whole multitude. This
+immense wave then retired, but returned with still greater violence,
+bringing with it the bodies of the men and animals it had previously
+swept away, dashing to pieces the whole of the boats, drowning all that
+were in them, and wafting the fragments far inland. The prince with
+1,430 of his people perished by this disaster.
+
+It was on the north-eastern shore of Sicily, however, that the greatest
+amount of damage was done. The first severe shock, on the 5th of
+February, overthrew nearly the whole of the beautiful city of Messina,
+with great loss of life. The shore for a considerable distance along the
+coast was rent, and the ground along the port, which was before quite
+level, became afterwards inclined towards the sea, the depth of the
+water having, at the same time, increased in several parts, through the
+displacement of portions of the bottom. The quay also subsided about
+fourteen inches below the level of the sea, and the houses near it
+were much rent. But it was in the city itself that the most terrible
+desolation was wrought--a complication of disasters having followed
+the shock, more especially a fierce conflagration, whose intensity was
+augmented by the large stores of oil kept in the place.
+
+
+IMMENSE DESTRUCTION
+
+
+According to official reports made soon after the events, the
+destruction caused by the earthquakes of the 5th of February and 28th
+of March throughout the two Calabrias was immense. About 320 towns
+and villages were entirely reduced to ruins, and about fifty others
+seriously damaged. The loss of life was appalling--40,000 having
+perished by the earthquakes, and 20,000 more having subsequently died
+from privation and exposure, or from epidemic diseases bred by the
+stagnant pools and the decaying carcases of men and animals. The greater
+number were buried amid the ruins of the houses, while others perished
+in the fires that were kindled in most of the towns, particularly in
+Oppido, where the flames were fed by great magazines of oil. Not a few,
+especially among the peasantry dwelling in the country, were suddenly
+engulfed in fissures. Many who were only half buried in the ruins, and
+who might have been saved had there been help at hand, were left to
+die a lingering death from cold and hunger. Four Augustine monks at
+Terranuova perished thus miserably. Having taken refuge in a vaulted
+sacristy, they were entombed in it alive by the masses of rubbish,
+and lingered for four days, during which their cries for help could be
+heard, till death put an end to their sufferings.
+
+Of still more thrilling interest was the case of the Marchioness
+Spastara. Having fainted at the moment of the first great shock, she was
+lifted by her husband, who, bearing her in his arms, hurried with her to
+the harbor. Here, on recovering her senses, she observed that her infant
+boy had been left behind. Taking advantage of a moment when her husband
+was too much occupied to notice her, she darted off and, running back
+to the house, which was still standing, she snatched her babe from its
+cradle. Rushing with him in her arms towards the staircase, she
+found the stair had fallen--cutting off all further progress in that
+direction. She fled from room to room, pursued by the falling materials,
+and at length reached a balcony as her last refuge. Holding up her
+infant, she implored the few passers-by for help; but they all, intent
+on securing their own safety, turned a deaf ear to her cries. Meanwhile
+the mansion had caught fire, and before long the balcony, with the
+devoted lady still grasping her darling, was hurled into the devouring
+flames.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The Charleston and Other Earthquakes of the United States.
+
+
+The twin continents of America have rivalled the record of the Old World
+in their experience of earthquakes since their discovery in 1492. The
+first of these made note of was in Venezuela in 1530, but they have been
+numerous and often disastrous since. Among them was the great shock at
+Lima in 1746, by which 18,000 were killed, and those at Guatemala in
+1773, with 33,000, and at Riobamba in 1797, with 41,000 victims. It
+will, however, doubtless prove of more interest to our readers if we
+pass over these ruinous disasters and confine ourselves to the less
+destructive earthquakes which have taken place within our own country.
+
+The United States, large a section of North America as it occupies, is
+fortunate in being in a great measure destitute of volcanic phenomena,
+while destructive earthquakes have been very rare in its history. This,
+it is true, does not apply to the United States as it is, but as it was.
+It has annexed the volcano and the earthquake with its new accessions of
+territory. Alaska has its volcanoes, the Philippines are subject to
+both forms of convulsion, and in Hawaii we possess the most spectacular
+volcano of the earth, while the earthquake is its common attendant.
+But in the older United States the volcano contents itself with an
+occasional puff of smoke, and eruptive phenomena are confined to the
+minor form of the geyser.
+
+We are by no means so free from the earthquake. Slight movements of the
+earth's surface are much more common than many of us imagine, and in
+the history of our land there have been a number of earth shocks
+of considerable violence. Prior to that of San Francisco, the most
+destructive to life and property was that of Charleston in 1886, though
+the 1812 convulsion in the Mississippi Valley might have proved a
+much greater calamity but for the fact that civilized man had not then
+largely invaded its centre of action.
+
+As regards the number of earth movements in this country, we are told
+that in New England alone 231 were recorded in two hundred and fifty
+years, while doubtless many slighter ones were left unrecorded. Taking
+the whole United States, there were 364 recorded in the twelve years
+from 1872 to 1883, and in 1885 fifty-nine were recorded, more than
+two-thirds of them being on the Pacific slope. Most of these, however,
+were very slight, some of them barely perceptible.
+
+Confining ourselves to those of the past important in their effects, we
+shall first speak of the shocks which took place in New England in 1755,
+in the year and month of the great earthquake at Lisbon. On the 18th of
+November of that year, while the shocks at Lisbon still continued,
+New England was violently shaken, loud underground explosive noises
+accompanying the shocks. In the harbors along the Atlantic coast there
+was much agitation of the waters and many dead fish were thrown up on
+the shores. The shock, indeed, was felt far from the coast, by the
+crew of a ship more than two hundred miles out at sea from Cape Ann,
+Massachusetts.
+
+This event, however, was of minor importance, being much inferior to
+that of 1812, in which year California and the Mississippi Valley alike
+were affected by violent movements of the earth's crust. The California
+convulsions took place in the spring and summer of that year, extending
+from the beginning of May until September. Throughout May the southern
+portion of that region was violently agitated, the shocks being so
+frequent and severe that people abandoned their houses and slept on the
+open ground. The most destructive shocks came in September, when two
+Mission houses were destroyed and many of their inmates killed. At Santa
+Barbara a tidal wave invaded the coast and flowed some distance into the
+interior.
+
+It may be said here that California has proved more subject to severe
+shocks than any other section of our country. In 1865 sharp tremors
+shook the whole region about the Bay of San Francisco, many buildings
+being thrown down. Hardly any of brick or stone escaped injury, though
+few lives were lost. In 1872 a disturbance was felt farther west, the
+whole range of the Sierra Nevada mountains being violently shaken and
+the earth tremblings extending into the State of Nevada. The centre of
+activity was along the crest of the range, and immense quantities of
+rock were thrown down from the mountain pinnacles. A tremendous fissure
+opened along the eastern base of the mountain range for forty miles,
+the land to the west of the opening rising and that to the east sinking
+several feet. One small settlement, that of Lone Pine, in Owen's Valley,
+on the east base of the mountains, was completely demolished, from
+twenty to thirty lives being lost. Luckily, the region affected had very
+few inhabitants, or the calamity might have been great.
+
+The earthquakes of 1812 in the Mississippi Valley began in December,
+1811, and continued at intervals until 1813. As a rule they were more
+distinguished by frequency than violence, though on several occasions
+they were severe and had marked effects. They extended through
+the valleys of the Mississippi, Arkansas and Ohio, and their long
+continuance was remarkable in view of the territory affected being far
+from any volcanic region.
+
+The surface of the valley of the Mississippi was a good deal altered
+by these convulsions--several new lakes being formed, while others were
+drained. Several new islands were also raised in the river, and during
+one of the shocks the ground a little below New Madrid was for a short
+time lifted so high as to stop the current of the Mississippi, and cause
+it to flow backward. The ground on which this town is built, and the
+bank of the river for fifteen miles above it, subsided permanently about
+eight feet, and the cemetery of the town fell into the river. In the
+neighboring forest the trees were thrown into inclined positions in
+every direction, and many of their trunks and branches were broken. It
+is affirmed that in some places the ground swelled into great waves,
+which burst at their summits and poured forth jets of water, along with
+sand and pieces of coal, which were tossed as high as the tops of trees.
+On the subsidence of these waves, there were left several hundreds
+of hollow depressions from ten to thirty yards in diameter, and about
+twenty feet in depth, which remained visible for many years afterward.
+Some of the shocks were vertical, and others horizontal, the latter
+being the most mischievous. These earthquakes resulted in the general
+subsidence of a large tract of country, between seventy and eighty miles
+in length from north to south, and about thirty miles in breadth from
+east to west. Lakes now mark many of the localities affected by the
+earthquake movements. It is only to the fact that this country was then
+very thinly settled that a great loss of life was avoided.
+
+New Madrid, Missouri, was a central point of this earthquake, the
+shocks there being repeated with great frequency for several months.
+The disturbance of the earth, however, was not confined to the United
+States, but affected nearly half of the western hemisphere, ending
+in the upheaval of Sabrina in the Azores, already described. The
+destruction of Caracas, Venezuela, with many thousands of its
+inhabitants, and the eruption of La Soufriere volcano of St. Vincent
+Island were incidents of this convulsion. Dr. J. W. Foster tells us that
+on the night of the disaster at Caracas the earthquake grew intense at
+New Madrid, fissures being opened six hundred feet long by twenty broad,
+from which water and sand were flung to the height of forty feet.
+
+The most destructive of earthquakes in our former history was that which
+visited Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886, the injury caused by it
+being largely due to the fact that it passed through a populous city.
+As it occurred after many of the people had retired, the confusion and
+terror due to it were greatly augmented, people fleeing in panic fear
+from the tumbling and cracking houses to seek refuge in the widest
+streets and open spaces.
+
+South Carolina had been affected by the wide-spread earthquakes of 1812.
+These in some cases altered the level of the land, as is related in
+Lyell's "Principles of Geology." But the effect then was much less than
+in 1886. Several slight tremors occurred in the early summer of that
+year, but did not excite much attention. More distinct shocks were felt
+on August 27th and 28th, but the climax was deferred till the evening of
+August 31st. The atmosphere that afternoon had been unusually sultry and
+quiet, the breeze from the ocean, which generally accompanies the rising
+tide, was almost entirely absent, and the setting sun caused a little
+glow in the sky.
+
+"As the hour of 9.50 was reached," we are told, "there was suddenly
+heard a rushing, roaring sound, compared by some to a train of cars
+at no great distance, by others to a clatter produced by two or more
+omnibuses moving at a rapid rate over a paved street, by others again,
+to an escape of steam from a boiler. It was followed immediately by a
+thumping and beating of the earth beneath the houses, which rocked
+and swayed to and fro. Furniture was violently moved and dashed to the
+floor; pictures were swung from the walls, and in some cases turned
+with their backs to the front, and every movable thing was thrown
+into extraordinary convulsions. The greatest intensity of the shock is
+considered to have been during the first half, and it was probably
+then, during the period of its greatest sway, that so many chimneys
+were broken off at the junction of the roof. The duration of this severe
+shock is thought to have been from thirty-five to forty seconds. The
+impression produced on many was that it could be subdivided into three
+distinct movements, while others were of the opinion that it was
+one continuous movement, or succession of waves, with the greatest
+intensity, as already stated, during the first half of its duration."
+
+Twenty-seven persons were killed outright, and more than that number
+died soon after of their hurts or from exposure; many others were less
+seriously injured. Among the buildings, the havoc, though much less
+disastrous than has been recorded in some other earthquakes in either
+hemisphere, was very great. "There was not a building in the city which
+had escaped serious injury. The extent of the damage varied greatly,
+ranging from total demolition down to the loss of chimney tops and the
+dislodgment of more or less plastering. The number of buildings which
+were completely demolished and levelled to the ground was not great; but
+there were several hundreds which lost a large portion of their
+walls. There were very many also which remained standing, but so badly
+shattered that public safety required that they should be pulled down
+altogether. There was not, so far as at present is known, a brick or
+stone building which was not more or less cracked, and in most of them
+the cracks were a permanent disfigurement and a source of danger
+and inconvenience." In some places the railway track was curiously
+distorted. "It was often displaced laterally, and sometimes alternately
+depressed and elevated. Occasionally several lateral flexures of double
+curvature and of great amount were exhibited. Many hundred yards of
+track had been shoved bodily to the south eastward."
+
+The ground was fissured at some places in the city to a depth of many
+feet, and numerous "craterlets" were formed, from which sand was ejected
+in considerable quantities. These are not uncommon phenomena, and were
+due, no doubt, to the squirting of water out of saturated sandy layers
+not far below the surface; these being squeezed between two less
+pervious beds in the passage of the earthquake wave. The ejected
+material in the Charleston earthquake was ordinary sand, such as
+might exist in many districts which had been quite undisturbed by any
+concussions of the earth.
+
+Captain Dutton made a careful study of the observations collected
+by himself and others concerning this earthquake, and came to the
+conclusion that the Charleston wave traveled with unusual speed, for
+its mean velocity was about 17,000 feet a second. The focus of the
+disturbance was also ascertained. Apparently it was a double one, the
+two centres being about thirteen miles apart, and the line joining
+them running nearly the same distance to the west of Charleston. The
+approximate depth of the principal focus is given as twelve miles,
+with a possible error of less than two miles; that of the minor one as
+roughly eight miles.
+
+The Charleston earthquake was felt as a tremor of more or less force
+through a wide area, embracing 900,000 square miles, and affecting
+nearly the whole country east of the Mississippi. It is said that the
+yield of the Pennsylvania natural gas wells decreased, and that a geyser
+in the Yellowstone valley burst into action after four years of rest.
+The movement of the earth-wave was in general north and south, deflected
+to east and west, and the snake-like fashion in which rails on the
+railroad were bent indicated both a vertical and a lateral force.
+
+This earthquake has been attributed to various causes, but geological
+experts think that it was due to a slip in the crust along the
+Appalachian Mountain chain. There is a line of weakness along the
+eastern slope of this chain, characterized by fissures and faults, and
+it was thought that a strain had been gradually brought to bear upon
+this through the removal of earth from the land by rains and rivers and
+its deposition in thick strata on the sea-bottom. It is supposed that
+this variation in weight in time caused a yielding of the strata and a
+slip seaward of the great coastal plain. Professor Mendenhall, however,
+thinks it was due to a readjustment of the earth's crust to its
+gradually sinking nucleus.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The Volcano and the Earthquake, Earth's Demons of Destruction.
+
+
+To most of us, dwellers upon the face of the earth, this terrestrial
+sphere is quite a comfortable place of residence. The forces of Nature
+everywhere and at all times surround us, forces capable, if loosened
+from their bonds, of bringing death and destruction to man and the work
+of his hands. But usually they are mild and beneficent in their action,
+not agents of destruction and lords of elemental misrule. The air,
+without whose presence we could not survive a minute, is usually a
+pleasant companion, now resting about us in soft calm, now passing by in
+mild breezes. The alternation of summer and winter is to us generally an
+agreeable relief from the monotony of a uniform climate. The variation
+from sunlight to cloud, from dry weather to rainfall, is equally viewed
+as a pleasant escape from the weariness of too great fixity of natural
+conditions. The change from day to night, from hours of activity to
+hours of slumber, are other agreeable variations in the events of our
+daily life. In short, a great pendulum seems to be swinging above us,
+held in Nature's kindly hand, and adapting its movements to our best
+good and highest enjoyment.
+
+But has Nature,--if we are justified in personifying the laws and forces
+of the universe,--has mother Nature really our pleasure and benefit in
+mind, or does she merely suffer us to enjoy life like so many summer
+insects, until she is in the mood to sweep us like leaves from her
+path? It must seem the latter to many of the inhabitants of the earth,
+especially to the dwellers in certain ill-conditioned regions. For all
+the beneficent powers above named may at a moment's notice change to
+destructive ones.
+
+
+THE WIND IS A DEMON IN CHAINS
+
+
+The wind, for instance, is a demon in chains. At times it breaks its
+fetters and rushes on in mad fury, rending and destroying, and sweeping
+such trifles as cities and those who dwell therein to common ruin.
+Sunshine and rain are subject to like wild caprices. The sun may pour
+down burning rays for weeks and months together, scorching the fertile
+fields, drying up the life-giving streams, bringing famine and misery
+to lands of plenty and comfort, almost making the blood to boil in our
+veins. Its antithesis, the rainstorm, is at times a still more terrible
+visitant. From the dense clouds pour frightful floods, rushing down
+the lofty hills, sweeping over fertile plains, overflowing broad river
+valleys, and, wherever they go, leaving terror and death in their path.
+We may say the same of the alternation of the seasons. Summer, while
+looked forward to with joyous anticipation, may bring us only
+suffering by its too ardent grasp; and winter, often welcomed with like
+pleasurable anticipations, may prove a period of terror from cold and
+destitution.
+
+Such is the make-up of the world in which we live, such the vagaries of
+the forces which surround us. But those enumerated are not the whole.
+Can we say, with a stamp of the foot upon the solid earth, "Here at
+least I have something I can trust; let the winds blow and the rains
+descend, let the summer scorch and the winter chill, the good earth
+still stands firm beneath me, and of it at least I am sure?"
+
+Who says so speaks hastily and heedlessly, for the earth can show itself
+as unstable as the air, and our solid footing become as insecure as the
+deck of a ship laboring in a storm at sea. The powers of the atmosphere,
+great as they are and mighty for destruction as they may become, are at
+times surpassed by those which abide within the earth, deep laid in the
+so-called everlasting rocks, slumbering often through generations, but
+at any time likely to awaken in wrath, to lift the earth into quaking
+billows like those of the sea, or pour forth torrents of liquid fire
+that flow in glowing and burning rivers over leagues of ruined land.
+Such is the earth with which we have to deal, such the ruthless powers
+of nature that spread around us and lurk beneath us, such the terrific
+forces which only bide their time to break forth and sweep too-confident
+man from the earth's smiling face.
+
+
+THE SUBTERRANEAN POWERS
+
+
+The subterranean powers here spoken of, those we had denominated earth's
+demons of destruction, are the volcano and the earthquake, the great
+moulding forces of the earth, tearing down to rebuild, rending to
+reconstitute, and in this elemental work often bringing ruin to man's
+boasted fanes and palaces.
+
+No one who has ever seen a volcano or "burning mountain" casting forth
+steam, huge red-hot stones, smoke, cinders and lava, can possibly forget
+the grandeur of the spectacle. At night it is doubly terrible, when
+the darkness shows the red-hot lava rolling in glowing streams down
+the mountain's side. At times, indeed, the volcano is quiet, and only
+a little smoke curls from its top. Even this may cease, and the once
+burning summit may be covered over with trees and grass, like any other
+hill. But deep down in the earth the gases and pent-up steam, are ever
+preparing to force their way upward through the mountain, and to carry
+with them dissolved rocks, and the stones which block their passage.
+Sometimes, while all is calm and beautiful on the mountains, suddenly
+deep-sounding noises are heard, the ground shakes, and a vast torrent
+tears its way through the bowels of the volcano, and is flung hundreds
+of feet high in the air, and, falling again to the earth, destroys every
+living thing for miles around.
+
+It is the same with the earthquake as with the volcano. The surface of
+the earth is never quite still. Tremors are constantly passing onward
+which can be distinguished by delicate instruments, but only rarely are
+these of sufficient force to become noticeable, except by instrumental
+means. At intervals, however, the power beneath the surface raises
+the ground in long, billow-like motions, before which, when of violent
+character, no edifice or human habitation can for a moment stand. The
+earth is frequently rent asunder, great fissures and cavities being
+formed. The course of rivers is changed and the waters are swallowed up
+by fissures rent in the surface, while ruin impends in a thousand
+forms. The cities become death pits and the cultivated fields are buried
+beneath floods of liquid mud. Fortunately these convulsions, alike of
+the earthquake and volcano, are comparative rarities and are confined
+to limited regions of the earth's surface. What do we know of those
+deep-lying powers, those vast buried forces dwelling in uneasy isolation
+beneath our feet? With all our science we are but a step beyond the
+ancients, to whom these were the Titans, great rebel giants whom Jupiter
+overthrew and bound under the burning mountains, and whose throes of
+agony shook the earth in quaking convulsions. To us the volcanic crater
+is the mouth from which comes the fiery breath of demon powers which
+dwell far down in the earth's crust. The Titans themselves were dwarfs
+beside these mighty agents of destruction whose domain extends for
+thousands of miles beneath the earth's surface and which in their
+convulsions shake whole continents at once. Such was the case in 1812,
+when the eruption of Mont Soufriere on St. Vincent, as told in a later
+chapter, formed merely the closing event in a series of earthquakes
+which had made themselves felt under thousands of miles of land.
+
+
+ANCIENT AWE OF VOLCANOES
+
+
+In olden times volcanoes were regarded with superstitious awe, and it
+would have been considered highly impious to make any investigation of
+their actions. We are told by Virgil that Mt. Etna marks the spot where
+the gods in their anger buried Enceladus, one of the rebellious giants.
+To our myth-making ancestors one of the volcanoes of the Mediterranean,
+set on a small island of the Lipari group, was the workshop of Vulcan,
+the god of fire, within whose depths he forged the thunderbolts of the
+gods. From below came sounds as of a mighty hammer on a vast anvil.
+Through the mountain vent came the black smoke and lurid glow from
+the fires of Vulcan's forge. This old myth is in many respects more
+consonant with the facts of nature than myths usually are. In agreement
+with the theory of its internal forces, the mountain in question was
+given the name of Volcano. To-day it is scarcely known at all, but its
+name clings to all the fire-breathing mountains of the earth.
+
+As before said, at the present day we are little in advance of the
+ancients in actual knowledge of what is going on so far beneath our
+feet. We speak of forces where they spoke of fettered giants, but can
+only form theories where they formed myths. Is the earth's centre made
+up of liquid fire? Does its rock crust resemble the thick ice crust on
+the Arctic Seas, or is the earth, as later scientists believe, solid to
+the core? Is it heated so fiercely, miles below our feet, that at every
+release of pressure the solid rock bursts into molten lava? Is the steam
+from the contact of underground rivers and deep-lying fires the origin
+of the terrible rending powers of the volcano's depths? Truly we can
+answer none of these questions with assurance, and can only guess
+and conjecture from the few facts open to us what lies concealed far
+beneath.
+
+
+RARITY OF ANCIENT ACCOUNTS
+
+
+In the history of earthquakes nothing is more remarkable than the
+extreme fewness of those recorded before the beginning of the Christian
+era, in comparison with those that have been registered since that time.
+It is to be borne in mind, however, that before the birth of Christ only
+a small portion of the globe was inhabited by those likely to make a
+record of natural events. The vast apparent increase in the number
+of earthquakes in recent times is owing to a greater knowledge of
+the earth's surface and to the spread of civilization over lands once
+inhabited by savages. The same is to be said of volcanic eruptions,
+which also have apparently increased greatly since the beginning of the
+Christian era. There may possibly have been a natural increase in these
+phenomena, but this is hardly probable, the change being more likely due
+to the increase in the number of observers.
+
+The structure of a volcano is very different from that of other
+mountains, really consisting of layers of lava and volcanic ashes,
+alternating with each other and all sloping away from the center. These
+elevations, in fact, are formed in a different manner from ordinary
+mountains. The latter have been uplifted by the influence of pressure in
+the interior of the earth, but the volcano is an immediate result of the
+explosive force of which we have spoken, the mountain being gradually
+built up by the lava and other materials which it has flung up from
+below. In this way mountains of immense height and remarkable regularity
+have been formed. Mount Orizabo, near the City of Mexico, for instance,
+is a remarkably regular cone, undoubtedly formed in this way, and the
+same may be said of Mount Mayon, on the Island of Luzon.
+
+In many cases the irregularity of the volcano is due to subsequent
+action of its forces, which may blow the mountain itself to pieces.
+In the case of Krakatoa, in the East Indies, for instance, the whole
+mountain was rent into fragments, which were flung as dust miles high
+into the air. The main point we wish to indicate is that volcanoes are
+never formed by ordinary elevating forces and that they differ in this
+way from all other mountains. On the contrary, they have been piled up
+like rubbish heaps, resembling the small mountains of coal dust near the
+mouths of anthracite mines.
+
+It is to the burning heat of the earth's crust and the influence of
+pressure, and more largely to the influx of water to the molten rocks
+which lie miles below the surface, that these convulsions of nature are
+due. Water, on reaching these overheated strata, explodes into volumes
+of steam, and if there is no free vent to the surface, it is apt to rend
+the very mountain asunder in its efforts to escape. Such is supposed
+to have been the case in the eruption of Krakatoa, and was probably the
+case also in the recent case of Mt. Pelee.
+
+
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ERUPTIONS
+
+
+If we should seek to give a general description of volcanic eruptions,
+it would be in some such words as follows: An eruption is usually
+preceded by earthquakes which affect the whole surrounding country,
+and associated with which are underground explosions that seem like
+the sound of distant artillery. The mountain quivers with internal
+convulsions, due to the efforts of its confined forces to find an
+opening. The drying up of wells and disappearance of springs are apt to
+take place, the water sinking downward through cracks newly made in the
+rocks. Finally the fierce unchained energy rends an opening through the
+crater and an eruption begins. It comes usually with a terrible burst
+that shakes the mountain to its foundation; explosions following rapidly
+and with increasing violence, while steam issues and mounts upward in
+a lofty column. The steam and escaping gases in their fierce outbreaks
+hurl up into the air great quantities of solid rock torn from the sides
+of the opening. The huge blocks, meeting each other in their rise and
+fall, are gradually broken and ground into minute fragments, forming
+dust or so-called ashes, often of extreme fineness, and in such
+quantities as frequently to blot out the light of the sun. There is
+another way in which a great deal of volcanic dust is made; the lava is
+full of steam, which in its expansion tears the molten rock into atoms,
+often converting it into the finest dust.
+
+The eruption of Mt. Skaptar, in Iceland, in 1783, sent up such volumes
+of dust that the atmosphere was loaded with it for months, and it
+was carried to the northern part of Scotland, 600 miles away, in such
+quantities as to destroy the crops. During the eruption of Tomboro, in
+the East Indies, in 1815, so great was the quantity of dust thrown up
+that it caused darkness at midday in Java 300 miles away and covered the
+ground to a depth of several inches. Floating pumice formed a layer
+on the ocean surface two and a half feet in thickness, through which
+vessels had difficulty in forcing their way.
+
+The steam which rises in large volumes into the air may become suddenly
+condensed with the chill of the upper atmosphere and fall as rain,
+torrents of which often follow an eruption. The rain, falling through
+the clouds of volcanic dust, brings it to the earth as liquid mud, which
+pours in thick streams down the sides of the mountain. The torrents of
+flowing mud are sometimes on such a great scale that large towns, as in
+the instance of the great city of Herculaneum, may be completely buried
+beneath them. Over this city the mud accumulated to the depth of over 70
+feet. In addition to these phenomena, molten lava often flows from the
+lip of the crater, occasionally in vast quantities. In the Icelandic
+eruption of 1783 the lava streams were so great in quantity as to fill
+river gorges 600 ft. deep and 200 ft. wide, and to extend over an open
+plain to a distance of 12 to 15 miles, forming lakes of lava 100 feet
+deep. The volcanoes of Hawaii often send forth streams of lava which
+cover an area of over 100 square miles to a great depth.
+
+
+GREAT OUTFLOWS OF LAVA
+
+
+In the course of ages lava outflows of this kind have built up in Hawaii
+a volcanic mountain estimated to contain enough material to cover the
+whole of the United States with a layer of rock 50 feet deep. These
+great outflows of lava are not confined to mountains, but take place now
+and then from openings in the ground, or from long cracks in the surface
+rocks. Occasionally great eruptions have taken place beneath the
+ocean's surface, throwing up material in sufficient quantity to form new
+islands.
+
+The formation of mud is not confined to the method given, but great
+quantities of this plastic material flow at times from volcanic craters.
+In the year 1691 Imbaburu, one of the peaks of the Andes, sent out
+floods of mud which contained dead fish in such abundance that their
+decay caused a fever in the vicinity. The volcanoes of Java have often
+buried large tracts of fertile country under volcanic mud.
+
+An observation of volcanoes shows us that they have three well marked
+phases of action. The first of these is the state of permanent eruption,
+as in case of the volcano of Stromboli in the Mediterranean. This state
+is not a dangerous one, since the steam, escaping continually, acts as
+a safety valve. The second stage is one of milder activity with an
+occasional somewhat violent eruption; this is apt to be dangerous,
+though not often very greatly so. The safety valve is partly out of
+order. The third phase is one in which long periods of repose, sometimes
+lasting for centuries, are followed by eruptions of intense energy.
+These are often of extreme violence and cause widespread destruction. In
+this case the safety valve has failed to work and the boiler bursts.
+
+
+OFTEN REST FOR LONG TERMS OF YEARS
+
+
+Such are the general features of action in the vast powers which
+dwell deep beneath the surface, harmless in most parts of the earth,
+frightfully perilous in others. Yet even here they often rest for long
+terms of years in seeming apathy, until men gather above their lurking
+places in multitudes, heedless or ignorant of the sleeping demons that
+bide their time below. Their time is sure to come, after years, perhaps
+after centuries. Suddenly the solid earth begins to tremble and quake;
+roars as of one of the buried giants of old strike all men with dread;
+then, with a fierce convulsion, a mountain is rent in twain and vast
+torrents of steam, burning rock, and blinding dust are hurled far upward
+into the air, to fall again and bury cities, perhaps, with all their
+inhabitants in indiscriminate ruin and death.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Theories of Volcanic and Earthquake Action.
+
+
+Though the first formation of a volcano (Italian, vulcano, from Vulcan,
+the Roman god of fire) has seldom been witnessed, it would seem that it
+is marked by earthquake movements followed by the opening of a rent or
+fissure; but with no such tilting up of the rocks as was once supposed
+to take place. From this fissure large volumes of steam issue,
+accompanied by hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric
+acid, and sulphur dioxide. The hydrogen, apparently derived from the
+dissociation of water at a high temperature, flashes explosively into
+union with atmospheric oxygen, and, having exerted its explosive force,
+the steam condenses into cloud, heavy masses of which overhang the
+volcano, pouring down copious rains. This naturally disturbs the
+electrical condition of the atmosphere, so that thunder and lightning
+are frequent accompaniments of an eruption. The hydrochloric acid
+probably points to the agency of sea-water. Besides the gases just
+mentioned, sulphuretted hydrogen, ammonia and common salt occur; but
+mainly as secondary products, formed by the union of the vapors issuing
+from the volcano, and commonly found also in the vapors rising from
+cooling lava streams or dormant volcanic districts. It is important to
+notice that the vapors issue from the volcano spasmodically, explosions
+succeeding each other with great rapidity and noise.
+
+All substances thrown out by the volcano, whether gaseous, liquid or
+solid, are conveniently united under the term ejectamenta (Latin, things
+thrown out), and all of them are in an intensely heated, if not an
+incandescent state. Most of the gases are incombustible, but the
+hydrogen and those containing sulphur burn with a true flame, perhaps
+rendered more visible by the presence of solid particles. Much of the
+so-called flame, however, in popular descriptions of eruptions is
+an error of observation due to the red-hot solid particles and the
+reflection of the glowing orifice on the over-hanging clouds.
+
+
+ENORMOUS FORCE DISPLAYED
+
+
+Solid bodies are thrown into the air with enormous force and to
+proportionally great heights, those not projected vertically falling in
+consequence at considerable distances from the volcano. A block weighing
+200 tons is said to have been thrown nine miles by Cotopaxi; masses
+of rock weighing as much as twenty tons to have been ejected by
+Mount Ararat in 1840; and stones to have been hurled to a distance
+of thirty-six miles in other cases. The solid matter thrown out by
+volcanoes consists of lapilli, scoriae, dust and bombs.
+
+Though on the first formation of the volcano, masses of non-volcanic
+rock may be torn from the chimney or pipe of the mountain, only slightly
+fused externally owing to the bad conducting power of most rocks,
+and hurled to a distance; and though at the beginning of a subsequent
+eruption the solid plug of rock which has cooled at the bottom of the
+crater, or, in fact, any part of the volcano, may be similarly blown up,
+the bulk of the solid particles of which the volcano itself is composed
+is derived from the lake of lava or molten rock which seethes at the
+orifice. Solid pieces rent from this fused mass and cast up by the
+explosive force of the steam with which the lava is saturated are known
+as lapilli. Cooling rapidly so as to be glassy in texture externally,
+these often have time to become perfectly crystalline within.
+
+Gases and steam escaping from other similar masses may leave them
+hollow, when they are termed bombs, or may pit their surfaces with
+irregular bubble-cavities, when they are called scoriae or scoriaceous.
+Such masses whirling through the air in a plastic state often become
+more or less oblately spheroidal in form; but, as often, the explosive
+force of their contained vapors shatters them into fragments, producing
+quantities of the finest volcanic dust or sand. This fine dust darkens
+the clouds overhanging the mountain, mixes with the condensed steam to
+fall as a black mud-rain, or lava di aqua (Italian, water lava), or
+is carried up to enormous heights, and then slowly diffused by upper
+currents of the atmosphere. In the eruption of Vesuvius of A.D. 79, the
+air was dark as midnight for twelve or fifteen miles round; the city of
+Pompeii was buried beneath a deposit of dry scoriae, or ashes and dust,
+and Herculaneum beneath a layer of the mud-like lava di aqua, which on
+drying sets into a compact rock. Rocks formed from these fragmentary
+volcanic materials are known as tuff.
+
+
+VOLCANIC CONES HAVE SIMILAR CURVATURES
+
+
+It is entirely of these cindery fragments heaped up with marvellous
+rapidity round the orifice that the volcano itself is first formed. It
+may, as in the case of Jorullo in Mexico in 1759, form a cone several
+hundred feet high in less than a day. Such a cone may have a slope as
+steep as 30 or 40 degrees, its incline in all cases depending simply on
+the angle of repose of its materials; the inclination, that is, at which
+they stop rolling. The great volcanoes of the Andes, which are formed
+mainly of ash, are very steep. Owing to a general similarity in their
+materials, volcanic cones in all parts of the world have very similar
+curvatures; but older volcanic mountains, in which lava-streams have
+broken through the cone, secondary cones have arisen, or portions
+have been blown up, are more irregular in outline and more gradual in
+inclination.
+
+In size, volcanoes vary from mere mounds a few yards in diameter, such
+as the salses or mud volcanoes near the Caspian, to Etna, 10,800 feet
+high, with a base 30 miles in diameter; Cotopaxi, in the Andes, 18,887
+feet high; or Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich Isles, 13,700 feet high; with
+a base 70 miles in diameter, and two craters, one of which, Kilauea, the
+largest active crater on our earth, is seven miles in circuit. Larger
+extinct craters occur in Japan; but all our terrestrial volcanic
+mountains are dwarfed by those observed on the surface of the moon,
+which, owing to its smaller size, has cooled more rapidly than our
+earth. It is, of course, the explosive force from below which keeps
+the crater clear, as a cup-shaped hollow, truncating the cone; and all
+stones falling into it would be only thrown out again. It may at the
+close of an eruption cool down so completely that a lake can form within
+it, such as Lake Averno, near Naples; or it may long remain a seething
+sea of lava, such as Kilauea; or the lava may find one or more outlets
+from it, either by welling over its rim, which it will then generally
+break down, as in many of the small extinct volcanoes ("puys") of
+Auvergne, or more usually by bursting through the sides of the cone.
+
+
+LAVA VARIES VERY MUCH IN LIQUIDITY
+
+
+It is not generally until the volcano has exhausted its first explosive
+force that lava begins to issue. Several streams may issue in different
+directions. Their dimensions are sometimes enormous. Lava varies very
+much in liquidity and in the rate at which it flows. This much depends,
+however, upon the slope it has to traverse. A lava stream at Vesuvius
+ran three miles in four minutes, but took three hours to flow the next
+three miles, while a stream from Mauna Loa ran eighteen miles in two
+hours. Glowing at first as a white-hot liquid, the lava soon cools at
+the surface to red and then to black; cinder-like scoriaceous masses
+form on its surface and in front of the slowly-advancing mass; clouds of
+steam and other vapor rise from it, and little cones are thrown up
+from its surface; but many years may elapse before the mass is cooled
+through. Thus, while the surface is glassy, the interior becomes
+crystalline.
+
+As to what are the causes of the great convulsions of nature known as
+the volcano and the earthquake we know very little. Various theories
+have been advanced, but nothing by any means sure has been discovered,
+and considerable difference of opinion exists. In truth we know so
+little concerning the conditions existing in the earth's interior
+that any views concerning the forces at work there must necessarily be
+largely conjectural.
+
+Sir Robert S. Ball says, in this connection: "Let us take, for instance,
+that primary question in terrestrial physics, as to whether the interior
+of the earth is liquid or solid. If we were to judge merely from the
+temperatures reasonably believed to exist at a depth of some twenty
+miles, and if we might overlook the question of pressure, we should
+certainly say that the earth's interior must be in a fluid state. It
+seems at least certain that the temperatures to be found at depths of
+two score miles, and still more at greater depths, must be so high that
+the most refractory solids, whether metals or minerals, would at once
+yield if we could subject them to such temperatures in our laboratories.
+But none of our laboratory experiments can tell us whether, under the
+pressure of thousands of tons on the square inch, the application of
+any heat whatever would be adequate to transform solids into liquids.
+It may, indeed, be reasonably doubted whether the terms solid and
+liquid are applicable, in the sense in which we understand them, to the
+materials forming the interior of the earth.
+
+"A principle, already well known in the arts, is that many, if not all,
+solids may be made to flow like liquids if only adequate pressure be
+applied. The making of lead tubes is a well-known practical illustration
+of this principle, for these tubes are formed simply by forcing solid
+lead by the hydraulic press through a mould which imparts the desired
+shape.
+
+"If then a solid can be made to behave like a liquid, even with such
+pressures as are within our control, how are we to suppose that the
+solids would behave with such pressures as those to which they are
+subjected in the interior of the earth? The fact is that the terms solid
+and liquid, at least as we understand them, appear to have no physical
+meaning with regard to bodies subjected to these stupendous pressures,
+and this must be carefully borne in mind when we are discussing the
+nature of the interior of the earth."
+
+
+THE VOLCANO A SAFETY VALVE
+
+
+Whatever be the state of affairs in the depths of the earth's crust, we
+may look upon the volcano as a sort of safety-valve, opening a passage
+for the pent-up forces to the surface, and thus relieving the earth from
+the terrible effects of the earthquake, through which these imprisoned
+powers so often make themselves felt. Without the volcanic vent there
+might be no safety for man on the earth's unquiet face.
+
+Professor J. C. Russell, of Michigan University, presents the following
+views concerning the status and action of volcanoes:--
+
+"When reduced to its simplest terms, a volcano may be defined as a
+tube, or conduit, in the earth's crust, through which the molten rock is
+forced to the surface. The conduit penetrates the cool and rigid rocks
+forming the superficial portion of the earth, and reaches its highly
+heated interior.
+
+"The length of volcanic conduits can only be conjectured, but, judging
+from the approximately known rate of increase of heat with depth (on an
+average one degree Fahrenheit for each sixty feet), and the temperature
+at which volcanic rocks melt (from 2,300 to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit,
+when not under pressure), they must seemingly have a depth of at least
+twenty miles. There are other factors to be considered, but in general
+terms it is safe to assume that the conduits of volcanoes are irregular
+openings, many miles in depth, which furnish passageways for molten
+rock (lava) from the highly-heated sub-crust portion of the earth to its
+surface. . . ."
+
+
+ERUPTIONS OF QUIET TYPE
+
+
+"During eruptions of the quiet type, the lava comes to the surface in a
+highly liquid condition--that is, it is thoroughly fused, and flows with
+almost the freedom of water. It spreads widely, even on a nearly level
+plain, and may form a comparatively thin sheet several hundred square
+miles in area, as has been observed in Iceland and Hawaii. On the Snake
+River plains, in Southern Idaho, there are sheets of once molten rock
+which were poured out in the manner just stated, some four hundred
+square miles in area and not over seventy-five feet in average
+thickness. When an eruption of highly liquid lava occurs in a
+mountainous region, the molten rock may cascade down deep slopes and
+flow through narrow valleys for fifty miles or more before becoming
+chilled sufficiently to arrest its progress. Instances are abundant
+where quiet eruptions have occurred in the midst of a plain, and
+built up 'lava cones,' or low mounds, with immensely expanded bases.
+Illustrations are furnished in Southern Idaho, in which the cones formed
+are only three hundred or four hundred feet high, but have a breadth at
+the base of eight or ten miles. In the class of eruption illustrated
+by these examples, there is an absence of fragmental material, such as
+explosive volcanoes hurl into the air, and a person may stand within
+a few yards of a rushing stream of molten rock, or examine closely the
+opening from which it is being poured out, without danger or serious
+inconvenience.
+
+"The quiet volcanic eruptions are attended by the escape of steam or
+gases from the molten rock, but the lava being in a highly liquid
+state, the steam and gases dissolved in it escape quietly and without
+explosions. If, however, the molten rock is less completely fluid, or
+in a viscous condition, the vapors and gases contained in it find
+difficulty in escaping, and may be retained until, becoming concentrated
+in large volume, they break their way to the surface, producing violent
+explosions. Volcanoes in which the lava extruded is viscous, and the
+escape of steam and gases is retarded until the pent-up energy bursts
+all bounds, are of the explosive, type. One characteristic example is
+Vesuvius.
+
+"When steam escapes from the summit of a volcanic conduit--which, in
+plain terms, is a tall vessel filled with intensely hot and more or less
+viscous liquid--masses of the liquid rock are blown into the air, and on
+falling build up a rim or crater about the place of discharge. Commonly
+the lava in the summit portion of a conduit becomes chilled and perhaps
+hardened, and when a steam explosion occurs this crust is shattered and
+the fragments hurled into the air and contributed to the building of the
+walls of the inclosing crater.
+
+"The solid rock blown out by volcanoes consists usually of highly
+vesicular material which hardened on the surface of the column of lava
+within a conduit and was shattered by explosions beneath it. These
+fragments vary in size from dust particles up to masses several feet in
+diameter, and during violent eruptions are hurled miles high. The larger
+fragments commonly fall near their place of origin, and usually furnish
+the principal part of the material of which craters are built, but the
+gravel-like kernels, lapilli, may be carried laterally several miles
+if a wind is blowing, while the dust is frequently showered down on
+thousands of square miles of land and sea. The solid and usually angular
+fragments manufactured in this manner vary in temperature, and may still
+be red hot on falling.
+
+"Volcanoes of the explosive type not uncommonly discharge streams of
+lava, which may flow many miles. In certain instances these outwellings
+of liquid rock occur after severe earthquakes and violent explosions,
+and may have all the characteristics of quiet eruptions. There is
+thus no fundamental difference between the two types into which it is
+convenient to divide volcanoes."
+
+
+MOUNTAINS BLOW THEIR HEADS OFF
+
+
+"In extreme examples of explosive volcanoes, the summit portion of a
+crater, perhaps several miles in circumference and several thousand feet
+high, is blown away. Such an occurrence is recorded in the case of
+the volcano Coseguina, Nicaragua, in 1835. Or, an entire mountain may
+disappear, being reduced to lapilli and dust and blown into the air, as
+in the case of Krakatoa, in the Straits of Sunda, in 1883.
+
+"The essential feature of a volcano, as stated above, is a tube or
+conduit, leading from the highly heated sub-crust portion of the earth
+to the crater and through which molten rock is forced upward to the
+surface. The most marked variations in the process depend on the
+quantity of molten rock extruded, and on the freedom of escape of the
+steam and gases contained in the lava.
+
+"The cause of the rise of the molten rock in a volcano is still a matter
+for discussion. Certain geologists contend that steam is the sole motive
+power; while others consider that the lava is forced to the surface
+owing to pressure on the reservoir from which it comes. The view perhaps
+most favorably entertained at present, in reference to the general
+nature of volcanic eruptions, is that the rigid outer portion of the
+earth becomes fractured, owing principally to movements resulting from
+the shrinking of the cooling inner mass, and that the intensely hot
+material reached by the fissures, previously solid owing to pressure,
+becomes liquid when pressure is relieved, and is forced to the surface.
+As the molten material rises it invades the water-charged rocks near
+the surface and acquires steam, or the gases resulting from the
+decomposition of water, and a new force is added which produces the
+most conspicuous and at times the most terrible phenomena accompanying
+eruptions."
+
+The active agency of water is strongly maintained by many geologists,
+and certainly gains support from the vast clouds of steam given off by
+volcanoes in eruption and the steady and quiet emission of steam from
+many in a state of rest. The quantities of water in the liquid state,
+to which is due the frequent enormous outflows of mud, leads to the
+same conclusion. Many scientists, indeed, while admitting the agency of
+water, look upon this as the aqueous material originally pent up
+within the rocks. For instance Professor Shaler, dean of the Lawrence
+Scientific School, says:
+
+"Volcanic outbreaks are merely the explosion of steam under high
+pressure, steam which is bound in rocks buried underneath the surface
+of the earth and there subjected to such tremendous heat that when the
+conditions are right its pent-up energy breaks forth and it shatters
+its stone prison walls into dust. The process by which the water becomes
+buried in this manner is a long one. Some contend that it leaks down
+from the surface of the earth through fissures in the outer crust, but
+this theory is not generally accepted. The common belief is that water
+enters the rocks during the crystalization period, and that these rocks
+through the natural action of rivers and streams become deposited in the
+bottom of the ocean. Here they lie for many ages, becoming buried deeper
+and deeper under masses of like sediment, which are constantly being
+washed down upon them from above. This process is called the blanketing
+process.
+
+"Each additional layer of sediment, while not raising the level of the
+sea bottom, buries the first layers just so much the deeper and adds to
+their temperature just as does the laying of extra blankets on a bed.
+When the first layer has reached a depth of a few thousand feet the
+rocks which contain the water of crystalization are subjected to a
+terrific heat. This heat generates steam, which is held in a state of
+frightful tension in its rocky prison. Wrinklings in the outer crust of
+the earth's surface occur, caused by the constant shrinking of the earth
+itself and by the contraction of the outer surface as it settles on the
+plastic centers underneath. Fissures are caused by these foldings, and
+as these fissures reach down into the earth the pressure is removed from
+the rocks and the compressed steam in them, being released, explodes
+with tremendous force."
+
+This view is, very probably, applicable to many cases, and the
+exceedingly fine dust which so often rises from volcanoes has,
+doubtless, for one of its causes the sudden and explosive conversion of
+water into steam in the interior of ejected lava, thus rending it into
+innumerable fragments. But that this is the sole mode of action of water
+in volcanic eruptions is very questionable. It certainly does not agree
+with the immense volumes at times thrown out, while explosions of
+such extreme intensity as that of Krakatoa very strongly lead to the
+conclusion that a great mass of water has made its way through newly
+opened fissures to the level of molten rock, and exploded into steam
+with a suddenness which gave it the rending force of dynamite or the
+other powerful chemical explosives.
+
+As the earthquake is so intimately associated with the volcano the
+causes of the latter are in great measure the causes of the former, and
+the forces at work frequently produce a more or less violent quaking of
+the earth's surface before they succeed in opening a channel of escape
+through the mountain's heart. One agency of great potency, and one whose
+work never ceases, has doubtless much to do with earthquake action.
+In the description of this we cannot do better than to quote from "The
+Earth's Beginning" of Sir Robert S. Ball.
+
+
+CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES
+
+
+"As to the immediate cause of earthquakes there is no doubt considerable
+difference of opinion. But I think it will not be doubted that an
+earthquake is one of the consequences, though perhaps a remote one, of
+the gradual loss of internal heat from the earth. As this terrestrial
+heat is gradually declining, it follows from the law that we have
+already so often had occasion to use that the bulk of the earth must be
+shrinking. No doubt the diminution in the earth's diameter due to the
+loss of heat must be exceedingly small, even in a long period of time.
+The cause, however, is continually in operation, and, accordingly, the
+crust of the earth has from time to time to be accommodated to the fact
+that the whole globe is lessening. The circumference of our earth at
+the equator must be gradually declining; a certain length in that
+circumference is lost each year. We may admit that loss to be a quantity
+far too small to be measured by any observations as yet obtainable, but,
+nevertheless, it is productive of phenomena so important that it cannot
+be overlooked.
+
+"It follows from these considerations that the rocks which form the
+earth's crust over the surface of the continents and the islands, or
+beneath the bed of the ocean, must have a lessening acreage year
+by year. These rocks must therefore submit to compression, either
+continuously or from time to time, and the necessary yielding of the
+rocks will in general take place in those regions where the materials
+of the earth's crust happen to have comparatively small powers of
+resistance. The acts of compression will often, and perhaps generally,
+not proceed with uniformity, but rather with small successive shifts,
+and even though the displacements of the rocks in these shifts be
+actually very small, yet the pressures to which the rocks are subjected
+are so vast that a very small shift may correspond to a very great
+terrestrial disturbance.
+
+"Suppose, for instance, that there is a slight shift in the rocks on
+each side of a crack, or fault, at a depth of ten miles. It must be
+remembered that the pressure ten miles down would be about thirty-five
+tons to the square inch. Even a slight displacement of one extensive
+surface over another, the sides being pressed together with a force of
+thirty-five tons on the square inch, would be an operation necessarily
+accompanied by violence greatly exceeding that which we might expect
+from so small a displacement if the forces concerned had been of more
+ordinary magnitude. On account of this great multiplication of the
+intensity of the phenomenon, merely a small rearrangement of the
+rocks in the crust of the earth, in pursuance of the necessary work of
+accommodating its volume to the perpetual shrinkage, might produce an
+excessively violent shock, extending far and wide. The effect of such a
+shock would be propagated in the form of waves through the globe, just
+as a violent blow given at one end of a bar of iron by a hammer is
+propagated through the bar in the form of waves. When the effect of this
+internal adjustment reaches the earth's surface it will sometimes be
+great enough to be perceptible in the shaking it gives that surface. The
+shaking may be so violent that buildings may not be able to withstand
+it. Such is the phenomenon of an earthquake.
+
+"When the earth is shaken by one of those occasional adjustments of the
+crust which I have described, the wave that spreads like a pulsation
+from the centre of agitation extends all over our globe and is
+transmitted right through it. At the surface lying immediately over the
+centre of disturbance there will be a violent shock. In the surrounding
+country, and often over great distances, the earthquake may also be
+powerful enough to produce destructive effects. The convulsion may also
+be manifested over a far larger area of country in a way which makes the
+shock to be felt, though the damage wrought may not be appreciable.
+But beyond a limited distance from the centre of the agitation the
+earthquake will produce no destructive effects upon buildings, and
+will not even cause vibrations that would be appreciable to ordinary
+observation."
+
+
+THE RADIUS OF DISTURBANCE.
+
+
+"In each locality in which earthquakes are chronic it would seem as if
+there must be a particularly weak spot in the earth some miles below
+the surface. A shrinkage of the earth, in the course of the incessant
+adjustment between the interior and the exterior, will take place by
+occasional little jumps at this particular centre. The fact that there
+is this weak spot at which small adjustments are possible may provide,
+as it were, a safety-valve for other places in the same part of
+the world. Instead of a general shrinking, the materials would be
+sufficiently elastic and flexible to allow the shrinking for a very
+large area to be done at this particular locality. In this way we may
+explain the fact that immense tracts on the earth are practically free
+from earthquakes of a serious character, while in the less fortunate
+regions the earthquakes are more or less perennial.
+
+"Now, suppose an earthquake takes place in Japan, it originates a series
+of vibrations through our globe. We must here distinguish between the
+rocks--I might almost say the comparatively pliant rocks--which form
+the earth's crust, and those which form the intensely rigid core of the
+interior of our globe. The vibrations which carry the tidings of the
+earthquake spread through the rocks on the surface, from the centre of
+the disturbance, in gradually enlarging circles. We may liken the spread
+of these vibrations to the ripples in a pool of water which diverge from
+the spot where a raindrop has fallen. The vibrations transmitted by
+the rocks on the surface, or on the floor of the ocean, will carry the
+message all over the earth. As these rocks are flexible, at all
+events by comparison with the earth's interior, the vibrations will be
+correspondingly large, and will travel with vigor over land and under
+sea. In due time they reach, say the Isle of Wight, where they set the
+pencil of the seismometer at work. But there are different ways round
+the earth from Japan to the Isle of Wight, the most direct route being
+across Asia and Europe; the other route across the Pacific, America, and
+the Atlantic. The vibrations will travel by both routes, and the former
+is the shorter of the two."
+
+
+TRANSMISSIONS OF VIBRATIONS
+
+
+Some brief repetition may not here be amiss as to the products of
+volcanic action, of which so much has been said in the preceding
+pages, especially as many of the terms are to some extent technical in
+character. The most abundant of these substances is steam or water-gas,
+which, as we have seen, issues in prodigious quantities during every
+eruption. But with the steam a great number of other volatile materials
+frequently make their appearance. Though we have named a number of these
+at the beginning of this chapter, it will not be out of order to
+repeat them here. The chief among these are the acid gases known as
+hydrochloric acid, sulphurous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic
+acid, and boracic acid; and with these acid gases there issue hydrogen,
+nitrogen ammonia, the volatile metals arsenic, antimony, and mercury,
+and some other substances. These volatile substances react upon one
+another, and many new compounds are thus formed. By the action of
+sulphurous acid and sulphuretted hydrogen on each other, the sulphur
+so common in volcanic districts is separated and deposited. The
+hydrochloric acid acts very energetically on the rocks around the vents,
+uniting with the iron in them to form the yellow ferric-chloride, which
+often coats the rocks round the vent and is usually mistaken by casual
+observers for sulphur.
+
+Some of the substances emitted by volcanic vents, such as hydrogen and
+sulphuretted hydrogen, are inflammable, and when they issue at a high
+temperature these gases burst into flame the moment that they come
+into contact with the air. Hence, when volcanic fissures are watched at
+night, faint lambent flames are frequently seen playing over them, and
+sometimes these flames are brilliantly colored, through the presence
+of small quantities of certain metallic oxides. Such volcanic flames,
+however, are scarcely ever strongly luminous, and the red, glowing light
+which is observed over volcanic mountains in eruption is due to quite
+another cause. What is usually taken for flame during a volcanic
+eruption is simply, as we have before stated, the glowing light of the
+surface of a mass of red-hot lava reflected from the cloud of vapor and
+dust in the air, much as the lights of a city are reflected from the
+water vapor of the atmosphere during a night of fog.
+
+Besides the volatile substances which issue from volcanic vents,
+mingling with the atmosphere or condensing upon their sides, there
+are many solid materials ejected, and these may accumulate around the
+orifice's till they build up mountains of vast dimensions, like Etna,
+Teneriffe, and Chimborazo. Some of these solid materials are evidently
+fragments of the rock-masses, through which the volcanic fissure has
+been rent; these fragments have been carried upwards by the force of
+the steam-blast and scattered over the sides of the volcano. But the
+principal portion of the solid materials ejected from volcanic orifices
+consists of matter which has been extruded from sources far beneath the
+surface, in highly-heated and fluid or semi-fluid condition.
+
+It is to these materials that the name of "lavas" is properly applied.
+Lavas present a general resemblance to the slags and clinkers which
+are formed in our furnaces and brick-kilns, and consist, like them, of
+various stony substances which have been more or less perfectly fused.
+When we come to study the chemical composition and the microscopical
+structure of lavas, however, we shall find that there are many respects
+in which they differ entirely from these artificial products, they
+consisting chiefly of felspar, or of this substance in association with
+augite or hornblende. In texture they may be stony, glassy, resin-like,
+vesicular or cellular and light in weight, as in the case of pumice or
+scoria.
+
+
+FLOATING PUMICE
+
+
+The steam and other gases rising through liquid lava are apt to produce
+bubbles, yielding a surface froth or foam. This froth varies greatly
+in character according to the nature of the material from which it is
+formed. In the majority of cases the lavas consist of a mass of crystals
+floating in a liquid magma, and the distension of such a mass by the
+escape of steam from its midst gives rise to the formation of the rough
+cindery-looking material to which the name of "scoria" is applied. But
+when the lava contains no ready-formed crystals, but consists entirely
+of a glassy substance in a more or less perfect state of fusion,
+the liberation of steam gives rise to the formation of the beautiful
+material known as "pumice." Pumice consists of a mass of minute glass
+bubbles; these bubbles do not usually, however, retain their globular
+form, but are elongated in one direction through the movement of
+the mass while it is still in a plastic state. The quantity of this
+substance ejected is often enormous. We have seen to what a vast extent
+it was thrown out from the crater of Krakatoa. During the year 1878,
+masses of floating pumice were reported as existing in the vicinity of
+the Solomon Isles, and covering the surface of the sea to such extent
+that it took ships three days to force their way through them. Sometimes
+this substance accumulates in such quantities along coasts that it is
+difficult to determine the position of the shore within a mile or two,
+as we may land and walk about on the great floating raft of pumice.
+Recent deep-sea soundings, carried on in the Challenger and other
+vessels, have shown that the bottom of the deepest portion of the ocean,
+far away from the land, is covered with volcanic materials which have
+been carried through the air or have floated on the surface of the
+ocean.
+
+Fragments of scoria or pumice may be thrown hundreds or thousands of
+feet into the atmosphere, those that fall into the crater and are flung
+up again being gradually reduced in size by friction. Thus it is related
+by Mr. Poulett Scrope, who watched the Vesuvian eruption of 1822,
+which lasted for nearly a month, that during the earlier stages of the
+outburst fragments of enormous size were thrown out of the crater, but
+by constant re-ejection these were gradually reduced in size, till
+at last only the most impalpable dust issued from the vent. This dust
+filled the atmosphere, producing in the city of Naples "a darkness that
+might be felt." So excessively finely divided was it, that it penetrated
+into all drawers, boxes, and the most closely fastened receptacles,
+filling them completely. The fragmentary materials ejected from
+volcanoes are often given the name of cinders or ashes. These, however,
+are terms of convenience only, and do not properly describe the volcanic
+material.
+
+Sometimes the passages of steam through a mass of molten glass produces
+large quantities of a material resembling spun glass. Small particles of
+this glass are carried into the air and leave behind them thin, glassy
+filaments like a tail. At the volcano of Kilauea in Hawaii, this
+substance, as previously stated, is abundantly produced, and is known
+as 'Pele's Hair'--Pele being the name of the goddess of the mountain.
+Birds' nests are sometimes found composed of this beautiful material.
+In recent years an artificial substance similar to this Pele's hair
+has been extensively manufactured by passing jets of steam through the
+molten slag of iron-furnaces; it resembles cotton-wool, but is made up
+of fine threads of glass, and is employed for the packing of boilers and
+other purposes.
+
+The lava itself, as left in huge deposits upon the surface, assumes
+various forms, some crystalline, others glassy. The latter is usually
+found in the condition known as obsidian, ordinarily black in color,
+and containing few or no crystals. It is brittle, and splits into
+sharp-edged or pointed fragments, which were used by primitive peoples
+for arrow-heads, knives and other cutting implements. The ancient
+Mexicans used bits of it for shaving purposes, it having an edge of
+razor-like sharpness. They also used it as the cutting part of their
+weapons of war.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Active Volcanoes of the Earth.
+
+
+It is not by any means an easy task to frame an estimate of the number
+of volcanoes in the world. Volcanoes vary greatly in their dimensions,
+from vast mountain masses, rising to a height of nearly 25,000 feet
+above sea-level, to mere molehills. They likewise exhibit every possible
+stage of development and decay: while some are in a state of chronic
+active eruption, others are reduced to the condition of solfataras, or
+vents emitting acid vapors, and others again have fallen into a more or
+less complete state of ruin through the action of denuding forces.
+
+
+NUMBER OF ACTIVE VOLCANOES
+
+
+Even if we confine our attention to the larger volcanoes, which merit
+the name of mountains, and such of these as we have reason to believe to
+be in a still active condition, our difficulties will be diminished, but
+not by any means removed. Volcanoes may sink into a dormant condition
+that at times endures for hundreds or even thousands of years, and
+then burst forth into a state of renewed activity; and it is quite
+impossible, in many cases, to distinguish between the conditions of
+dormancy and extinction.
+
+We shall, however, probably be within the limits of truth in stating
+that the number of great habitual volcanic vents upon the globe which
+we have reason to believe are still in active condition, is somewhere
+between 300 and 350. Most of these are marked by more or less
+considerable mountains, composed of the materials ejected from them.
+But if we include mountains which exhibit the external conical form,
+crater-like hollows, and other features of volcanoes, yet concerning the
+activity of which we have no record or tradition, the number will fall
+little, if anything, short of 1,000.
+
+The mountains composed of volcanic materials, but which have lost
+through denudation the external form of volcanoes, are still more
+numerous, and the smaller temporary openings which are usually
+subordinate to the habitual vents that have been active during the
+periods covered by history and tradition, must be numbered by thousands.
+There are still feebler manifestations of the volcanic forces--such as
+steam-jets, geysers, thermal and mineral waters, spouting saline and
+muddy springs, and mud volcanoes--that may be reckoned by millions.
+It is not improbable that these less powerful manifestations of the
+volcanic forces to a great extent make up in number what they want in
+individual energy; and the relief which they afford to the imprisoned
+activities within the earth's crust may be almost equal to that which
+results from the occasional outbursts at the great habitual volcanic
+vents.
+
+In taking a general survey of the volcanic phenomena of the globe,
+no facts come out more strikingly than that of the very unequal
+distribution, both of the great volcanoes, and of the minor exhibitions
+of subterranean energy.
+
+Thus, on the whole of the continent of Europe, there is but one habitual
+volcanic vent--that of Vesuvius--and this is situated upon the shores of
+the Mediterranean. In the islands of that sea, however there are no
+less than six volcanoes: namely, Stromboli, and Vulcano, in the Lipari
+Islands; Etna, in Sicily; Graham's Isle, a submarine volcano, off the
+Sicilian coast; and Santorin and Nisyros, in the Aegean Sea.
+
+The African continent is at present known to contain about ten active
+volcanoes--four on the west coast, and six on the east coast, while
+about ten other active volcanoes occur on islands close to the African
+coasts. On the continent of Asia, more than twenty active volcanoes
+are known or believed to exist, but no less than twelve of these are
+situated in the peninsula of Kamchatka. No volcanoes are known to exist
+in the Australian continent.
+
+The American continent contains a greater number of volcanoes than
+the continents of the Old World. There are twenty in North America,
+twenty-five in Central America, and thirty-seven in South America. Thus,
+taken altogether, there are about one hundred and seventeen volcanoes
+situated on the great continental lands of the globe, while nearly twice
+as many occur upon the islands scattered over the various oceans.
+
+
+ASIATIC INLAND VOLCANOES
+
+
+Upon examining further into the distribution of the continental
+volcanoes, another very interesting fact presents itself. The volcanoes
+are in almost every instance situated either close to the coasts of the
+continent, or at no great distance from them. There are, indeed, only
+two exceptions to this rule. In the great and almost wholly unexplored
+table-land lying between Siberia and Tibet four volcanoes are said to
+exist, and in the Chinese province of Manchuria several others. More
+reliable information is, however, needed concerning these volcanoes.
+
+It is a remarkable circumstance that all the oceanic islands which
+are not coral-reefs are composed of volcanic rocks; and many of
+these oceanic islands, as well as others lying near the shores of the
+continents, contain active volcanoes.
+
+Through the midst of the Atlantic Ocean runs a ridge, which, by the
+soundings of the various exploring vessels sent out in recent years, has
+been shown to divide the ocean longitudinally into two basins. Upon this
+great ridge, and the spurs proceeding from it, rise numerous mountainous
+masses, which constitute the well-known Atlantic islands and groups
+of islands. All of these are of volcanic origin, and among them are
+numerous active volcanoes. The Island of Jan Mayen contains an active
+volcano, and Iceland contains thirteen, and not improbably more; the
+Azores have six active volcanoes, the Canaries three; while about eight
+volcanoes lie off the west coast of Africa. In the West Indies there are
+six active volcanoes; and three submarine volcanoes have been recorded
+within the limits of the Atlantic Ocean. Altogether, no less than forty
+active volcanoes are situated upon the great submarine ridges which
+traverse the Atlantic longitudinally.
+
+But along the same line the number of extinct volcanoes is far greater,
+and there are not wanting proofs that the volcanoes which are still
+active are approaching the condition of extinction.
+
+
+VOLCANOES OF THE PACIFIC
+
+
+If the great medial chain of the Atlantic presents us with an example of
+a chain of volcanic mountains verging on extinction, we have in the
+line of islands separating the Pacific and Indian Oceans an example of a
+similar range of volcanic vents which are in a condition of the
+greatest activity. In the peninsula of Kamchatka there are twelve active
+volcanoes, in the Aleutian Islands thirty-one, and in the peninsula
+of Alaska three. The chain of the Kuriles contains at least ten active
+volcanoes; the Japanese Islands and the islands to the south of Japan
+twenty-five. The great group of islands lying to the south-east of the
+Asiatic continent is at the present time the grandest focus of volcanic
+activity upon the globe. No less than fifty active volcanoes occur here.
+
+Farther south, the same chain is probably continued by the four active
+volcanoes of New Guinea, one or more submarine volcanoes, and several
+vents in New Britain, the Solomon Isles, and the New Hebrides, the three
+active volcanoes of New Zealand, and possibly by Mount Erebus and Mount
+Terror in the Antarctic region. Altogether, no less than 150 active
+volcanoes exist in the chain of islands which stretch from Behring's
+Straits down to the Antarctic circle; and if we include the volcanoes
+on Indian and Pacific Islands which appear to be situated on lines
+branching from this particular band, we shall not be wrong in the
+assertion that this great system of volcanic mountains includes at least
+one half of the habitually active vents of the globe. In addition to
+the active vents, there are here several hundred very perfect volcanic
+cones, many of which appear to have recently become extinct, though some
+of them may be merely dormant, biding their time.
+
+A third series of volcanoes starts from the neighborhood of Behring's
+Straits, and stretches along the whole western coast of the American
+continent. This is much less continuous, but nevertheless very
+important, and contains, with its branches, nearly a hundred active
+volcanoes. On the north this great band is almost united with the one
+we have already described by the chain of the Aleutian and Alaska
+volcanoes. In British Columbia about the parallel of 60 degrees N. there
+exist a number of volcanic mountains, one of which, Mount St. Elias, is
+believed to be 18,000 feet in height. Farther south, in the territory of
+the United States, a number of grand volcanic mountains exist, some of
+which are probably still active, for geysers and other manifestations of
+volcanic activity abound. From the southern extremity of the peninsula
+of California an almost continuous chain of volcanoes stretches through
+Mexico and Guatemala, and from this part of the volcanic band a branch
+is given off which passes through the West Indies, and contains the
+volcanoes which have so recently given evidence of their vital activity.
+
+In South America the line is continued by the active volcanoes of
+Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile, but at many intermediate points in the chain
+of the Andes extinct volcanoes occur, which to a great extent fill up
+the gaps in the series. A small offshoot to the westward passes through
+the Galapagos Islands. The great band of volcanoes which stretches
+through the American continent is second only in importance, and in the
+activity of its vents, to the band which divides the Pacific from the
+Indian Ocean.
+
+The third volcanic band of the globe is that, already spoken of,
+which traverses the Atlantic Ocean from north to south. This series of
+volcanic mountains is much more broken and interrupted than the other
+two, and a greater proportion of its vents are extinct. It attained its
+condition of maximum activity during the distant period of the Miocene,
+and now appears to be passing into a state of gradual extinction.
+
+Beginning in the north with the volcanic rocks of Greenland and Bear
+Island, we pass southwards, by way of Jan Mayen, Iceland and the Faroe
+Islands, to the Hebrides and the north of Ireland. Thence, by way of
+the Azores, the Canaries and the Cape de Verde Islands, with some active
+vents, we pass to the ruined volcanoes of St. Paul, Fernando de Noronha,
+Ascension, St. Helena, Trinidad and Tristan da Cunha. From this great
+Atlantic band two branches proceed to the eastward, one through Central
+Europe, where all the vents are now extinct, and the other through the
+Mediterranean to Asia Minor, the great majority of the volcanoes along
+the latter line being now extinct, though a few are still active. The
+volcanoes on the eastern coast of Africa may be regarded as situated on
+another branch from this Atlantic volcanic band. The number of active
+volcanoes on this Atlantic band and its branches, exclusive of those in
+the West Indies, does not exceed fifty.
+
+
+THIAN SHAN AND HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES
+
+
+From what has been said, it will be seen that the volcanoes of the globe
+not only usually assume a linear arrangement, but nearly the whole of
+them can be shown to be thrown up along three well-marked bands and the
+branches proceeding from them. The first and most important of these
+bands is nearly 10,000 miles in length, and with its branches contains
+more than 150 active volcanoes; the second is 8,000 miles in length, and
+includes about 100 active volcanoes; the third is much more broken and
+interrupted, extends to a length of nearly 1,000 miles, and contains
+about 50 active vents. The volcanoes of the eastern coast of Africa,
+with Mauritius, Bourbon, Rodriguez, and the vents along the line of the
+Red Sea, may be regarded as forming a fourth and subordinate band.
+
+Thus we see that the surface of the globe is covered by a network of
+volcanic bands, all of which traverse it in sinuous lines with a general
+north-and-south direction, giving off branches which often run for
+hundreds of miles, and sometimes appear to form a connection between the
+great bands.
+
+To this rule of the linear arrangement of the volcanic vents of the
+globe, and their accumulation along certain well-marked bands, there are
+two very striking exceptions, which we must now proceed to notice.
+
+In the very centre of the continent formed by Europe and Asia, the
+largest unbroken land-mass of the globe, there rises from the great
+central plateau the remarkable volcanoes of the Thian Shan Range. The
+existence of these volcanoes, of which only obscure traditional accounts
+had reached Europe before the year 1858, appears to be completely
+established by the researches of recent Russian and Swedish travelers.
+Three volcanic vents appear to exist in this region, and other volcanic
+phenomena have been stated to occur in the great plateau of Central
+Asia, but the existence of the latter appears to rest on very doubtful
+evidence. The only accounts which we have of the eruptions of these
+Thian Shan volcanoes are contained in Chinese histories and treatises on
+geography.
+
+The second exceptionally situated volcanic group is that of the Hawaiian
+Islands. While the Thian Shan volcanoes rise in the centre of the
+largest unbroken land-mass, and stand on the edge of the loftiest and
+greatest plateau in the world, the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands
+rise in the northern centre of the largest ocean and from almost the
+greatest depths in that ocean. All round the Hawaiian Islands the
+sea has a depth of from 2,000 to 3,000 fathoms, and the island-group
+culminates in several volcanic cones, which rise to the height of nearly
+14,000 feet above the sea-level. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands
+are unsurpassed in height and bulk by those of any other part of the
+globe.
+
+With the exception of the two isolated groups of the Thian Shan and
+the Hawaiian Islands, nearly all the active volcanoes of the globe are
+situated near the limits which separate the great land-and-water-masses
+of the globe--that is to say, they occur either on the parts of
+continents not far removed from their coast-lines, or on islands in
+the ocean not very far distant from the shores. The fact of the general
+proximity of volcanoes to the sea is one which has frequently been
+pointed out by geographers, and may now be regarded as being thoroughly
+established.
+
+
+VOLCANOES PARALLEL TO MOUNTAIN CHAINS
+
+
+Many of the grandest mountain-chains have bands of volcanoes
+lying parallel to them. This is strikingly exhibited by the great
+mountain-masses which lie on the western side of the American continent.
+The Rocky Mountains and the Andes consist of folded and crumpled masses
+of altered strata which, by the action of denuding forces, have been
+carved into series of ridges and summits. At many points, however, along
+the sides of these great chains we find that fissures have been opened
+and lines of volcanoes formed, from which enormous quantities of lava
+have flowed and covered great tracts of country.
+
+This is especially marked in the Snake River plain of Idaho, in the
+western United States. In this, and the adjoining regions of Oregon and
+Washington, an enormous tract of country has been overflowed by lava in
+a late geological period, the surface covered being estimated to have a
+larger area than France and Great Britain combined. The Snake River cuts
+through it in a series of picturesque gorges and rapids, enabling us to
+estimate its thickness, which is considered to average 4000 feet. Looked
+at from any point on its surface, one of these lava-plains appears as a
+vast level surface, like that of a lake bottom. This uniformity has been
+produced either by the lava rolling over a plain or lake bottom, or by
+the complete effacement of an original, undulating contour of the ground
+under hundreds or thousands of feet of lava in successive sheets.
+The lava, rolling up to the base of the mountains, has followed
+the sinuosities of their margin, as the waters of a lake follow its
+promontories and bays. Similar conditions exist along the Sierra Nevada
+range of California, and to some extent placer mining has gone on under
+immense beds of lava, by a process of tunneling beneath the volcanic
+rock.
+
+In some localities the volcanoes are of such height and dimensions as
+to overlook and dwarf the mountain-ranges by the side of which they lie.
+Some of the volcanoes lying parallel to the great American axis appear
+to be quite extinct, while others are in full activity. In the Eastern
+continent we find still more striking examples of parallelism between
+great mountain-chains and the lands along which volcanic activity is
+exhibited--volcanoes, active or extinct, following the line of the great
+east and west chains which extend through southern Europe and Asia.
+There are some other volcanic bands which exhibit a similar parallelism
+with mountain chains; but, on the other hand, there are volcanoes
+between which and the nearest mountain-axis no such connection can be
+traced.
+
+
+AREAS OF UPHEAVAL AND SUBSIDENCE
+
+
+There is one other fact concerning the mode of distribution of volcanoes
+upon the surface of the globe, to which we must allude. By a study
+of the evidences presented by coral-reefs, raised beaches, submerged
+forests, and other phenomena of a similar kind, it can be shown that
+certain wide areas of the land and of the ocean-floor are at the present
+time in a state of subsidence, while other equally large areas are
+being upheaved. And the observations of the geologist prove that similar
+upward and downward movements of portions of the earth's crust have been
+going on through all geological times.
+
+Now, as Mr. Darwin has so well shown in his work on "Coral Reefs," if we
+trace upon a map the areas of the earth's surface which are undergoing
+upheaval and subsidence respectively, we shall find that nearly all the
+active volcanoes of the globe are situated upon rising areas and that
+volcanic phenomena are conspicuously absent from those parts of the
+earth's crust which can be proved at the present day to be undergoing
+depression.
+
+The remarkable linear arrangement of volcanic vents has a significance
+that is well worthy of fuller consideration. There are facts known which
+point to the cause of this state of affairs. It is not uncommon for
+small cones of scoriae to be seen following lines on the flanks or at
+the base of a great volcanic mountain. These are undoubtedly lines of
+fissure, caused by the subterranean forces. In fact, such fissures have
+been seen opening on the sides of Mount Etna, in whose bottom could
+be seen the glowing lava. Along these fissures, in a few days, scoriae
+cones appeared; on one occasion no less than thirty-six in number.
+
+It is believed by geologists that the linear systems of volcanoes are
+ranged along similar lines of fissure in the earth's crust--enormous
+breaks, extending for thousands of miles, and the result of internal
+energies acting through vast periods of time. Along these immense
+fissures in the earth's rock-crust there appear, in place of small
+scoriae cones, great volcanoes, built up through the ages by a series of
+powerful eruptions, and only ceasing to spout fire themselves when the
+portion of the great crack upon which they lie is closed. The greatest
+of these fissures is that along the vast sinuous band of volcanoes
+extending from near the Arctic circle at Behring's Straits to the
+Antarctic circle at South Victoria Land, not far from half round the
+earth. It doubtless marks the line of mighty forces which have been
+active for millions of years.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Famous Vesuvius and the Destruction of Pompeii.
+
+
+The famous volcano of southern Italy named Vesuvius, which is now so
+constantly in eruption, was described by the ancients as a cone-shaped
+mountain with a flat top, on which was a deep circular valley filled
+with vines and grass, and surrounded by high precipices. A large
+population lived on the sides of the mountain, which was covered with
+beautiful woods, and there were fine flourishing cities at its foot. So
+little was the terrible nature of the valley on the top understood, that
+in A. D. 72, Spartacus, a rebellious Roman gladiator, encamped there
+with some thousands of fighting men, and the Roman soldiers were let
+down the precipices in order to surprise and capture them.
+
+There had been earthquakes around the mountain, and one of the cities
+had been nearly destroyed; but no one was prepared for what occurred
+seven years after the defeat of Spartacus. Suddenly, in the year 79
+A. D., a terrific rush of smoke, steam, and fire belched from the
+mountain's summit; one side of the valley in which Spartacus had
+encamped was blown off, and its rocks, with vast quantities of ashes,
+burning stones, and sand, were ejected far into the sky. They then
+spread out like a vast pall, and fell far and wide. For eight days
+and nights this went on, and the enormous quantity of steam sent up,
+together with the deluge of rain that fell, produced torrents on the
+mountain-side, which, carrying onward the fallen ashes, overwhelmed
+everything in their way. Sulphurous vapors filled the air and violent
+tremblings of the earth were constant.
+
+A city six miles off was speedily rendered uninhabitable, and was
+destroyed by the falling stones; but two others--Herculaneum and
+Pompeii--which already had suffered from the down-pour of ashes, were
+gradually filled with a flood of water, sand, and ashes, which came down
+the side of the volcano, and covering them entirely.
+
+
+BURIED CITIES EXCAVATED.
+
+
+The difference in ease of excavation is due to the following
+circumstance. Herculaneum being several miles nearer the crater,
+was buried in a far more consistent substance, seemingly composed of
+volcanic ashes cemented by mud; Pompeii, on the contrary, was
+buried only in ashes and loose stones. The casts of statues found in
+Herculaneum show the plastic character of the material that fell there,
+which time has hardened to rock-like consistency.
+
+These statues represented Hercules and Cleopatra, and the theatre proved
+to be that of the long-lost city of Herculaneum. The site of Pompeii was
+not discovered until forty years afterward, but work there proved far
+easier than at Herculaneum, and more progress was made in bringing it
+back to the light of day.
+
+The less solid covering of Pompeii has greatly facilitated the work of
+excavation, and a great part of the city has been laid bare. Many of its
+public buildings and private residences are now visible, and some whole
+streets have been cleared, while a multitude of interesting relics have
+been found. Among those are casts of many of the inhabitants, obtained
+by pouring liquid plaster into the ash moulds that remained of them.
+We see them to-day in the attitude and with the expression of agony and
+horror with which death met them more than eighteen centuries ago.
+
+In succeeding eruptions much lava was poured out; and in A. D. 472,
+ashes were cast over a great part of Europe, so that much fear was
+caused at Constantinople. The buried cities were more and more covered
+up, and it was not until about A. D. 1700 that, as above stated, the
+city of Herculaneum was discovered, the peasants of the vicinity being
+in the habit of extracting marble from its ruins. They had also, in the
+course of years, found many statues. In consequence, an excavation was
+ordered by Charles III, the earliest result being the discovery of the
+theatre, with the statues above named. The work of excavation,
+however, has not progressed far in this city, on account of its extreme
+difficulty, though various excellent specimens of art-work have been
+discovered, including the finest examples of mural painting extant from
+antiquity. The library was also discovered, 1803 papyri being found.
+Though these had been charred to cinder, and were very difficult to
+unroll and decipher, over 300 of them have been read.
+
+
+PLINY'S CELEBRATED DESCRIPTION
+
+
+Pliny the Younger, to whom we are indebted for the only contemporary
+account of the great eruption under consideration, was at the time of
+its occurrence resident with his mother at Misenum, where the Roman
+fleet lay, under the command of his uncle, the great author of the
+"Historia Naturalis". His account, contained in two letters to Tacitus
+(lib. vi. 16, 20), is not so much a narrative of the eruption, as a
+record of his uncle's singular death, yet it is of great interest as
+yielding the impressions of an observer. The translation which follows
+is adopted from the very free version of Melmoth, except in one or two
+places, where it differs much from the ordinary text. The letters are
+given entire, though some parts are rather specimens of style than good
+examples of description.
+
+"Your request that I should send an account of my uncle's death, in
+order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my
+acknowledgments; for if this accident shall be celebrated by your pen,
+the glory of it, I am assured, will be rendered forever illustrious.
+And, notwithstanding he perished by a misfortune which, as it involved
+at the same time a most beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so
+many populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance;
+notwithstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works; yet I
+am persuaded the mention of him in your immortal works will greatly
+contribute to eternize his name. Happy I esteem those to be, whom
+Providence has distinguished with the abilities either of doing such
+actions as are worthy of being related, or of relating them in a manner
+worthy of being read; but doubly happy are they who are blessed with
+both these talents; in the number of which my uncle, as his own writings
+and your history will prove, may justly be ranked. It is with extreme
+willingness, therefore, that I execute your commands; and should,
+indeed, have claimed the task if you had not enjoined it.
+
+"He was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On
+the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to
+observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had
+just returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and, after bathing
+himself in cold water, and taking a slight repast, had retired to his
+study. He immediately arose, and went out upon an eminence, from whence
+he might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not
+at that distance discernible from what mountain the cloud issued, but it
+was found afterward to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give a more
+exact description of its figure than by comparing it to that of a pine
+tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a trunk, which
+extended itself at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I
+imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force
+of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being
+pressed back again by its own weight, and expanding in this manner: it
+appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was
+more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.
+
+"This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's philosophical
+curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be
+got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him.
+I rather chose to continue my studies, for, as it happened, he had given
+me an employment of that kind. As he was passing out of the house he
+received dispatches: the marines at Retina, terrified at the imminent
+peril (for the place lay beneath the mountain, and there was no retreat
+but by ships), entreated his aid in this extremity. He accordingly
+changed his first design, and what he began with a philosophical he
+pursued with an heroical turn of mind."
+
+
+THE VOYAGE TO STABIAE
+
+
+"He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board with
+an intention of assisting not only Retina but many other places, for the
+population is thick on that beautiful coast. When hastening to the place
+from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered a direct
+course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of
+mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion
+and figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh the mountain that
+the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached,
+fell into the ships, together with pumice-stones, and black pieces of
+burning rock; they were in danger of not only being left aground by the
+sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled
+down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore.
+
+"Here he stopped to consider whether he should return back again; to
+which the pilot advised him. 'Fortune,' said he, 'favors the brave;
+carry me to Pomponianus.' Pomponianus was then at Stabiae, separated by
+a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible windings, forms upon
+the shore. He (Pomponianus) had already sent his baggage on board; for
+though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being within view
+of it, and indeed extremely near, if it should in the least increase, he
+was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind should change. It was
+favorable, however, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he
+found in the greatest consternation. He embraced him with tenderness,
+encouraging and exhorting him to keep up his spirits; and the more to
+dissipate his fears he ordered, with an air of unconcern, the baths
+to be got ready; when, after having bathed, he sat down to supper with
+great cheerfulness, or at least (what is equally heroic) with all the
+appearance of it.
+
+"In the meantime, the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in several
+places with much violence, which the darkness of the night contributed
+to render still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order to
+soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only the
+burning of the villages, which the country people had abandoned to the
+flames; after this he retired to rest, and it was most certain he was so
+little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep; for, being pretty fat,
+and breathing hard, those who attended without actually heard him snore.
+The court which led to his apartment being now almost filled with stones
+and ashes, if he had continued there any longer it would have been
+impossible for him to have made his way out; it was thought proper,
+therefore, to awaken him. He got up and went to Pomponianus and the rest
+of his company, who were not unconcerned enough to think of going to
+bed. They consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust
+to the houses, which now shook from side to side with frequent and
+violent concussions; or to fly to the open fields, where the calcined
+stone and cinders, though light indeed, yet fell in large showers and
+threatened destruction. In this distress they resolved for the fields as
+the less dangerous situation of the two--a resolution which, while
+the rest of the company were hurried into it by their fears, my uncle
+embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration.
+
+
+DEATH OF PLINY THE ELDER
+
+
+"They went out, then, having pillows tied upon their heads with napkins;
+and this was their whole defence against the storm of stones that fell
+around them. It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness
+prevailed than in the most obscure night; which, however, was in some
+degree dissipated by torches and other lights of various kinds. They
+thought proper to go down further upon the shore, to observe if they
+might safely put out to sea; but they found that the waves still ran
+extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle, having drunk a draught or
+two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread for
+him, when immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur which
+was the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and
+obliged him to rise. He raised himself up with the assistance of two of
+his servants, and instantly fell down dead, suffocated, as I conjecture,
+by some gross and noxious vapor, having always had weak lungs, and being
+frequently subject to a difficulty of breathing.
+
+"As soon as it was light again, which was not till the third day after
+this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without any
+marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture as that in which
+he fell, and looking more like a man asleep than dead. During all this
+time my mother and I were at Misenum. But this has no connection with
+your history, as your inquiry went no farther than concerning my uncle's
+death; with that, therefore, I will put an end to my letter. Suffer me
+only to add, that I have faithfully related to you what I was either
+an eye-witness of myself, or received immediately after the accident
+happened, and before there was any time to vary the truth. You will
+choose out of this narrative such circumstances as shall be most
+suitable to your purpose; for there is a great difference between what
+is proper for a letter and a history: between writing to a friend and
+writing to the public. Farewell."
+
+In this account, which was drawn up some years after the event, from
+the recollections of a student eighteen years old, we recognize the
+continual earthquakes; the agitated sea with its uplifted bed; the
+flames and vapors of an ordinary eruption, probably attended by lava as
+well as ashes. But it seems likely that the author's memory, or rather
+the information communicated to him regarding the closing scene of
+Pliny's life, was defective. Flames and sulphurous vapors could hardly
+be actually present at Stabiae, ten miles from the centre of the
+eruption.
+
+That lava flowed at all from Vesuvius on this occasion has been usually
+denied; chiefly because at Pompeii and Herculaneum the causes of
+destruction were different--ashes overwhelmed the former, mud concreted
+over the latter. We observe, indeed, phenomena on the shore near Torre
+del Greco which seem to require the belief that currents of lava had
+been solidified there at some period before the construction of certain
+walls and floors, and other works of Roman date. In the Oxford Museum,
+among the specimens of lava to which the dates are assigned, is one
+referred to A. D. 79, but there is no mode of proving it to have
+belonged to the eruption of that date.
+
+
+PLINY'S SECOND LETTER
+
+
+A second letter from Pliny to Tacitus (Epist. 20) was required to
+satisfy the curiosity of that historian; especially as regards the
+events which happened under the eyes of his friend. Here it is according
+to Melmoth:
+
+"The letter which, in compliance with your request, I wrote to you
+concerning the death of my uncle, has raised, it seems, your curiosity
+to know what terrors and danger attended me while I continued at
+Misenum: for there, I think, the account in my former letter broke off.
+
+'Though my shocked soul recoils, my tongue shall tell.'
+
+"My uncle having left us, I pursued the studies which prevented my going
+with him till it was time to bathe. After which I went to supper, and
+from thence to bed, where my sleep was greatly broken and disturbed.
+There had been, for many days before, some shocks of an earthquake,
+which the less surprised us as they are extremely frequent in Campania;
+but they were so particularly violent that night, that they not only
+shook everything about us, but seemed, indeed, to threaten total
+destruction. My mother flew to my chamber, where she found me rising
+in order to awaken her. We went out into a small court belonging to the
+house, which separated the sea from the buildings. As I was at that time
+but eighteen years of age, I know not whether I should call my behavior,
+in this dangerous juncture, courage or rashness; but I took up Livy, and
+amused myself with turning over that author, and even making extracts
+from him, as if all about me had been in full security. While we were
+in this posture, a friend of my uncle's, who was just come from Spain to
+pay him a visit, joined us; and observing me sitting with my mother with
+a book in my hand, greatly condemned her calmness at the same time that
+he reproved me for my careless security. Nevertheless, I still went on
+with my author.
+
+"Though it was now morning, the light was exceedingly faint and languid;
+the buildings all around us tottered; and, though we stood upon open
+ground, yet as the place was narrow and confined, there was no remaining
+there without certain and great danger: we therefore resolved to quit
+the town. The people followed us in the utmost consternation, and, as to
+a mind distracted with terror every suggestion seems more prudent than
+its own, pressed in great crowds about us in our way out.
+
+"Being got to a convenient distance from the houses, we stood still, in
+the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots which
+we had ordered to be drawn out were so agitated backwards and forwards,
+though upon the most level ground, that we could not keep them steady,
+even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed to roll back
+upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the convulsive motion
+of the earth; it is certain at least that the shore was considerably
+enlarged, and many sea animals were left upon it. On the other side a
+black and dreadful cloud, bursting with an igneous serpentine vapor,
+darted out a long train of fire, resembling flashes of lightning, but
+much larger.
+
+
+FEAR VERSUS COMPOSURE
+
+
+"Upon this the Spanish friend whom I have mentioned, addressed himself
+to my mother and me with great warmth and earnestness; 'If your brother
+and your uncle,' said he, 'is safe, he certainly wishes you to be so
+too; but if he has perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might
+both survive him: why therefore do you delay your escape a moment?' We
+could never think of our own safety, we said, while we were uncertain
+of his. Hereupon our friend left us, and withdrew with the utmost
+precipitation. Soon afterward, the cloud seemed to descend, and cover
+the whole ocean; as it certainly did the island of Capreae, and the
+promontory of Misenum. My mother strongly conjured me to make my escape
+at any rate, which, as I was young, I might easily do; as for herself,
+she said, her age and corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort
+impossible. However, she would willingly meet death, if she could have
+the satisfaction of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I
+absolutely refused to leave her, and taking her by the hand, I led her
+on; she complied with great reluctance, and not without many reproaches
+to herself for retarding my flight.
+
+"The ashes now began to fall upon us, though in no great quantity. I
+turned my head and observed behind us a thick smoke, which came rolling
+after us like a torrent. I proposed, while we yet had any light, to turn
+out of the high road lest she should be pressed to death in the dark by
+the crowd that followed us. We had scarce stepped out of the path when
+darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or when there
+is no moon, but of a room when it is all shut up and all the lights
+are extinct. Nothing then was to be heard but the shrieks of women,
+the screams of children and the cries of men; some calling for their
+children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and only
+distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own fate,
+another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear
+of dying; some lifting their hands to the gods; but the greater part
+imagining that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy
+the gods and the world together. Among them were some who augmented the
+real terrors by imaginary ones, and made the frighted multitude believe
+that Misenum was actually in flames.
+
+"At length a glimmering light appeared, which we imagined to be rather
+the forerunner of an approaching burst of flames, as in truth it was,
+than the return of day. However, the fire fell at distance from us; then
+again we were immersed in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes
+rained upon us, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off,
+otherwise we should have been crushed and buried in the heap.
+
+"I might boast that, during all this scene of horror, not a sigh or
+expression of fear escaped me, had not my support been founded in that
+miserable, though strong, consolation that all mankind were involved in
+the same calamity, and that I imagined I was perishing with the world
+itself! At last this dreadful darkness was dissipated by degrees, like a
+cloud of smoke; the real day returned, and soon the sun appeared, though
+very faintly, and as when an eclipse is coming on. Every object that
+presented itself to our eyes (which were extremely weakened) seemed
+changed, being covered over with white ashes, as with a deep snow. We
+returned to Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as well as we could,
+and passed an anxious night between hope and fear, for the earthquake
+still continued, while several greatly excited people ran up and
+down, heightening their own and their friends' calamities by terrible
+predictions. However, my mother and I, notwithstanding the danger we had
+passed and that which still threatened us, had no thoughts of leaving
+the place till we should receive some account from my uncle.
+
+"And now you will read this narrative without any view of inserting it
+in your history, of which it is by no means worthy; and, indeed, you
+must impute it to your own request if it shall not even deserve the
+trouble of a letter. Farewell!"
+
+
+DION CASSIUS ON THE ERUPTION
+
+
+The story told by Pliny is the only one upon which we can rely. Dion
+Cassius, the historian, who wrote more than a century later, does not
+hesitate to use his imagination, telling us that Pompeii was buried
+under showers of ashes "while all the people were sitting in the
+theatre." This statement has been effectively made use of by Bulwer, in
+his "Last Days of Pompeii." In this he pictures for us a gladiatorial
+combat in the arena, with thousands of deeply interested spectators
+occupying the surrounding seats. The novelist works his story up to a
+thrilling climax in which the volcano plays a leading part.
+
+This is all very well as a vivid piece of fiction, but it does not
+accord with fact, since Dion Cassius was undoubtedly incorrect in his
+statement. We now know from the evidence furnished by the excavations
+that none of the people were destroyed in the theatres, and, indeed,
+that there were very few who did not escape from both cities. It is
+very likely that many of them returned and dug down for the most valued
+treasures in their buried habitations. Dion Cassius may have obtained
+the material for his accounts from the traditions of the descendants of
+survivors, and if so he shows how terrible must have been the impression
+made upon their minds. He assures us that during the eruption a
+multitude of men of superhuman nature appeared, sometimes on the
+mountain and sometimes in the environs, that stones and smoke were
+thrown out, the sun was hidden, and then the giants seemed to rise
+again, while the sounds of trumpets were heard.
+
+
+LAKE AVERNUS
+
+
+Not far from Vesuvius lay the famous Lake Avernus, whose name was long
+a popular synonym for the infernal regions. The lake is harmless to-day,
+but its reputation indicates that it was not always so. There is every
+reason to believe that it hides the outlet of an extinct volcano, and
+that long after the volcano ceased to be active it emitted gases as
+fatal to animal life as those suffocating vapors which annihilated all
+the cattle on the Island of Lancerote, in the Canaries, in the year
+1730. Its name signifies "birdless," indicating that its ascending
+vapors were fatal to all birds that attempted to fly above its surface.
+
+In the superstition of the Middle Ages Vesuvius assumed the character
+which had before been given to Avernus, and was regarded as the mouth of
+hell. Cardinal Damiano, in a letter to Pope Nicholas II., written about
+the year 1060 tells the story of how a priest, who had left his mother
+ill at Beneventum, went on his homeward way to Naples past the crater of
+Vesuvius, and heard issuing therefrom the voice of his mother in great
+agony. He afterward found that her death coincided exactly with the time
+at which he had heard her voice.
+
+A trip to the summit of Vesuvius is one of the principal attractions
+for strangers who are visiting Naples. There is a fascination about that
+awful slayer of cities which few can resist, and no less attractive
+is the city of Pompeii, now largely laid bare after being buried for
+eighteen centuries. We are indebted to Henry Haynie for the following
+interesting description: "Once seen, it will never be forgotten. It is
+full of suggestions. It kindles emotions that are worth the kindling,
+and brings on dreams that are worth the dreaming. Of the three places
+overwhelmed, Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae, the last scarcely repays
+excavation in one sense, and the first in another; but to watch the
+diggers at Pompeii is fascinating, even when there is no reasonable
+expectation of a find. Herculaneum was buried with lava, or rather with
+tufa, and it is so very hard that the expense of uncovering of only a
+small part of that city has been very great.
+
+
+HOW POMPEII IMPRESSES ITS VISITORS
+
+
+"Pompeii was smothered in ashes, however, and most of it is uncovered
+now. But while there is much that is fascinating, and all of it is
+instructive, there is nothing grand or awe-inspiring in the ruins of
+Pompeii. No visitor stands breathless as in the great hall of Karnak or
+in the once dreadful Coliseum at Rome, or dreams with sensuous delight
+as before the Jasmine Court at Agra.
+
+"The weirdness of the scene possesses us as a haunted chamber might. We
+have before us the narrow lanes, paved with tufa, in which Roman wagon
+wheels have worn deep ruts. We cross streets on stepping-stones which
+sandaled feet ages ago polished. We see the wine shops with empty jars,
+counters stained with liquor, stone mills where the wheat was ground,
+and the very ovens in which bread was baked more than eighteen centuries
+ago. 'Welcome' is offered us at one silent, broken doorway; at another
+we are warned to 'Beware of the dog!' The painted figures,--some of
+them so artistic and rich in colors that pictures of them are
+disbelieved,--the mosaic pavements, the empty fountains, the altars and
+household gods, the marble pillars and the small gardens are there just
+as the owners left them. Some of the walls are scribbled over by the
+small boys of Pompeii in strange characters which mock modern erudition.
+In places we read the advertisements of gladiatorial shows, never to
+come off, the names of candidates for legislative office who were never
+to sit. There is nothing like this elsewhere.
+
+"The value of Pompeii to those classic students who would understand,
+not the speech only, but the life and the every-day habits, of the
+ancient world, is too high for reckoning. Its inestimable evidence may
+be seen in the fact that any high-school boy can draw the plan of a
+Roman house, while ripest scholars hesitate on the very threshold of
+a Greek dwelling. This is because no Hellenic Pompeii has yet been
+discovered, but thanks to the silent city close to the beautiful Bay of
+Naples, the Latin house is known from ostium to porticus, from the front
+door to the back garden wall.
+
+
+STREETS AND HOUSES OF POMPEII
+
+
+"The streets of Pompeii must have had a charm unapproached by those
+of any city now in existence. The stores, indeed, were wretched little
+dens. Two or three of them commonly occupied the front of a house on
+either side of the entrance, the ostium; but when the door lay open, as
+was usually the case, a passerby could look into the atrium, prettily
+decorated and hung with rich stuffs. The sunshine entered through an
+aperture in the roof, and shone on the waters of the impluvium, the
+mosaic floor, the altar of the household gods and the flowers around the
+fountain.
+
+"As the life of the Pompeiians was all outdoors, their pretty homes
+stood open always. There was indeed a curtain betwixt the atrium and the
+peristyle, but it was drawn only when the master gave a banquet. Thus a
+wayfarer in the street could see, beyond the hall described and its
+busy servants, the white columns of the peristyle, with creepers trained
+about them, flowers all around, and jets of water playing through pipes
+which are still in place. In many cases the garden itself could be
+observed between the pillars of the further gallery, and rich paintings
+on the wall beyond that.
+
+"But how far removed those little palaces of Pompeii were from our
+notion of well-being is scarcely to be understood by one who has not
+seen them. It is a question strange in all points of view where the
+family slept in the houses, nearly all of which had no second story. In
+the most graceful villas the three to five sleeping chambers round the
+atrium and four round the peristyle were rather ornamental cupboards
+than aught else. One did not differ from another, and if these were
+devoted to the household the slaves, male and female, must have slept
+on the floor outside. The master, his family and his guest used these
+small, dark rooms, which were apparently without such common luxuries
+as we expect in the humblest home. All their furniture could hardly have
+been more than a bed and a footstool; but it should be remembered
+that the public bath was a daily amusement. The kitchen of each villa
+certainly was not furnished with such ingenuity, expense or thought as
+the stories of Roman gormandising would have led us to expect. In the
+house of the Aedile--so called from the fact that 'Pansam Aed.' is
+inscribed in red characters by the doorway--the cook seems to have been
+employed in frying eggs at the moment when increasing danger put him to
+flight. His range, four partitions of brick, was very small; a knife,
+a strainer, a pan lay by the fire just as they fell from the slave's
+hand."
+
+
+VALUE OF THE DISCOVERY OF POMPEII
+
+
+This description strongly presents to us the principal value of the
+discovery of Pompeii. Interesting as are the numerous works of art found
+in its habitations, and important as is their bearing upon some branches
+of the art of the ancient world, this cannot compare in interest with
+the flood of light which is here thrown on ancient life in all its
+details, enabling us to picture to ourselves the manners and habits of
+life of a cultivated and flourishing population at the beginning of the
+Christian era, to an extent which no amount of study of ancient history
+could yield.
+
+Looking upon the work of the volcano as essentially destructive, as
+we naturally do, we have here a valuable example of its power as a
+preservative agent; and it is certainly singular that it is to a
+volcano we owe much of what we know concerning the cities, dwellings and
+domestic life of the people of the Roman Empire.
+
+It would be very fortunate for students of antiquity if similar
+disasters had happened to cities in other ancient civilized lands,
+however unfortunate it might have been to their inhabitants. But
+doubtless we are better off without knowledge gained from ruins thus
+produced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Eruptions of Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli.
+
+
+Mount Vesuvius is of especial interest as being the only active volcano
+on the continent of Europe--all others of that region being on the
+islands of the Mediterranean--and for the famous ancient eruption
+described in the last chapter. Before this it had borne the reputation
+of being extinct, but since then it has frequently shown that its fires
+have not burned out, and has on several occasions given a vigorous
+display of its powers.
+
+During the fifteen hundred years succeeding the destructive event
+described eruptions were of occasional occurrence, though of no great
+magnitude. But throughout the long intervals when Vesuvius was at rest
+it was noted that Etna and Ischia were more or less disturbed.
+
+
+THE BIRTH OF MONTE NUOVO
+
+
+In 1538 a startling evidence was given that there was no decline of
+energy in the volcanic system of Southern Italy. This was the sudden
+birth of the mountain still known as Monte Nuovo, or New Mountain,
+which was thrown up in the Campania near Avernus, on the spot formerly
+occupied by the Lucrine Lake.
+
+For about two years prior to this event the district had been disturbed
+by earthquakes, which on September 27 and 28, 1538, became almost
+continuous. The low shore was slightly elevated, so that the sea
+retreated, leaving bare a strip about two hundred feet in width. The
+surface cracked, steam escaped, and at last, early on the morning of the
+29th, a greater rent was made, from which were vomited furiously "smoke,
+fire, stones and mud composed of ashes, making at the time of its
+opening a noise like the loudest thunder."
+
+The ejected material in less than twelve hours built the hill which has
+lasted substantially in the same form to our day. It is a noteworthy
+fact that since the formation of Monte Nuovo there has been no volcanic
+disturbance in any part of the Neapolitan district except in Vesuvius,
+which for five centuries previous had remained largely at rest.
+
+
+LAVA FROM VESUVIUS
+
+
+The first recognised appearance of lava in the eruptions of Vesuvius was
+in the violent eruption of 1036. This was succeeded at intervals by five
+other outbreaks, none of them of great energy. After 1500 the crater
+became completely quiet, the whole mountain in time being grown over
+with luxuriant vegetation, while by the next century the interior of the
+crater became green with shrubbery, indicating that no injurious gases
+were escaping.
+
+This was sleep, not death. In 1631 the awakening came in an eruption of
+terrible violence. Almost in a moment the green mantle of woodland and
+shrubbery was torn away and death and destruction left where peace and
+safety had seemed assured.
+
+Seven streams of lava poured from the crater and swept rapidly down the
+mountain side, leaving ruin along their paths. Resina, Granasello and
+Torre del Greco, three villages that had grown up during the period
+of quiescence, were more or less overwhelmed by the molten lava. Great
+torrents of hot water also poured out, adding to the work of desolation.
+It was estimated that eighteen thousand of the inhabitants were killed.
+
+What made the horror all the greater was a frightful error of judgment,
+similar to that of the Governor of Martinique at St. Pierre. The
+Governor of Torre del Greco had refused to be warned in time, and
+prevented the people from making their escape until it was too late.
+Not until the lava had actually reached the walls was the order for
+departure given. Before the order could be acted upon the molten streams
+burst through the walls into the crowded streets, and overwhelmed the
+vast majority of the inhabitants.
+
+In this violent paroxysm the whole top of the mountain is said to have
+been swept away, the new crater which took the place of the old one
+being greatly lowered. From that date Vesuvius has never been at rest
+for any long interval, and eruptions of some degree of violence
+have been rarely more than a few years apart. Of its various later
+manifestations of energy we select for description that of 1767, of
+which an interesting account by a careful observer is extant.
+
+
+GREAT ERUPTION OF 1767
+
+
+From the 10th of December, 1766, to March, 1767, Vesuvius was quiet;
+then it began to throw up stones from time to time. In April the throws
+were more frequent, and at night the red glare grew stronger on the
+cloudy columns which hung over the crater. These repeated throws of
+cinders, ashes and pumice-stones so much increased the small cone of
+eruption which had been left in the centre of the flat crateral space
+that its top became visible at a distance.
+
+On the 7th of August there issued a small stream of lava from a breach
+in the side of a small cone; the lava gradually filled the space between
+the cone and the crateral edge; on the 12th of September it overflowed
+the crater, and ran down the mountain. Stones were ejected which took
+ten seconds in their fall, from which it may be computed that the height
+which the stones reached was 1,600 feet. Padre Torre, a great observer
+of Vesuvius, says they went up above a thousand feet. The lava ceased
+on the 18th of October, but at 8 A. M. on the 19th it rushed out at a
+different place, after volleys of stones had been thrown to an immense
+height, and the huge traditional pine-tree of smoke reappeared. On this
+occasion that vast phantom extended its menacing shadow over Capri, at a
+distance of twenty-eight miles from Vesuvius.
+
+The lava at first came out of a mouth about one hundred yards below the
+crater, on the side toward Monte Somma. While occupied in viewing this
+current, the observer heard a violent noise within the mountain; saw it
+split open at the distance of a quarter of a mile, and saw from the new
+mouth a mountain of liquid fire shoot up many feet, and then, like a
+torrent, roll on toward him. The earth shook; stones fell thick around
+him; dense clouds of ashes darkened the air; loud thunders came from the
+mountain top, and he took to precipitate flight. The Padre's account is
+too lively and instructive for his own words to be omitted.
+
+
+PADRE TORRE'S NARRATIVE
+
+
+"I was making my observations upon the lava, which had already, from the
+spot where it first broke out, reached the valley, when, on a sudden,
+about noon, I heard a violent noise within the mountain, and at a spot
+about a quarter of a mile off the place where I stood the mountain
+split; and with much noise, from this new mouth, a fountain of liquid
+fire shot up many feet high, and then like a torrent rolled on directly
+towards us. The earth shook at the same time that a volley of stones
+fell thick upon us; in an instant clouds of black smoke and ashes caused
+almost a total darkness; the explosions from the top of the mountain
+were much louder than any thunder I ever heard, and the smell of the
+sulphur was very offensive. My guide, alarmed, took to his heels; and
+I must confess that I was not at my ease. I followed close, and we ran
+near three miles without stopping; as the earth continued to shake under
+our feet, I was apprehensive of the opening of a fresh mouth which might
+have cut off our retreat.
+
+"I also feared that the violent explosions would detach some of the
+rocks off the mountain of Somma, under which we were obliged to pass;
+besides, the pumice-stones, falling upon us like hail, were of such a
+size as to cause a disagreeable sensation in the part upon which they
+fell. After having taken breath, as the earth trembled greatly I thought
+it most prudent to leave the mountain and return to my villa, where I
+found my family in great alarm at the continual and violent explosions
+of the volcano, which shook our house to its very foundation, the doors
+and windows swinging upon their hinges.
+
+"About two of the clock in the afternoon (19th) another lava stream
+forced its way out of the same place from whence came the lava of last
+year, so that the conflagration was soon as great on this side of the
+mountain as on the other which I had just left. I observed on my way to
+Naples, which was in less than two hours after I had left the mountain,
+that the lava had actually covered three miles of the very road through
+which we had retreated. This river of lava in the Atrio del Cavallo was
+sixty or seventy feet deep, and in some places nearly two miles broad.
+Besides the explosions, which were frequent, there was a continued
+subterranean and violent rumbling noise, which lasted five hours in
+the night,--supposed to arise from contact of the lava with rain-water
+lodged in cavities within. The whole neighborhood was shaken violently;
+Portici and Naples were in the extremity of alarm; the churches were
+filled; the streets were thronged with processions of saints, and
+various ceremonies were performed to quell the fury of the mountain.
+
+"In the night of the 20th, the occasion being critical, the prisoners in
+the public jail attempted to escape, and the mob set fire to the gates
+of the residence of the Cardinal Archbishop because he refused to bring
+out the relics of St. Januarius. The 21st was a quieter day, but the
+whole violence of the eruption returned on the 22d, at 10 A. M., with
+the same thundering noise, but more violent and alarming. Ashes fell in
+abundance in the streets of Naples, covering the housetops and balconies
+an inch deep. Ships at sea, twenty leagues from Naples, were covered
+with them.
+
+"In the midst of these horrors, the mob, growing tumultuous and
+impatient, obliged the Cardinal to bring out the head of St. Januarius,
+at the extremity of Naples, toward Vesuvius; and it is well attested
+here that the eruption ceased the moment the saint came in sight of
+the mountain. It is true the noise ceased about that time after having
+lasted five hours, as it had done the preceding days.
+
+"On the 23d the lava still ran, but on the 24th it ceased; but smoke
+continued. On the 25th there rose a vast column of black smoke, giving
+out much forked lightning with thunder, in a sky quite clear except for
+the smoke of the volcano. On the 26th smoke continued, but on the 27th
+the eruption came to an end."
+
+This eruption was also described by Sir William Hamilton, who continued
+to keep a close watch on the movements of the volcano for many years.
+The next outbreak of especial violence took place in 1779, when what
+seemed to the eye a column of fire ascended two miles high, while cinder
+fragments fell far and wide, destroying the hopes of harvest throughout
+a wide district. They fell in abundance thirty miles distant, and the
+dust of the explosion was carried a hundred miles away.
+
+In 1793 the crater became active again, and in 1794 after a period of
+short tranquillity or comparative inaction, the mountain again became
+agitated, and one of the most formidable eruptions known in the history
+of Vesuvius began. It was in some respects unlike many others, being
+somewhat peculiar as to the place of its outburst, the temperature of
+the lava, and the course of the current. Breislak, an Italian geologist,
+observed the characteristic phenomena with the eye of science, and his
+account supplies many interesting facts.
+
+
+BREISLAK ON THE ERUPTION OF 1794
+
+
+Breislak remarked certain changes in the character of the earth's
+motions during this six hours' eruption, which led him to some
+particular conjecture of the cause. At the beginning the trembling was
+continual, and accompanied by a hollow noise, similar to that occasioned
+by a river falling into a subterranean cavern. The lava, at the time
+of its being disgorged, from the impetuous and uninterrupted manner in
+which it was ejected, causing it to strike violently against the walls
+of the vent, occasioned a continual oscillation of the mountain. Toward
+the middle of the night this vibratory motion ceased, and was succeeded
+by distant shocks. The fluid mass, diminished in quantity, now pressed
+less violently against the walls of the aperture, and no longer issued
+in a continual and gushing stream, but only at intervals, when the
+interior fermentation elevated the boiling matter above the mouth. About
+4 A. M. the shocks began to be less numerous, and the intervals between
+them rendered their force and duration more perceptible.
+
+During this tremendous eruption at the base of the Vesuvian cone, and
+the fearful earthquakes which accompanied it, the summit was tranquil.
+The sky was serene, the stars were brilliant, and only over Vesuvius
+hung a thick, dark smoke-cloud, lighted up into an auroral arch by the
+glare of a stream of fire more than two miles long, and more than a
+quarter of a mile broad. The sea was calm, and reflected the red glare;
+while from the source of the lava came continual jets of uprushing
+incandescent stones. Nearer to view, Torre del Greco in flames, and
+clouds of black smoke, with falling houses, presented a dark and
+tragical foreground, heightened by the subterranean thunder of the
+mountain, and the groans and lamentations of fifteen thousand ruined
+men, women and children.
+
+The heavy clouds of ashes which were thrown out on this occasion
+gathered in the early morning into a mighty shadow over Naples and the
+neighborhood; the sun rose pale and obscure, and a long, dim twilight
+reigned afterward.
+
+Such were the phenomena on the western side of Vesuvius. They were
+matched by others on the eastern aspect, not visible at Naples, except
+by reflection of their light in the atmosphere. The lava on this side
+flowed eastward, along a route often traversed by lava, by the broken
+crest of the Cognolo and the valley of Sorienta. The extreme length to
+which this current reached was not less than an Italian mile. The cubic
+content was estimated to be half that already assigned to the western
+currents. Taken together they amounted to 20,744,445 cubic metres, or
+2,804,440 cubic fathoms; the constitution of the lava being the same in
+each, both springing from one deep-seated reservoir of fluid rock.
+
+The eruption of lava ceased on the 16th, and then followed heavy
+discharges of ashes, violent shocks of earthquakes, thunder and
+lightning in the columns of vapors and ashes, and finally heavy rains,
+lasting till the 3d of July. The barometer during all the eruption was
+steady.
+
+Breislak made an approximate calculation of the quantity of ashes which
+fell on Vesuvius during this great eruption, and states the result as
+equal to what would cover a circular area 6 kilometres (about 3 1/2
+English miles) in radius, and 39 centimetres (about 15 inches) in depth.
+
+
+STRANGE EFFECTS
+
+
+Among the notable things which attended this eruption, it is recorded
+that in Torre del Greco metallic and other substances exposed to
+the current were variously affected. Silver was melted, glass became
+porcelain, iron swelled to four times its volume and lost its texture.
+Brass was decomposed, and its constituent copper crystallized in
+cubic and octahedral forms aggregated in beautiful branches. Zinc was
+sometimes turned to blende. During the eruption, the lip of the crater
+toward Bosco Tre Case on the south east, fell in, or was thrown off, and
+the height of that part was reduced 426 feet.
+
+On the 17th, the sea was found in a boiling state 100 yards off the new
+promontory made by the lava of Torre del Greco, and no boat could remain
+near it on account of the melting of the pitch in her bottom. For nearly
+a month after the eruption vast quantities of fine white ashes, mixed
+with volumes of steam, were thrown out from the crater; the clouds
+thus generated were condensed into heavy rain, and large tracts of the
+Vesuvian slopes were deluged with volcanic mud. It filled ravines, such
+as Fosso Grande, and concreted and hardened there into pumiceous tufa--a
+very instructive phenomenon.
+
+Immense injury was done to the rich territory of Somma, Ottajano and
+Bosco by heavy rains, which swept along cinders, broke up the road and
+bridges, and overturned trees and houses for the space of fifteen days.
+
+There were few years during the nineteenth century in which Vesuvius did
+not show symptoms of its internal fires, and at intervals it manifested
+much activity, though not equaling the terrible eruptions of its past
+history. The severest eruptions in that century were those of 1871 and
+1876. In the first a sudden emission of lava killed twenty spectators at
+the mouth of the crater, and only spent its fury after San Sebastian and
+Massa had been well nigh annihilated. Fragments of rock were thrown up
+to the height of 4,000 feet, and the explosions were so violent that
+the whole countryside fled panic stricken to Naples. The activity of
+the volcano, accompanied by distinct shocks of earthquake, lasted for a
+week.
+
+In 1876, for three weeks together, lava streamed down the side of
+Vesuvius, sweeping away the village of Cercolo and running nearly to the
+sea at Ponte Maddaloni. There were then formed ten small craters within
+the greater one. But these were united by a later eruption in 1888, and
+pressure from beneath formed a vast cone where they had been.
+
+
+HARDIHOOD OF THE PEOPLE
+
+
+It may seem strange that so dangerous a neighborhood should be
+inhabited. But so it is. Though Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae lie
+buried beneath the mud and ashes belched out of the mouth of Vesuvius,
+the villages of Portici and Revina, Torre del Greco and Torre del
+Annunziata have taken their place, and a large population, cheerful
+and prosperous, flourishes around the disturbed mountain and over the
+district of which it is the somewhat untrustworthy safety-valve.
+
+It is thus that man, in his eagerness to cultivate all available parts
+of the earth, dares the most frightful perils and ventures into the most
+threatening situations, seeking to snatch the means of life from
+the very jaws of death. The danger is soon forgotten, the need of
+cultivation of the ground is ever pressing, and no threats of peril seem
+capable of restraining the activity of man for many years. Though the
+proposition of abandoning the Island of Martinique has been seriously
+considered, the chances are that, before many years have passed, a
+cheerful and busy population will be at work again on the flanks of Mont
+Pelee.
+
+
+MOUNT ETNA
+
+
+On the eastern coast of the Island of Sicily, and not far from the
+sea, rises in solitary grandeur Mount Etna, the largest and highest of
+European volcanoes. Its height above the level of the sea is a little
+over 10,870 feet, considerably above the limit of perpetual snow.
+It accordingly presents the striking phenomenon of volcanic vapors
+ascending from a snow-clad summit. The base of the mountain is
+eighty-seven miles in circumference, and nearly circular; but there is
+a wide additional extent all around overspread by its lava. The lower
+portions of the mountain are exceedingly fertile, and richly adorned
+with corn-fields, vineyards, olive-groves and orchards. Above this
+region are extensive forests, chiefly of oak, chestnut, and pine, with
+here and there clumps of cork-trees and beech. In this forest region are
+grassy glades, which afford rich pasture to numerous flocks. Above the
+forest lies a volcanic desert, covered with black lava and slag. Out of
+this region, which is comparatively flat rises the principal cone, about
+1,100 feet in height, having on its summit the crater, whence sulphurous
+vapors are continually evolved.
+
+The great height of Etna has exerted a remarkable influence on its
+general conformation: for the volcanic forces have rarely been of
+sufficient energy to throw the lava quite up to the crater at the
+summit. The consequence has been, that numerous subsidiary craters and
+cones have been formed all around the flanks of the mountain, so that it
+has become rather a cluster of volcanoes than a single volcanic cone.
+
+The eruptions of this mountain have been numerous, records of them
+extending back to several centuries before the Christian era, while
+unrecorded ones doubtless took place much further back. After the
+beginning of the Christian era, and more especially after the breaking
+forth of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., Etna enjoyed longer intervals of repose.
+Its eruptions since that time have nevertheless been numerous--more
+especially during the intervals when Vesuvius was inactive--there being
+a sort of alternation between the periods of great activity of the two
+mountains; although there are not a few instances of their having been
+both in action at the same time.
+
+
+SIMILARITY IN ETNA'S ERUPTIONS
+
+
+There is a great similarity in the character of the eruptions of Etna.
+Earthquakes presage the outburst, loud explosions follow, rifts and
+bocche del fuoco open in the sides of the mountain; smoke, sand, ashes
+and scoriae are discharged, the action localizes itself in one or more
+craters, cinders are thrown up and accumulate around the crater and
+cone, ultimately lava rises and frequently breaks down one side of the
+cone where the resistance is least; then the eruption is at an end.
+
+Smyth says: "The symptoms which precede an eruption are generally
+irregular clouds of smoke, ferilli or volcanic lightnings, hollow
+intonations and local earthquakes that often alarm the surrounding
+country as far as Messina, and have given the whole province the name
+of Val Demone, as being the abode of infernal spirits. These agitations
+increase until the vast cauldron becomes surcharged with the fused
+minerals, when, if the convulsion is not sufficiently powerful to force
+them from the great crater (which, from its great altitude and the
+weight of the candent matter, requires an uncommon effort), they explode
+through that part of the side which offers the least resistance with a
+grand and terrific effect, throwing red-hot stones and flakes of fire to
+an incredible height, and spreading ignited cinders and ashes in every
+direction."
+
+After the eruption of ashes, lava frequently follows, sometimes rising
+to the top of the cone of cinders, at others disrupting it on the least
+resisting side. When the lava has reached the base of the cone it begins
+to flow down the mountain, and, being then in a very fluid state, it
+moves with great velocity. As it cools, the sides and surface begin to
+harden, its velocity decreases, and after several days it moves only
+a few yards an hour. The internal portions, however, part slowly with
+their heat, and months after the eruption clouds of steam arise from the
+black and externally cold lava-beds after rain; which, having penetrated
+through the cracks, has found its way to the heated mass within.
+
+
+THE ERUPTION OF 1669
+
+
+The most memorable of the eruptions of Etna was that which elevated the
+double cone of Monte Rossi and destroyed a large part of the city
+of Catania. It happened in the year 1669, and was preceded by an
+earthquake, which overthrew the town of Nicolosi, situated ten miles
+inland from Catania, and about twenty miles from the top of Etna. The
+eruption began with the sudden opening of an enormous fissure, extending
+from a little way above Nicolosi to within about a mile of the top of
+the principal cone, its length being twelve miles, its average breadth
+six feet, its depth unknown.
+
+We have a more detailed account of this eruption than of any preceding
+one, as it was observed by men of science from various countries. The
+account from which we select is that of Alfonso Borelli, Professor of
+Mathematics in Catania.
+
+From the fissure above mentioned, he says, there came a bright light.
+Six mouths opened in a line with it and emitted vast columns of smoke,
+accompanied by loud bellowings which could be heard forty miles off.
+Towards the close of the day a crater opened about a mile below the
+others, which ejected red-hot stones to a considerable distance, and
+afterward sand and ashes which covered the country for a distance of
+sixty miles. The new crater soon vomited forth a torrent of lava which
+presented a front of two miles; it encircled Monpilieri, and afterward
+flowed towards Belpasso, a town of 8,000 inhabitants, which was speedily
+destroyed. Seven mouths of fire opened around the new crater, and
+in three days united with it, forming one large crater 800 feet in
+diameter. All this time the torrent of lava continued to descend, it
+destroying the town of Mascalucia on the 23d of March. On the same day
+the crater cast up great quantities of sand, ashes and scoriae, and
+formed above itself the great double-coned hill now called Monte Rossi,
+from the red color of the ashes of which it is mainly composed.
+
+
+VILLAGES AND CITIES BURIED
+
+
+On the 25th very violent earthquakes occurred, and the cone above the
+great central crater was shaken down into the crater for the fifth time
+since the first century A. D. The original current of lava divided
+into three streams, one of which destroyed San Pietro, the second
+Camporotondo, and the third the lands about Mascalucia and afterward the
+village of Misterbianco. Fourteen villages were altogether destroyed,
+and the lava flowed toward Catania. At Albanelli, two miles from the
+city, it undermined a hill covered with cornfields and carried it
+forward a considerable distance. A vineyard was also seen to be floating
+on its fiery surface. When the lava reached the walls of Catania, it
+accumulated without progression until it rose to the top of the wall, 60
+feet in height, and it then fell over in a fiery cascade and overwhelmed
+a part of the city. Another portion of the same stream threw down 120
+feet of the wall and flowed into the city.
+
+On the 23d of April the lava reached the sea, which it entered as a
+stream 600 yards broad and 40 feet deep. The stream had moved at the
+rate of thirteen miles in twenty days, but as it cooled it moved
+less quickly, and during the last twenty-three days of its course, it
+advanced only two miles. On reaching the sea the water, of course,
+began to boil violently, and clouds of steam arose, carrying with them
+particles of scoriae. Towards the end of April the stream on the west
+side of Catania, which had appeared to be consolidated, again burst
+forth, and flowed into the garden of the Benedictine Monastery of San
+Niccola, and then branched off into the city. Attempts were made to
+build walls to arrest its progress.
+
+An attempt of another kind was made by a gentleman of Catania, named
+Pappalardo, who took fifty men with him, having previously provided them
+with skins for protection from the intense heat and with crowbars to
+effect an opening in the lava. They pierced the solid outer crust of
+solidified lava, and a rivulet of the molten interior immediately gushed
+out and flowed in the direction of Paterno, whereupon 500 men of that
+town, alarmed for its safety, took up arms and caused Pappalardo and his
+men to desist. The lava did not altogether stop for four months, and two
+years after it had ceased to flow it was found to be red hot beneath the
+surface. Even eight years after the eruption quantities of steam escaped
+from the lava after a shower of rain.
+
+
+THE STONES EJECTED
+
+
+The stones which were ejected from the crater during this eruption
+were often of considerable magnitude, and Borelli calculated that the
+diameter of one which he saw was 50 feet; it was thrown to a distance
+of a mile, and as it fell it penetrated the earth to a depth of 23 feet.
+The volume of lava emitted during the eruption amounted to many millions
+of cubic feet. Ferara considers that the length of the stream was at
+least fifteen miles, while its average width was between two and three
+miles, so that it covered at least forty square miles of surface.
+
+Among the towns overflowed by this great eruption was Mompilieri.
+Thirty-five years afterward, in 1704, an excavation was made on the site
+of the principal church of this place, and at the depth of thirty-five
+feet the workmen came upon the gate, which was adorned with three
+statues. From under an arch which had been formed by the lava, one
+of these statues, with a bell and some coins, were extracted in good
+preservation. This fact is remarkable; for in a subsequent eruption,
+which happened in 1766, a hill about fifty feet in height, being
+surrounded on either side by two streams of lava, was in a quarter of
+an hour swept along by the current. The latter event may be explained by
+supposing that the hill in question was cavernous in its structure,
+and that the lava, penetrating into the cavities, forced asunder their
+walls, and so detached the superincumbent mass from its supports.
+
+It is not by its streams of fire alone that Etna ravages the valleys and
+plains at its base. It sometimes also deluges them with great floods of
+water. On the 2d of March, 1755, two streams of lava, issuing from the
+highest crater, were at once precipitated on an enormous mass of very
+deep snow, which then clothed the summit. These fiery currents ran
+through the snow to a distance of three miles, melting it as they
+flowed. The consequence was, that a tremendous torrent of water rushed
+down the sides of the mountain, carrying with it vast quantities of
+sand, volcanic cinders and blocks of lava, with which it overspread the
+flanks of the mountain and the plains beneath, which it devastated in
+its course.
+
+The volume of water was estimated at 16,000,000 cubic feet, it forming
+a channel two miles broad and in some places thirty-four feet deep,
+and flowing at the rate of two-thirds of a mile in a minute. All the
+winter's snow on the mountain could not have yielded such a flood,
+and Lyell considered that it melted older layers of ice which had been
+preserved under a covering of volcanic dust.
+
+
+ETNA IN 1819
+
+
+Another great eruption took place in 1819, which presented some
+peculiarities. Near the point whence the highest stream of lava
+issued in 1811, there were opened three large mouths, which, with loud
+explosions, threw up hot cinders and sand, illuminated by a strong glare
+from beneath. Shortly afterwards there was opened, a little lower down,
+another mouth, from which a similar eruption took place; and still
+farther down there soon appeared a fifth, whence there flowed a torrent
+of lava which rapidly spread itself over the Val del Bove. During the
+first forty-eight hours it flowed nearly four miles, when it received a
+great accession. The three original mouths became united into one large
+crater, from which, as well as from the other two mouths below, there
+poured forth a vastly augmented torrent of lava, which rushed with great
+impetuosity down the same valley.
+
+During its progress over this gentle slope, it acquired the usual crust
+of hardened slag. It directed its course towards that point at which Val
+del Bove opens into the narrow ravine beneath it--there being between
+the two a deep and almost perpendicular precipice. Arrived at this
+point, the lava-torrent leaped over the precipice in a vast cascade, and
+with a thundering noise, arising chiefly from the crashing and breaking
+up of the solid crust, which was in a great measure pounded to atoms by
+the fall; it throwing up such vast clouds of dust as to awaken an alarm
+that a fresh eruption had begun at this place, which is within the
+wooded region.
+
+A very violent eruption, which lasted more than nine months, commenced
+on the 21st of August, 1852. It was first witnessed by a party of
+English tourists, who were ascending the mountain from Nicolosi in order
+to see the sunrise from the summit. As they approached the Casa Inglesi
+the crater commenced to give forth ashes and flames of fire. In a narrow
+defile they were met by a violent hurricane, which overthrew both the
+mules and their riders, and urged them toward the precipices of the Val
+del Bove. They sheltered themselves beneath some masses of lava, when
+suddenly an earthquake shook the mountain, and their mules in terror
+fled away. As day approached they returned on foot to Nicolosi,
+fortunately without having sustained injury. In the course of the night
+many bocche del fuoco (small lava vents) opened in that part of the Val
+del Bove called the Bazo di Trifoglietto, a great fissure opened at the
+base of the Giannicola Grande, and a crater was thrown up from which for
+seventeen days showers of sand and scoriae were ejected.
+
+
+EFFECT OF THE ERUPTION
+
+
+During the next day a quantity of lava flowed down the Val del
+Bove, branching off so that one stream advanced to the foot of Monte
+Finocchio, and the other to Monte Calanna. Afterwards it flowed towards
+Zaffarana, and devastated a large tract of wooded region. Four days
+later a second crater was formed near the first, from which lava was
+emitted, together with sand and scoriae, which caused cones to arise
+around the craters. The lava moved but slowly, and towards the end of
+August it came to a stand, only a quarter of a mile from Zaffarana.
+
+On the second of September, Gemellaro ascended Monte Finocchio in the
+Val del Bove in order to witness the outburst. He states that the hill
+was violently agitated, like a ship at sea. The surface of the Val
+del Bove appeared like a molten lake; scoriae were thrown up from the
+craters to a great height, and loud explosions were heard at frequent
+intervals. The eruption continued to increase in violence. On October
+6 two new mouths opened in the Val del Bove, emitting lava which flowed
+towards the valley of Calanna, and fell over the Salto della Giumenta,
+a precipice nearly 200 feet deep. The noise which it produced was like
+that of a clash of metallic masses. The eruption continued with abated
+violence during the early months of 1853, and it did not finally cease
+till May 27. The entire mass of lava ejected is estimated to have been
+equal to an area six miles long by two miles broad, with an average
+depth of about twelve feet.
+
+This eruption was one of the grandest of all the known eruptions of
+Etna. During its outflow more than 2,000,000,000 cubic feet of molten
+lava was spread out over a space of three square miles. There have been
+several eruptions since its date, but none of marked prominence, though
+the mountain is rarely quiescent for any lengthened period.
+
+
+THE LIPARI VOLCANOES
+
+
+South-eastward of Ischia, between Calabria and Sicily, the Lipari
+Islands arrest attention for the volcanic phenomena they present. On
+one of these is Mount Vulcano, or Volcano, from which all this class of
+mountains is named. At present the best known of the Lipari volcanoes
+is Stromboli, which consists of a single mountain, having a very obtuse
+conical form. It has on one side of it several small craters, of which
+only one is at present in a state of activity.
+
+The total height of the mountain is about 2000 feet, and the principal
+crater is situated at about two-thirds of the height. Stromboli is one
+of the most active volcanoes in the world. It is mentioned as being in
+a state of activity by several writers before the Christian era, and the
+commencement of its operations extends into the past beyond the limits
+of tradition. Since history began its action has never wholly ceased,
+although it may have varied in intensity from time to time.
+
+It has been observed that the violence of its eruptive force has a
+certain dependence on the weather--being always most intense when the
+barometer is lowest. From the position of the crater, it is possible to
+ascend the mountain and look down upon it from above. Even when viewed
+in this manner, it presents a very striking appearance. While there is
+an uninterrupted continuance of small explosions, there is a frequent
+succession of more violent eruptions, at intervals varying in length
+from seven to fifteen minutes.
+
+
+HOFFMAN AT STROMBOLI
+
+
+Several eminent observers have approached quite close to the crater,
+and examined it narrowly. One of these was M. Hoffman, who visited it in
+1828.
+
+This eminent geologist, while having his legs held by his companions,
+stretched his head over the precipice, and, looking right down into the
+mouth of one of the vents of the crater immediately under him, watched
+the play of liquid lava within it. Its surface resembled molten silver,
+and was constantly rising and falling at regular intervals. A bubble of
+white vapor rose and escaped, with a decrepitating noise, at each ascent
+of the lava--tossing up red-hot fragments of scoria, which continued
+dancing up and down with a sort of rhythmic play upon the surface.
+At intervals of fifteen minutes or so, there was a pause in these
+movements. Then followed a loud report, while the ground trembled, and
+there rose to the surface of the lava an immense bubble of vapor. This,
+bursting with a crackling noise, threw out to the height of about 1200
+feet large quantities of red-hot stones and scoriae, which, describing
+parabolic curves, fell in a fiery, shower all around. After another
+brief repose, the more moderate action was resumed as before.
+
+Lipari, a neighboring volcano, was formerly more active than Stromboli,
+though for centuries past it has been in a state of complete quiescence.
+The Island of Volcano lies south of Lipari. Its crater was active before
+the Christian era, and still emits sulphurous and other vapors. At
+present its main office is to serve as a sulphur mine. Thus the peak
+which gives title to all fire-breathing mountains has become a servant
+to man. So are the mighty fallen!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Skaptar Jokull and Hecla, the Great Icelandic Volcanoes.
+
+
+The far-northern island of Iceland, on the verge of the frozen Arctic
+realm, is one of the most volcanic countries in the world, whether we
+regard the number of volcanoes concentrated in so small a space, or the
+extraordinary violence of their eruptions. Of volcanic mountains there
+are no less than twenty which have been active during historical times.
+Skaptar in the north, and Hecla in the south, being much the best known.
+In all, twenty-three eruptions are on record.
+
+Iceland's volcanoes rival Mount Aetna in height and magnitude, their
+action has been more continuous and intense, and the range of volcanic
+products is far greater than in Sicily. The latter island, indeed, is
+not one-tenth of volcanic origin, while the whole of Iceland is due
+to the work of subterranean forces. It is entirely made up of volcanic
+rocks, and has seemingly been built up during the ages from the depths
+of the seas. It is reported, indeed, that a new island, the work
+of volcanic forces, appeared opposite Mount Hecla in 1563; but this
+statement is open to doubt.
+
+
+VOLCANOES IN ICELAND
+
+
+The eruptions of the volcanoes in Iceland have been amongst the most
+terrible of those carefully recorded. The cold climate of the island
+and the height of the mountains produce vast quantities of snow and ice,
+which cover the volcanoes and fill up the cracks and valleys in their
+sides. When, therefore, an eruption commences, the intense heat of the
+boiling lava, and of the steam which rushes forth from the crater, makes
+the whole mountain hot, and vast masses of ice, great fields of snow,
+and deluges of water roll down the hill-sides into the plains. The lava
+pours from the top and from cracks in the side of the mountain, or is
+ejected hundreds of feet, to fall amongst the ice and snow; and the
+great masses of red-hot stone cast forth, accompanied by cinders and
+fine ashes, splash into the roaring torrent, which tears up rocks in its
+course and devastates the surrounding country for miles.
+
+
+DREADFUL FLOODS
+
+
+An eruption of Kotlugja, in 1860, was accompanied by dreadful floods. It
+began with a number of earthquakes, which shook the surrounding country.
+Then a dark columnar cloud of vapor was seen to rise by day from the
+mountain, and by night balls of fire (volcanic bombs) and red-hot
+cinders to the height of 24,000 feet (nearly five miles), which were
+seen at a distance of 180 miles. Deluges of water rushed from the
+heights, bearing along whole fields of ice and rocky fragments of every
+size, some vomited from the volcano, but in great part torn from the
+flanks of the mountain itself and carried to the sea, there to add
+considerably to the coastline after devastating the intervening country.
+The fountain of volcanic bombs consisted of masses of lava, containing
+gases which exploded and produced a loud sound, which was said to have
+been heard at a distance of 100 miles. The size of the bombs, and the
+height to which they must have reached, were very great. But the most
+remarkable of the historical eruptions in Iceland were those of Skaptar
+Jokull in 1783, and of Hecla in 1845. Of these an extended description
+is worthy of being given.
+
+Of these two memorable eruptions, that of Skaptar Jokull began on the
+11th of June, 1783. It was preceded by a long series of earthquakes,
+which had become exceedingly violent immediately before the eruption. On
+the 8th, volcanic vapors were emitted from the summit of the mountain,
+and on the 11th immense torrents of lava began to be poured forth from
+numerous mouths. These torrents united to form a large stream, which,
+flowing down into the river Skapta, not only dried it up, but completely
+filled the vast gorge through which the river had held its course. This
+gorge, 200 feet in breadth, and from 400 to 600 feet in depth, the lava
+filled so entirely as to overflow to a considerable extent the fields
+on either side. On issuing from this ravine, the lava flowed into a deep
+lake which lay in the course of the river. Here it was arrested for a
+while; but it ultimately filled the bed of the lake altogether--either
+drying up its waters, or chasing them before it into the lower part of
+the river's course. Still forced onward by the accumulation of molten
+lava from behind, the stream resumed its advance, till it reached
+some ancient volcanic rocks which were full of caverns. Into these it
+entered, and where it could not eat its way by melting the old rock,
+it forced a passage by shivering the solid mass and throwing its broken
+fragments into the air to a height of 150 feet.
+
+
+A TORRENT OF LAVA
+
+
+On the 18th of June there opened above the first mouth a second of large
+dimensions, whence poured another immense torrent of lava, which flowed
+with great rapidity over the solidified surface of the first stream, and
+ultimately combined with it to form a more formidable main current. When
+this fresh stream reached the fiery lake, which had filled the lower
+portion of the valley of the Skapta, a portion of it was forced up the
+channel of that river towards the foot of the hill whence it takes its
+rise. After pursuing its course for several days, the main body of this
+stream reached the edge of a great waterfall called Stapafoss, which
+plunged into a deep abyss. Displacing the water, the lava here leaped
+over the precipice, and formed a great cataract of fire. After this, it
+filled the channel of the river, though extending itself in breadth far
+beyond it, and followed it until it reached the sea.
+
+
+ENORMOUS QUANTITY OF LAVA
+
+
+The 3rd of August brought fresh accessions to the flood of lava still
+pouring from the mountain. There being no room in the channel, now
+filled by the former lurid stream, which had pursued a northwesterly
+course, the fresh lava was forced to take a new direction towards the
+southeast, where it entered the bed of another river with a barbaric
+name. Here it pursued a course similar to that which flowed through the
+channel of the Skapta, filling up the deep gorges, and then spreading
+itself out into great fiery lakes over the plains.
+
+The eruptions of lava from the mountain continued, with some short
+intervals, for two years, and so enormous was the quantity poured forth
+during this period that, according to a careful estimate which has been
+made, the whole together would form a mass equal to that of Mont Blanc.
+Of the two streams, the greater was fifty, the less forty, miles in
+length. The Skapta branch attained on the plains a breadth varying from
+twelve to fifteen miles--that of the other was only about half as much.
+Each of the currents had an average depth of 100 feet, but in the
+deep gorges it was no less than 600 feet. Even as late as 1794 vapors
+continued to rise from these great streams, and the water contained in
+the numerous fissures formed in their crust was hot.
+
+The devastation directly wrought by the lava currents themselves was
+not the whole of the evils they brought upon unfortunate Iceland and
+its inhabitants. Partly owing to the sudden melting of the snows and
+glaciers of the mountain, partly owing to the stoppage of the
+river courses, immense floods of water deluged the country in
+the neighborhood, destroying many villages and a large amount of
+agricultural and other property. Twenty villages were overwhelmed by the
+lava currents, while the ashes thrown out during the eruption covered
+the whole island and the surface of the sea for miles around its
+shores. On several occasions the ashes were drifted by the winds over
+considerable parts of the European continent, obscuring the sun and
+giving the sky a gray and gloomy aspect. In certain respects they
+reproduced the phenomena of the explosion of Mount Krakatoa, which,
+singularly, occurred just a century later, in 1883. The strange red
+sunset phenomena of the latter were reproduced by this Icelandic event
+of the eighteenth century.
+
+Out of the 50,000 persons who then inhabited Iceland, 9,336 perished,
+together with 11,460 head of cattle, 190,480 sheep and 28,000 horses.
+This dreadful destruction of life was caused partly by the direct action
+of the lava currents, partly by the noxious vapors they emitted, partly
+by the floods of water, partly by the destruction of the herbage by the
+falling ashes, and lastly in consequence of the desertion of the coasts
+by the fish, which formed a large portion of the food of the people.
+
+
+ERUPTION OF MOUNT HECLA
+
+
+After this frightful eruption, no serious volcanic disturbance took
+place in Iceland until 1845, when Mount Hecla again became disastrously
+active. Mount Hecla has been the most frequent in its eruptions of any
+of the Icelandic volcanoes. Previous to 1845 there had been twenty-two
+recorded eruptions of this mountain, since the discovery of Iceland
+in the ninth century; while from all the other volcanoes in the island
+there had been only twenty during the same period. Hecla has more than
+once remained in activity for six years at a time--a circumstance that
+has rendered it the best known of the volcanoes of this region.
+
+
+LATER OUTBREAKS
+
+
+After enjoying a long rest of seventy-nine years, this volcano burst
+again into violent activity in the beginning of September, 1845. The
+first inkling of this eruption was conveyed to the British Islands by
+a fall of volcanic ashes in the Orkneys, which occurred on the night
+of September 2nd during a violent storm. This palpable hint was
+soon confirmed by direct intelligence from Copenhagen. On the 1st
+of September a severe earthquake, followed the same night by fearful
+subterranean noises, alarmed the inhabitants and gave warning of what
+was to come. About noon the next day, with a dreadful crash, there
+opened in the sides of the volcano two new mouths, whence two great
+streams of glowing lava poured forth. They fortunately flowed down the
+northern and northwestern sides of the mountain, where the low grounds
+are mere barren heaths, affording a scanty pasture for a few sheep.
+These were driven before the fiery stream, but several of them were
+burnt before they could escape. The whole mountain was enveloped in
+clouds of volcanic ashes and vapors. The rivers near the lava currents
+became so hot as to kill the fish, and to be impassable even on
+horseback.
+
+About a fortnight later there was a fresh eruption, of greater violence,
+which lasted twenty-two hours, and was accompanied by detonations so
+loud as to be heard over the whole island. Two new craters were formed,
+one on the southern, the other on the eastern slope of the cone. The
+lava issuing from these craters flowed to a distance of more than
+twenty-two miles. At about two miles from its source the fiery stream
+was a mile wide, and from 40 to 50 feet deep. It destroyed a large
+extent of fine pasture and many cattle. Nearly a month later, on the
+15th of October, a fresh flood of lava burst from the southern crater,
+and soon heaped up a mass at the foot of the mountain from 40 to 60 feet
+in height, three great columns of vapor, dust and ashes rising at
+the same time from the three new craters of the volcano. The mountain
+continued in a state of greater or less activity during most of the
+next year; and even as late as the month of October, 1846, after a brief
+pause, it began again with renewed vehemence. The volumes of dust, ashes
+and vapor, thrown up from the craters, and brightly illuminated by the
+glowing lava beneath, assumed the appearance of flames, and ascended to
+an immense height.
+
+
+ELECTRIC PHENOMENA
+
+
+Among the stones tossed out of the craters was one large mass of pumice
+weighing nearly half a ton, which was carried to a distance of between
+four and five miles. The rivers were flooded by the melting of ice
+and snow which had accumulated on the mountain. The greatest mischief
+wrought by these successive eruptions was the destruction of the
+pasturages, which were for the most part covered with volcanic ashes.
+Even where left exposed, the herbage acquired a poisonous taint which
+proved fatal to the cattle, inducing among them a peculiar murrain.
+Fortunately, owing to the nature of the district through which the lava
+passed, there was on this occasion no loss of human life.
+
+The Icelandic volcanoes are remarkable for the electric phenomena which
+they produce in the atmosphere. Violent thunder-storms, with showers
+of rain and hail, are frequent accompaniments of volcanic eruptions
+everywhere; but owing to the coldness and dryness of the air into which
+the vapors from the Icelandic volcanoes ascend, their condensation is so
+sudden and violent that great quantities of electricity are developed.
+Thunder-storms accompanied by the most vivid lightnings are the result.
+Humboldt mentions in his "Cosmos" that, during an eruption of Kotlugja,
+one of the southern Icelandic volcanoes, the lightning from the cloud of
+volcanic vapor killed eleven horses and two men (Cosmos i. 223). Great
+displays of the aurora borealis usually accompany the volcanic eruptions
+of this island--doubtless resulting from the quantity of electricity
+imparted to the higher atmosphere by the condensation of the ascending
+vapors. On the 18th of August, 1783, while the great eruption of Skaptar
+Jokull was in progress, an immense fire-ball passed over England and the
+European continent as far as Rome. This ball which was estimated to
+have had a diameter exceeding half a mile, is supposed to have been of
+electrical origin, and due to the high state of electric tension in the
+atmosphere over Iceland at that time.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Volcanoes of the Philippines and Other Pacific Islands.
+
+
+We cannot do better than open this chapter with an account of the work
+of volcanoes in the mountain-girdled East Indian island of Java. This
+large and fertile tropical island has a large native population, and
+many European settlers are employed in cultivating spices, coffee and
+woods. The island is rather more than 600 miles long, and it is not 150
+miles broad in any part; and this narrow shape is produced by a chain of
+volcanoes which runs along it. There is scarcely any other region in
+the world where volcanoes are so numerous, even in the East, where the
+volcano is a very common product of nature. Some of the volcanoes of
+Java are constantly in eruption, while others are inactive.
+
+One of their number, Galung Gung, was previous to 1822 covered from top
+to bottom with a dense forest; around it were populous villages. The
+mountain was high; there was a slight hollow on its top--a basin-like
+valley, carpeted with the softest sward; brooks rippled down the
+hillside through the forests, and, joining their silvery streams, flowed
+on through beautiful valleys into the distant sea. In the month of July,
+1822, there were signs of an approaching disturbance; this tranquil
+peacefulness was at an end; one of the rivers became muddy, and its
+waters grew hot.
+
+In October, without any warning, a most terrific eruption occurred. A
+loud explosion was heard; the earth shook, and immense columns of hot
+water, boiling mud mixed with burning brimstone, ashes and stones, were
+hurled upwards from the mountain top like a waterspout, and with such
+wonderful force that large quantities fell at a distance of forty miles.
+Every valley near the mountain became filled with burning torrents;
+the rivers, swollen with hot water and mud, overflowed their banks,
+and swept away the escaping villagers; and the bodies of cattle, wild
+beasts, and birds were carried down the flooded stream.
+
+
+ERUPTION OF GALUNG GUNG
+
+
+A space of twenty-four miles between the mountain and a river forty
+miles distant was covered to such a depth with blue mud, that people
+were buried in their houses, and not a trace of the numerous villages
+and plantations was visible. The boiling mud and cinders were cast forth
+with such violence from the crater, that while many distant villages
+were utterly destroyed and buried, others much nearer the volcano were
+scarcely injured; and all this was done in five short hours.
+
+Four days afterwards a second eruption occurred more violent than the
+first, and hot water and mud were cast forth with masses of slag like
+the rock called basalt some of which fell seven miles off. A violent
+earthquake shook the whole district, and the top of the mountain fell
+in, and so did one of its sides, leaving a gaping chasm. Hills appeared
+where there had been level land before, and the rivers changed their
+courses, drowning in one night 2,000 people. At some distance from the
+mountain a river runs through a large town, and the first intimation the
+inhabitants had of all this horrible destruction was the news that the
+bodies of men and the carcases of stags, rhinoceroses, tigers, and other
+animals, were rushing along to the sea. No less than 114 villages
+were destroyed, and above 4,000 persons were killed by this terrible
+catastrophe.
+
+Fifty years before this eruption, Mount Papandayang, one of the highest
+burning mountains of Java, was constantly throwing out steam and smoke,
+but as no harm was done, the natives continued to live on its sides.
+Suddenly this enormous mountain fell in, and left a gap fifteen miles
+long and six broad. Forty villages were destroyed, some being carried
+down and others overwhelmed by mud and burning lava. No less than 2,957
+people perished, with vast numbers of cattle; moreover, most of the
+coffee plantations in the neighboring districts were destroyed.
+
+Even more terrible was the eruption of Mount Salek, another of the
+volcanoes of Java. The burning of the mountain was seen 100 miles away,
+while the thunders of its convulsions and the tremblings of the
+earth reached the same distance. Seven hills, at whose base ran
+a river--crowded with dead buffaloes, deer, apes, tigers, and
+crocodiles--slipped down and became a level plain. River-courses were
+changed, forests were burnt up, and the whole face of the country was
+completely altered.
+
+Later volcanic eruptions in Java include that of 1843, when Mount Guntur
+flung out sand and ashes estimated at the vast total of thirty million
+tons, and those of 1849 and 1872 when Mount Merapi, a very active
+volcano, covered a great extent of country with stones and ashes, and
+ruined the coffee plantations of the neighboring districts.
+
+We have said nothing concerning the most terrible explosion of all, that
+of the volcanic island of Krakatoa, off the Javan coast. This event was
+so phenomenal as to deserve a chapter of its own, for which we reserve
+it.
+
+The United States, as one result of its recent acquisition of island
+dominions, has added largely to its wealth in volcanic mountains. The
+famous Hawaiian craters, far the greatest in the world, now belong to
+our national estate, and the Philippine Islands contain various others,
+of less importance, yet some of which have proved very destructive. A
+description of those of the Island of Luzon, which are the most active
+in the archipelago, is here sub-joined.
+
+
+THE LUZON VOLCANOES.
+
+
+Volcanoes have played an important part in the formation of the
+Philippine Islands and have left traces of their former activity in all
+directions. Most of them, however, have long been dead and silent, only
+a few of the once numerous group being now active. Of these there are
+three of importance in the southern region of Luzon--Taal, Bulusan and
+Mayon or Albay.
+
+The last named of these is the largest and most active of the existing
+volcanoes. In form it is of marvellous grace and beauty, forming a
+perfect cone, about fifty miles in circuit at base and rising to a
+height of 8,900 feet. It is one of the most prominent landmarks to
+navigators in the island. From its crater streams upward a constant
+smoke, accompanied at times by flame, while from its depths issue
+subterranean sounds, often heard at a distance of many leagues. The
+whole surrounding country is marked by evidences of old eruptions.
+
+This mountain, in 1767, sent up a cone of flame of forty feet in
+diameter at base, for ten days, and for two months a wide stream of lava
+poured from its crater. A month later there gushed forth great floods of
+water, which filled the rivers to overflow, doing widespread damage
+to the neighboring plantations. But its greatest and most destructive
+eruption took place in 1812, the year of the great eruption of the St.
+Vincent volcano. On this fatal occasion several towns were destroyed and
+no less than 12,000 people lost their lives. The debris flung forth
+from the crater were so abundant that deposits deep enough to bury the
+tallest trees were formed near the mountain. In 1867 another disastrous
+explosion took place, and still another in 1888. A disaster different
+in kind and cause occurred in 1876, when a terrible tropical storm burst
+upon the mountain. The floods of rain swept from its sides the loose
+volcanic material, and brought destruction to the neighboring country,
+more than six thousand houses being ruined by the rushing flood.
+
+
+BULUSAN AND TAAL
+
+
+Bulusan, a volcano on the southern extremity of the island, resembles
+Vesuvius in shape. For many years it remained dormant, but in 1852 smoke
+began to issue from its crater. In some respects the most interesting
+of these three volcanoes is that of Taal, which lies almost due south
+of Manila and about forty-five miles distant, on a small island in
+the middle of a large lake, known as Bombom or Bongbong. A remarkable
+feature of this volcanic mountain is that it is probably the lowest in
+the world, its height being only 850 feet above sea level. There are
+doubtful traditions that Lake Bombom, a hundred square miles in extent,
+was formed by a terrible eruption in 1700, by which a lofty mountain
+8000 or 9000 feet high, was destroyed. The vast deposits of porous
+tufa in the surrounding country are certainly evidences of former great
+eruptions from Mount Taal.
+
+The crater of this volcano is an immense, cup-shaped depression, a mile
+or more in diameter and about 800 feet deep. When recently visited by
+Professor Worcester, during his travels in these islands, he found it to
+contain three boiling lakelets of strangely-colored water, one being of
+a dirty brown hue, a second intensely yellow in tint, and the third of a
+brilliant emerald green. The mountain still steams and fumes, as if too
+actively at work below to be at rest above. In past times it has shown
+the forces at play in its depths by breaking at times into frightful
+activity. Of the various explosions on record, the three most violent
+were those of 1716, 1749, and 1754. In the last-named year the earth for
+miles round quaked with the convulsive throes of the deeply disturbed
+mountain, and vast quantities of volcanic dust were hurled high into the
+air, sufficient to make it dark at midday for many leagues around.
+The roofs of distant Manila were covered with volcanic dust and ashes.
+Molten lava also poured from the crater and flowed into the lake, which
+boiled with the intense heat, while great showers of stones and ashes
+fell into its waters.
+
+
+VOLCANOES IN THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS
+
+
+Extinct volcanoes are numerous in Luzon, and there are smoking cones
+in the north, and also in the Babuyanes Islands still farther north.
+Volcanoes also exist in several of the other islands. On Negros is the
+active peak of Malaspina, and on Camiguin, an island about ninety miles
+to the southeast, a new volcano broke out in 1876. The large island of
+Mindanao has three volcanoes, of which Cottabato was in eruption in
+1856 and is still active at intervals. Apo, the largest of the three,
+estimated to be 10,312 feet high, has three summits, within which lies
+the great crater, now extinct and filled with water.
+
+In evidence of former volcanic activity are the abundant deposits of
+sulphur on the island of Leyte, the hot springs in various localities,
+and the earthquakes which occasionally bring death and destruction. Of
+the many of these on record, the most destructive was in 1863, when 400
+people were killed and 2,000 injured, while many buildings were wrecked.
+Another in 1880 wrought great destruction in Manila and elsewhere,
+though without loss of life. An earthquake in Mindanao in 1675 opened a
+passage to the sea, and a vast plain emerged. These convulsions of the
+earth affect the form and elevation of buildings, which are rarely more
+than two stories high and lightly built, while translucent sea-shells
+replace glass in their windows.
+
+While Java is the most prolific in volcanoes of the islands of the
+Malayan Archipelago, other islands of the group possess active cones,
+including Sumatra, Bali, Amboyna, Banda and others. In Sanguir, an
+island north of Celebes, is a volcanic mountain from which there was
+a destructive eruption in 1856. The country was devastated with lava,
+stones and volcanic ashes, ruining a wide district and killing nearly
+3,000 of the inhabitants. Mount Madrian in one of the Spice Islands, was
+rent in twain by a fierce eruption in 1646, and since then has remained
+two distinct mountains. It became active again in 1862, after two
+centuries of repose, and caused great loss of life and property.
+Sorea, a small island of the same group, forming but a single volcanic
+mountain, had an eruption in 1693, the cone crumbling gradually till
+a vast crater was formed, filled with liquid lava and occupying nearly
+half the island. This lake of fire increased in size by the same process
+till in the end it took possession of the island and forced all the
+inhabitants to flee to more hospitable shores.
+
+
+THE GREAT ERUPTION OF TOMBORO
+
+
+But of the East Indian Islands Sumbawa, lying east of Java, contains
+the most formidable volcano--one indeed scarcely without a rival in the
+world. This is named Tomboro. Of its various eruptions the most furious
+on record was that of 1815. This, as we are told by Sir Stamford
+Raffles, far exceeded in force and duration any of the known outbreaks
+of Etna or Vesuvius. The ground trembled and the echoes of its roar
+were heard through an area of 1,000 miles around the volcano, and to a
+distance of 300 miles its effects were astounding.
+
+In Java, 300 miles away, ashes filled the air so thickly that the solar
+rays could not penetrate them, and fell to the depth of several inches.
+The detonations were so similar to the reports of artillery as to be
+mistaken for them. The Rajah of Sang'ir, who was an eye-witness of the
+eruption, thus described it to Sir Stamford:
+
+"About 7 P. M. on the 10th of April, three distinct columns of flame
+burst forth near the top of the Tomboro mountain (all of them apparently
+within the verge of the crater), and, after ascending separately to a
+very great height, their tops united in the air in a troubled, confused
+manner. In short time the whole mountain next Sang'ir appeared like a
+body of liquid fire, extending itself in every direction. The fire
+and columns of flame continued to rage with unabated fury, until the
+darkness caused by the quantity of falling matter obscured them, at
+about 8 P. M. Stones at this time fell very thick at Sang'ir--some
+of them as large as two fists, but generally not larger than walnuts.
+Between 9 and 10 P. M. ashes began to fall, and soon after a violent
+whirlwind ensued, which blew down nearly every house in the village of
+Sang'ir--carrying the roofs and light parts away with it. In the port of
+Sang'ir, adjoining Tomboro, its effects were much more violent--tearing
+up by the roots the largest trees, and carrying them into the air,
+together with men, horses, cattle, and whatever else came within its
+influence. This will account for the immense number of floating trees
+seen at sea. The sea rose nearly twelve feet higher than it had ever
+been known to do before, and completely spoiled the only spots of
+rice-land in Sang'ir--sweeping away houses and everything within its
+reach. The whirlwind lasted about an hour. No explosions were heard
+till the whirlwind had ceased, at about 11 P.M. From midnight till the
+evening of the 11th, they continued without intermission. After that
+time their violence moderated, and they were heard only at intervals;
+but the explosions did not cease entirely until the 15th of July. Of all
+the villages of Tomboro, Tempo, containing about forty inhabitants,
+is the only one remaining. In Pekate no vestige of a house is left;
+twenty-six of the people, who were at Sumbawa at the time, are the whole
+of the population who have escaped. From the most particular inquiries
+I have been able to make, there were certainly no fewer than 12,000
+individuals in Tomboro and Pekate at the time of the eruption, of whom
+only five or six survive. The trees and herbage of every description,
+along the whole of the north and west sides of the peninsula, have been
+completely destroyed, with the exception of those on a high point of
+land, near the spot where the village of Tomboro stood."
+
+Tomboro village was not only invaded by the sea on this occasion, but
+its site permanently subsided; so that there is now eighteen feet of
+water where there was formerly dry land.
+
+
+THE VOLCANOES OF JAPAN
+
+
+The Japanese archipelago, as stated in an earlier chapter, is abundantly
+supplied with volcanoes, a number of them being active. Of these the
+best known to travelers is Asamayama, a mountain 8,500 feet high, of
+which there are several recorded eruptions. The first of these was in
+1650; after which the volcano remained feebly active till 1783, when it
+broke out in a very severe eruption. In 1870 there was another of some
+severity, accompanied by violent shocks of earthquake felt at Yokohama.
+The crater is very deep, with irregular rocky walls of a sulphurous
+character.
+
+Far the most famous of all the Japanese mountains, however, is that
+named Fuji-san, but commonly termed in English Fujiyama or Fusiyama. It
+is in the vicinity of the capital, and is the most prominent object in
+the landscape for many miles around. The apex is shaped somewhat like an
+eight-petaled lotus flower, and offers to view from different directions
+from three to five peaks.
+
+Though now apparently extinct, it was formerly an active volcano, and is
+credited in history with several very disastrous eruptions. The last
+of these was in 1707, at which time the whole summit burst into flames.
+Rocks were split and shattered by the heat, and stones fell to the depth
+of several inches in Yeddo (now Tokyo), sixty miles away. At present
+there are in its crater, which has a depth of 700 or 800 feet, neither
+sulphurous exhalations nor steam. According to Japanese tradition this
+great peak was upheaved in a single night from the bottom of the sea,
+more than twenty-one hundred years ago.
+
+Nothing can be more majestic than this volcano, extinct though it be,
+rising in an immense cone from the plain to the height of over twelve
+thousand feet, truncated at the top, and with its peak almost always
+snow-covered. Its ascent is not difficult to an expert climber, and has
+frequently been made. From its summit is unfolded a panorama beyond
+the power of words to describe, and probably the most remarkable on the
+globe. Mountains, valleys, lakes, forests and the villages of thirteen
+counties may be seen. As we gaze upon its beautifully shaped and lofty
+mass, visible even from Yokohama and a hundred miles at sea, one does
+not wonder that it should be regarded as a holy mountain, and that it
+should form a conspicuous object in every Japanese work of art. It is
+to the natives of Japan as Mont Blanc is to Europeans, the "monarch of
+mountains."
+
+In summer pilgrimages are made around the base of the summit elevation,
+and there are on the upward path a number of Buddhist temples and
+shrines, made of blocks of stone, for devotion, shelter and the storage
+of food for pilgrims. Hakone Lake is three thousand feet above the sea,
+and probably lies in the crater of an extinct volcano. Its waters are
+very deep; it is several miles long and wide, and is surrounded by high
+hills which abound in fine scenery, solfataras and mineral springs.
+
+
+HOT SPRINGS NEAR HAKONE LAKE
+
+
+At this place the mountain seems to be smouldering, as sulphur fumes
+and steam issue at many points, and the ground is covered with a friable
+white alkaline substance. In many a hollow the water bubbles with clouds
+of vapor and sulphuretted hydrogen; here the soil is hot and evidently
+underlaid by active fires. It is not safe to go very near, as the crust
+is thin and crumbling. The water running down the hills has a refreshing
+sound and a tempting clearness, but the thirsty tongue at once detects
+it to be a very strong solution of alum. The whole aspect of the place
+is infernal, and naturally suggests the name given its principal geyser,
+O-gigoko (Big Hell).
+
+Fujiyama is almost a perfect cone, with, as above said, a truncated top,
+in which is the crater. It is, however, less steep than Mayon. Its upper
+part is comparatively steep, even to thirty-five degrees, but below this
+portion the inclination gradually lessens, till its elegant outlines are
+lost in the plain from which it rises. The curves of the sides depend
+partly on the nature, size and shape of the ejected material, the fine
+uniform pieces remaining on comparatively steep slopes, while the larger
+and rounder ones roll farther down, resting on the inclination that
+afterward becomes curved from the subsidence of the central mass.
+
+The most recent and one of the most destructive of volcanic eruptions
+recorded in Japan was that of Bandaisan or Baldaisan. For ages this
+mountain had been peaceful, and there was scarcely an indication of
+its volcanic character or of the terrific forces which lay dormant deep
+within its heart. On its flanks lay some small deposits of scoriae,
+indications of far-past eruptions, and there were some hot springs at
+its base, while steam arose from a fissure. Yet there was nothing to
+warn the people of the vicinity that deadly peril lay under their feet.
+
+
+BANDAISAN'S WORK OF TERROR
+
+
+This sense of security was fatally dissipated on a day in July, 1888,
+when the mountain suddenly broke into eruption and flung 1,600 million
+cubic yards of its summit material so high into the air that many of the
+falling fragments, in their fall, struck the ground with such velocity
+as to be buried far out of sight. The steam and dust were driven to a
+height of 13,000 feet, where they spread into a canopy of much greater
+elevation, causing pitchy darkness beneath. There were from fifteen to
+twenty violent explosions, and a great landslide devastated about thirty
+square miles and buried many villages in the Nagase Valley.
+
+Mr. Norman, a traveler who visited the spot shortly afterward, thus
+describes the scene of ruin. After a journey through the forests which
+clothed the slopes of the volcanic mountain and prevented any distant
+view, the travelers at last found themselves "standing upon the ragged
+edge of what was left of the mountain of Bandaisan, after two-thirds of
+it, including, of course, the summit, had been literally blown away and
+spread over the face of the country.
+
+"The original cone of the mountain," he continues, "had been truncated
+at an acute angle to its axis. From our very feet a precipitous mud
+slope falls away for half a mile or more till it reaches the level. At
+our right, still below us, rises a mud wall a mile long, also sloping
+down to the level, and behind it is evidently the crater; but before us,
+for five miles in a straight line, and on each side nearly as far, is
+a sea of congealed mud, broken up into ripples and waves and great
+billows, and bearing upon its bosom a thousand huge boulders, weighing
+hundreds of tons apiece."
+
+On reaching the crater he found it to resemble a gigantic cauldron,
+fully a mile in width, and enclosed with precipitous walls of indurated
+mud. From several orifices volumes of steam rose into the air, and when
+the vapor cleared away for a moment glimpses of a mass of boiling mud
+were obtained. Before the eruption the mountain top had terminated in
+three peaks. Of these the highest had an elevation of about 5,800 feet.
+The peak destroyed was the middle one, which was rather smaller than the
+other two.
+
+"The explosion was caused by steam; there was neither fire nor lava of
+any kind. It was, in fact, nothing more nor less than a gigantic boiler
+explosion. The whole top and one side of Sho-Bandai-san had been blown
+into the air in a lateral direction, and the earth of the mountain was
+converted by the escaping steam, at the moment of the explosion, into
+boiling mud, part of which was projected into the air to fall at a long
+distance, and then take the form of an overflowing river, which rushed
+with vast rapidity and covered the country to a depth of from 20 to 150
+feet. Thirty square miles of country were thus devastated."
+
+In the devastated lowlands and buried villages below and on the slopes
+of the mountain many lives were lost. From the survivors Mr. Norman
+gathered some information, enabling him to describe the main features of
+the catastrophe. We append a brief outline of his narrative:
+
+
+MR. NORMAN'S NARRATIVE
+
+
+"At a few minutes past 8 o'clock in the morning a frightful noise was
+heard by the inhabitants of a village ten miles distant from the crater.
+Some of them instinctively took to flight, but before they could run
+much more than a hundred yards the light of day was suddenly changed
+into a darkness more intense than that of midnight; a shower of blinding
+hot ashes and sand poured down upon them; the ground was shaken with
+earthquakes, and explosion followed explosion, the last being the most
+violent of all. Many fugitives, as well as people in the houses, were
+overwhelmed by the deluge of mud, none of the fugitives, when overtaken
+by death, being more than two hundred yards from the village." From the
+statements made by those fortunate enough to escape with their lives,
+and from a personal examination of the ground, Mr. Norman inferred that
+the mud must have been flung fully six miles through the air and then
+have poured in a torrent along the ground for four miles further. All
+this was done in less than five minutes, so that "millions of tons of
+boiling mud were hurled over the country at the rate of two miles a
+minute."
+
+The velocity of the mud torrent may perhaps be overestimated, but in its
+awful suddenness this catastrophe was evidently one with few equals. The
+cone destroyed may have been largely composed of rather fine ashes and
+scoriae, which was almost instantaneously converted into mud by the
+condensing steam and the boiling water ejected. The quantity of water
+thus discharged must have been enormous.
+
+Of the remaining volcanic regions of the Pacific, the New Zealand
+islands present some of the most striking examples of activity. All
+the central parts, indeed, of the northern island of the group are of a
+highly volcanic character. There is here a mountain named Tongariro, on
+whose snow-clad summit is a deep crater, from which volcanic vapors are
+seen to issue, and which exhibits other indications of having been in a
+state of greater activity at a not very remote period of time. There
+is also, at no great distance from this mountain, a region containing
+numerous funnel-shaped chasms, emitting hot water, or steam, or
+sulphurous vapors, or boiling mud. The earthquakes in New Zealand had
+probably their origin in this volcanic focus.
+
+
+THE NEW ZEALAND VOLCANOES
+
+
+Tongariro has a height of about 6,500 feet, while Egmont, 8,270 feet in
+height, is a perfect cone with a perpetual cap of snow. There are many
+other volcanic mountains, and also great numbers of mud volcanoes, hot
+springs and geysers. It is for the latter that the island is best known
+to geologists. Their waters are at or near the boiling point and contain
+silica in abundance.
+
+At a place called Rotomahana, in the vicinity of Mount Tarawera, there
+was formerly a lake of about one hundred and twenty acres in area,
+which was in its way one of the most remarkable bodies of water upon the
+earth. Formerly, we say, for this lake no longer exists, it having been
+destroyed by the very forces to which it owed its fame. Its waters were
+maintained nearly at the boiling point by the continual accession of
+boiling water from numerous springs. The most abundant of those sources
+was situated at the height of about 100 feet above the level of the
+lake. It kept continually filled an oval basin about 250 feet in
+circumference--the margins of which were fringed all round with
+beautiful pure white stalactites, formed by deposits of silica, with
+which the hot water was strongly impregnated. At various stages below
+the principal spring were several others, that contributed to feed the
+lake at the bottom, in the centre of which was a small island. Minute
+bubbles continually escaped from the surface of the water with a hissing
+sound, and the sand all round the lake was at a high temperature. If a
+stick was thrust into it, very hot vapors would ascend from the hole.
+Not far from this lake were several small basins filled with tepid
+water, which was very clear, and of a blue color.
+
+The conditions here were of a kind with those to which are due the great
+geysers of Iceland and the Yellowstone Park, but different in the fact
+that instead of being intermittent and throwing up jets at intervals,
+the springs allowed the water to flow from them in a continuous stream.
+
+
+THE PINK AND WHITE TERRACES
+
+
+The silicious incrustations left by the overflow from the large pool had
+made a series of terraces, two to six feet high, with the appearance of
+being hewn from white or pink marble; each of the basins containing
+a similar azure water. These terraces covered an area of about three
+acres, and looked like a series of cataracts changed into stone, each
+edge being fringed with a festoon of delicate stalactites. The water
+contained about eighty-five per cent. of silica, with one or two per
+cent of iron alumina, and a little alkali.
+
+There were no more beautiful products of nature upon the earth than
+those "pink and white terraces," as they were called. The hot springs of
+the Yellowstone have produced formations resembling them, but not
+their equal in fairy-like charm. One series of these terraced pools and
+cascades was of the purest white tint, the other of the most delicate
+pink, the waters topping over the edge of each pool and falling in a
+miniature cascade to the one next below, thus keeping the edges built
+up by a continual renewal of the silicious incrustation. But all their
+beauty could not save them from utter and irremediable destruction by
+the forces below the earth's surface.
+
+On June 9, 1886, a great volcanic disturbance began in the Auckland Lake
+region with a tremendous earthquake, followed during the night by many
+others. At seven the next morning a lead-covered cloud of pumice sand,
+advancing from the south, burst and discharged showers of fine dust.
+The range of Mount Tarawera seemed to be in full volcanic activity,
+including some craters supposed to be extinct, and embracing an area of
+one hundred and twenty miles by twenty.
+
+The showers of dust were so thick as to turn day into night for nearly
+two days. Some lives were lost, and several villages were destroyed,
+these being covered ten feet deep with ashes, dust and clayey mud. The
+volcanic phenomena were of the most violent character, and the whole
+island appears to have been more or less convulsed. Mount Tarawera is
+said to be five hundred feet higher than before the eruption; glowing
+masses were thrown up into the air, and tongues of fiery hue, gases or
+illuminated vapors, five hundred feet wide, towered up one thousand feet
+high. The mountain was 2,700 feet in height.
+
+
+TARAWERA IN ERUPTION
+
+
+This eruption presented a spectacle of rarely-equalled grandeur.
+To travelers and strangers the greatest resultant loss will be the
+destruction of those world-famous curiosities, the white and pink
+terraces, in the vicinity of Lake Rotomahana and the region of the
+famous geysers. The natives have a superstition that the eruption of the
+extinct Tarawera was caused by the profanation of foreign footsteps. It
+was to them a sacred place, and its crater a repository for their dead.
+The first earthquake occurred in this region. One side of the mountain
+fell in, and then the eruption began. The basin of the lake was broken
+up and disappeared, but again reappeared as a boiling mud cauldron;
+craters burst out in various places, and the beautiful terraces were no
+more. After the first day the violence gradually diminished, and in a
+week had ceased. Very possibly another lake will be formed, and in time
+other terraces; but it is hardly within the range of probability that
+the beauty of the lost terraces will ever be paralleled.
+
+In this eruption, as usual, we find the earthquake preceding the
+volcanic outburst. New Zealand, like the Philippines, Java and the
+Japanese Islands, is situated over a great earth-fissure or line of
+weakness. Subsidence or dislocation from tensile strain of the crust
+took place, and the influx of water to new regions of heated strata
+may have developed the explosive force. The earthquake and the volcano
+worked together here, as they frequently do, unfortunately in this case
+destroying one of the most beautiful scenes on the surface of the globe.
+
+
+THE ANTARCTIC VOLCANOES
+
+
+Much further south, on the frozen shore of Victoria Land in the
+Antarctic regions, Sir James Ross, in 1841, sailing in his discovery
+ships the Erebus and Terror, discovered two great volcanic mountains,
+which he named after those two vessels. Mount Erebus is continually
+covered, from top to bottom, with snow and glaciers. The mountain is
+about 12,000 feet high, and although the snow reaches to the very edge
+of the crater, there rise continually from the summit immense volumes of
+volcanic fumes, illuminated by the glare of glowing lava beneath them.
+The vapors ascend to an estimated height of 2,200 feet above the top of
+the mountain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+The Wonderful Hawaiian Craters and Kilauea's Lake of Fire.
+
+
+In the central region of the North Pacific Ocean lies the archipelago
+formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, now collectively designated as
+Hawaii. The people of the United States should be specially interested
+in this island group, for it has become one of our possessions, an
+outlying Territory of our growing Republic, and in making it part of
+our national domain we have not alone extended our dominion far over the
+seas, but have added to the many marvels of nature within our land one
+of the chief wonders of the world, the stupendous Hawaiian
+volcanoes, before whose grandeur many of more ancient fame sink into
+insignificance.
+
+
+THE ISLAND OF HAWAII
+
+
+The Island of Hawaii, the principal island of the group, we may safely
+say contains the most enormous volcano of the earth. Indeed, the whole
+island, which is 4000 square miles in extent, may be regarded as of
+volcanic origin. It contains four volcanic mountains--Kohola, Hualalia,
+Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The two last named are the chief, the former
+being 13,800 feet, the latter 13,600 feet, above the sea-level. Although
+their height is so vast, the ascent to their summits is so gradual that
+their circumference at the base is enormous. The bulk of each of them is
+reckoned to be equal to two and a half times that of Etna. Some of the
+streams of lava which have emanated from them are twenty-six miles in
+length by two miles in breadth.
+
+On the adjoining island of Maui is a still larger volcano, the mighty
+Haleakala, long since extinct, but memorable as possessing the most
+stupendous crater on the face of the earth. The mountain itself is
+over 10,000 feet high, and forms a great dome-like mass of 90 miles
+circumference at base. The crater on its summit has a length of 7 1/2
+and a width of 2 1/4 miles, with a total area of about sixteen square
+miles. The only approach in dimensions to this enormous opening exists
+in the still living crater of Kilauea, on the flank of Mauna Loa.
+
+
+A VOLCANIC ISLAND GROUP
+
+
+The peaks named are the most apparent remnants of a world-rending
+volcanic activity in the remote past, by whose force this whole Hawaiian
+island group was lifted up from the depths of the ocean, here descending
+some three and a half miles below the surface level. The coral reefs
+which abound around the islands are of comparatively recent formation,
+and rest upon a substratum of lava probably ages older, which forms the
+base of the archipelago. The islands are volcanic peaks and ridges that
+have been pushed up above the surrounding seas by the profound action of
+the interior forces of the earth.
+
+It must not be supposed that this action was a violent perpendicular
+thrust upward over a very limited locality, for the mountains continue
+to slope at about the same angle under the sea and for great distances
+on every side, so that the islands are really the crests of an extensive
+elevation, estimated to cover an area of about 2000 miles in one
+direction by 150 or 200 miles in the other. The process was probably
+a gradual one of up-building, by means of which the sea receded as the
+land steadily rose. Some idea of the mighty forces that have been at
+work beneath the sea and above it can be gained by considering the
+enormous mass of material now above the sea-level. Thus, the bulk of the
+island of Hawaii, the largest of the group, has been estimated by the
+Hawaiian Surveyor General as containing 3,600 cubic miles of lava rock
+above sea-level. Taking the area of England at 50,000 square miles, this
+mass of volcanic matter would cover that entire country to a depth of
+274 feet. We must remember, however, that what is above sea-level is
+only a small fraction of the total amount, since it sweeps down below
+the waves hundreds of miles on every side.
+
+
+CRATER OF HALEAKALA
+
+
+Of the lava openings on these islands, the extinct one of Haleakala,
+as stated, with its twenty-seven miles circumference, is far the most
+stupendous. It is easy of access, the mountain sides leading to it
+presenting a gentle slope; while the walls of the crater, in places
+perpendicular, in others are so sloping that man and horse can descend
+them. The pit varies from 1500 to 2000 feet in depth, its bottom being
+very irregular from the old lava flows and the many cinder cones, these
+still looking as fresh as though their fires had just gone out. Some
+of these cones are over 500 feet high. There is a tradition among the
+natives that the vast lava streams which in the past flowed from the
+crater to the sea continued to do so in the period of their remote
+ancestors. They still, indeed, appear as if recent, though there are
+to-day no signs of volcanic activity anywhere on this island.
+
+In fact, the only volcano now active in the Hawaiian Islands is Mauna
+Loa, in the southern section of the Island of Hawaii. A striking feature
+of this is that it has two distinct and widely disconnected craters, one
+on its summit, the other on its flank, at a much lower level. The latter
+is the vast crater of Kilauea, the largest active crater known on the
+face of the globe.
+
+
+MISS BIRD IN THE CRATER OF KILAUEA
+
+
+We cannot offer a better description of the aspect of this lava abyss
+than to give Miss Bird's eloquent description of her adventurous descent
+into it:
+
+"The abyss, which really is at a height of four thousand feet on the
+flank of Mauna Loa, has the appearance of a pit on a rolling plain. But
+such a pit! It is quite nine miles in circumference, and at its lowest
+area--which not long ago fell about three hundred feet, just as the ice
+on a pond falls when the water below is withdrawn--covers six square
+miles. The depth of the crater varies from eight hundred to one thousand
+feet, according as the molten sea below is at flood or ebb. Signs of
+volcanic activity are present more or less throughout its whole depth
+and for some distance along its margin, in the form of steam-cracks,
+jets of sulphurous vapor, blowing cones, accumulating deposits of
+acicular crystals of sulphur, etc., and the pit itself is constantly
+rent and shaken by earthquakes. Great eruptions occur with circumstances
+of indescribable terror and dignity; but Kilauea does not limit its
+activity to these outbursts, but has exhibited its marvellous phenomena
+through all known time in a lake or lakes on the southern part of the
+crater three miles from this side.
+
+"This lake--the Hale-mau-mau, or 'House of everlasting Fire', of
+the Hawaiian mythology, the abode of the dreaded goddess Pele--is
+approachable with safety, except during an eruption. The spectacle,
+however, varies almost daily; and at times the level of the lava in the
+pit within a pit is so low, and the suffocating gases are evolved in
+such enormous quantities, that travellers are unable to see anything.
+
+"At the time of our visit there had been no news from it for a week; and
+as nothing was to be seen but a very faint bluish vapor hanging round
+its margin, the prospect was not encouraging. After more than an hour
+of very difficult climbing, we reached the lowest level of the crater,
+pretty nearly a mile across, presenting from above the appearance of a
+sea at rest; but on crossing it, we found it to be an expanse of waves
+and convolutions of ashy-colored lava, with huge cracks filled up with
+black iridescent rolls of lava only a few weeks old. Parts of it are
+very rough and ridgy, jammed together like field-ice, or compacted by
+rolls of lava, which may have swelled up from beneath; but the largest
+part of the area presents the appearance of huge coiled hawsers, the
+ropy formation of the lava rendering the illusion almost perfect. These
+are riven by deep cracks, which emit hot sulphurous vapors.
+
+"As we ascended, the flow became hotter under our feet, as well as more
+porous and glistening. It was so hot that a shower of rain hissed as it
+fell upon it. The crust became increasingly insecure, and necessitated
+our walking in single file with the guide in front, to test the security
+of the footing. I fell through several times, and always into holes full
+of sulphurous steam so malignantly acid that my strong dogskin gloves
+were burned through as I raised myself on my hands.
+
+"We had followed the lava-flow for thirty miles up to the crater's
+brink, and now we had toiled over recent lava for three hours, and, by
+all calculations, were close to the pit; yet there was no smoke or sign
+of fire, and I felt sure that the volcano had died out for once for my
+special disappointment.
+
+"Suddenly, just above and in front of us, gory drops were tossed in
+the air, and springing forwards, we stood on the brink of Hale-mau-mau,
+which was about thirty-five feet below us. I think we all screamed. I
+know we all wept; but we were speechless, for a new glory and terror had
+been added to the earth. It is the most unutterable of wonderful things.
+The words of common speech are quite useless. It is unimaginable,
+indescribable; a sight to remember forever; a sight which at once took
+possession of every faculty of sense and soul, removing one altogether
+out of the range of ordinary life. Here was the real 'bottomless pit',
+'the fire which is not quenched', 'the place of Hell', 'the lake which
+burneth with fire and brimstone', 'the everlasting burnings', 'the fiery
+sea whose waves are never weary'. Perhaps those Scripture phrases
+were suggested by the sight of some volcano in eruption. There were
+groanings, rumblings, and detonations; rushings, hissings, splashings,
+and the crashing sound of breakers on the coast; but it was the surging
+of fiery waves upon a fiery shore. But what can I write? Such words as
+jets, fountains, waves, spray, convey some idea of order and regularity,
+but here there are none.
+
+"The inner lake, while we stood there, formed a sort of crater within
+itself; the whole lava sea rose about three feet; a blowing cone about
+eight feet high was formed; it was never the same two minutes together.
+And what we saw had no existence a month before, and probably will be
+changed in every essential feature a month from hence. The prominent
+object was fire in motion; but the surface of the double lake was
+continually skimming over for a second or two with a cool crust of
+lustrous grey-white, like frost-silver, broken by jagged cracks of a
+bright rose-color. The movement was nearly always from the sides to the
+centre; but the movement of the centre itself appeared independent, and
+always took a southerly direction. Before each outburst of agitation
+there was much hissing and throbbing, with internal roaring as of
+imprisoned gases. Now it seemed furious, demoniacal, as if no power
+on earth could bind it, then playful and sportive; then for a second
+languid, but only because it was accumulating fresh force. Sometimes the
+whole lake took the form of mighty waves, and, surging heavily against
+the partial barrier with a sound like the Pacific surf, lashed, tore,
+covered it, and threw itself over it in clots of living fire. It was all
+confusion, commotion, forces, terror, glory, majesty, mystery, and even
+beauty. And the color, 'eye hath not seen' it! Molten metal hath not
+that crimson gleam, nor blood that living light."
+
+To this description we may add that of Mr. Ellis, a former missionary to
+these islands, and one of the number who have descended to the shores of
+Kilauea's abyss of fire. He says, after describing his difficult descent
+and progress over the lava-strewn pit:
+
+
+MR. ELLIS VISITS THE LAKE OF LAVA
+
+
+"Immediately before us yawned an immense gulf, in the form of a
+crescent, about two miles in length, from northeast to southwest; nearly
+a mile in width, and apparently 800 feet deep. The bottom was covered
+with lava, and the southwestern and northern parts of it were one vast
+flood of burning matter in a state of terrific ebullition, rolling
+to and fro its 'fiery surges' and flaming billows. Fifty-one conical
+islands, of varied form and size, containing as many craters, rose
+either round the edge or from the surface of the burning lake;
+twenty-two constantly emitted columns of gray smoke or pyramids of
+brilliant flame, and several of these at the same time vomited from
+their ignited mouths streams of lava, which rolled in blazing torrents
+down their black indented sides into the boiling mass below.
+
+"The existence of these conical craters led us to conclude that the
+boiling cauldron of lava before us did not form the focus of the
+volcano; that this mass of melted lava was comparatively shallow, and
+that the basin in which it was contained was separated by a stratum of
+solid matter from the great volcanic abyss, which constantly poured
+out its melted contents through these numerous craters into this
+upper reservoir. The sides of the gulf before us, although composed of
+different strata of ancient lava, were perpendicular for about 400 feet,
+and rose from a wide horizontal ledge of solid black lava of irregular
+breadth, but extending completely round. Beneath this ledge the sides
+sloped gradually towards the burning lake, which was, as nearly as we
+could judge, 300 or 400 feet lower.
+
+"It was evident that the large crater had been recently filled with
+liquid lava up to this black ledge, and had, by some subterraneous
+canal, emptied itself into the sea or spread under the low land on the
+shore. The gray and in some places apparently calcined sides of the
+great crater before us, the fissures which intersected the surface of
+the plain on which we were standing, the long banks of sulphur on the
+opposite side of the abyss, the vigorous action of the numerous small
+craters on its borders, the dense columns of vapor and smoke that rose
+at the north and west end of the plain, together with the ridge of steep
+rocks by which it was surrounded, rising probably in some places 300
+or 400 feet in perpendicular height, presented an immense volcanic
+panorama, the effect of which was greatly augmented by the constant
+roaring of the vast furnaces below."
+
+
+MAUNA LOA IN ERUPTION
+
+
+Of the two great craters of Mauna Loa, the summit one has frequently
+in modern times overflowed its crest and poured its molten streams in
+glowing rivers over the land. This has rarely been the case with the
+lower and incessantly active crater of Kilauea, whose lava, when in
+excess, appears to escape by subterranean channels to the sea. We append
+descriptions of some of the more recent examples of Mauna Loa's eruptive
+energy. The lava from this crater does not alone flow over the crater's
+lip, but at times makes its way through fissures far below, the immense
+pressure causing it to spout in great flashing fountains high into the
+air. In 1852 the fiery fountains reached a height of 500 feet. In some
+later eruptions they have leaped 1,000 feet high. The lava is white hot
+as it ascends, but it assumes a blood-red tint in its fall, and strikes
+the ground with a frightful noise.
+
+The quantities of lava ejected in some of the recent eruptions have been
+enormous. The river-like flow of 1855 was remarkable for its extent,
+being from two to eight miles wide, with a depth of from three to three
+hundred feet, and extending in a winding course for a distance of sixty
+miles. The Apostle of Hawaiian volcanoes, the Rev. Titus Coan, who
+ventured to the source of this flow while it was in supreme action, thus
+describes it:--
+
+"We ascended our rugged pathway amidst steam and smoke and heat which
+almost blinded and scathed us. We came to open orifices down which we
+looked into the fiery river which rushed madly under our feet. These
+fiery vents were frequent, some of them measuring ten, twenty, fifty
+or one hundred feet in diameter. In one place we saw the river of lava
+uncovered for thirty rods and rushing down a declivity of from ten to
+twenty-five degrees. The scene was awful, the momentum incredible, the
+fusion perfect (white heat), and the velocity forty miles an hour. The
+banks on each side of the stream were red-hot, jagged and overhanging.
+As we viewed it rushing out from under its ebon counterpane, and in the
+twinkling of an eye diving again into its fiery den, it seemed to say,
+'Stand off! Scan me not! I am God's messenger. A work to do. Away!'"
+
+Later he wrote again:--"The great summit fountain is still playing with
+fearful energy, and the devouring stream rushes madly down toward us. It
+is now about ten miles distant, and heading directly for our bay. In
+a few days we may be called to announce the painful fact that our
+beauteous Hilo is no more,--that our lovely, our inimitable landscape,
+our emerald bowers, our crescent strand and our silver bay are blotted
+out. A fiery sword hangs over us. A flood of burning ruin approaches us.
+Devouring fires are near us. With sure and solemn progress the glowing
+fusion advances through the dark forest and the dense jungle in our
+rear, cutting down ancient trees of enormous growth and sweeping away
+all vegetable life. For months the great summit furnace on Mauna Loa has
+been in awful blast. Floods of burning destruction have swept wildly
+and widely over the top and down the sides of the mountain. The wrathful
+stream has overcome every obstacle, winding its fiery way from its high
+source to the bases of the everlasting hills, spreading in a molten sea
+over the plains, penetrating the ancient forests, driving the bellowing
+herds, the wild goats and the affrighted birds before its lurid glare,
+leaving nothing but ebon blackness and smoldering ruin in its track."
+
+His anticipation of the burial of Hilo under the mighty flow was happily
+not realized. It came to an abrupt halt while seven miles distant, the
+checked stream standing in a threatening and rugged ridge, with rigid,
+beetling front.
+
+
+THE ERUPTIONS OF 1859 AND 1865
+
+
+In January, 1859, Mauna Loa was again at its fire-play, throwing up
+lava fountains from 800 to 1,000 feet in height. From this great fiery
+fountain the lava flowed down in numerous streams, spreading over a
+width of five or six miles. One stream, probably formed by the junction
+of several smaller, attained a height of from twenty to twenty-five
+feet, and a breadth of about an eighth of a mile. Great stones were
+thrown up along with the jet of lava, and the volume of seeming smoke,
+composed probably of fine volcanic dust, is said to have risen to the
+height of 10,000 feet.
+
+An eruption of still greater violence took place in 1865, characterized
+by similar phenomena, particularly the throwing up of jets of lava. This
+fiery fountain continued to play without intermission for twenty days
+and nights, varying only as respects the height to which the jet arose,
+which is said to have ranged between 100 and 1,000 feet, the mean
+diameter of the jet being about 100 feet. This eruption was accompanied
+by explosions so loud as to have been heard at a distance of forty
+miles.
+
+A cone of about 300 feet in height, and about a mile in circumference,
+was accumulated round the orifice whence the jet ascended. It was
+composed of solid matters ejected with the lava, and it continued
+to glow like a furnace, notwithstanding its exposure to the air. The
+current of lava on this occasion flowed to a distance of thirty-five
+miles, burning its way through the forests, and filling the air with
+smoke and flames from the ignited timber. The glare from the glowing
+lava and the burning trees together was discernible by night at a
+distance of 200 miles from the island.
+
+
+THE LAVA FLOW OF 1880
+
+
+A succeeding great lava flow was that which began on November 6, 1880.
+Mr. David Hitchcock, who was camping on Mauna Kea at the time of this
+outbreak, saw a spectacle that few human eyes have ever beheld. "We
+stood," writes he, "on the very edge of that flowing river of rock. Oh,
+what a sight it was! Not twenty feet from us was this immense bed of
+rock slowly moving forward with irresistible force, bearing on its
+surface huge rocks and immense boulders of tons' weight as water would
+carry a toy-boat. The whole front edge was one bright red mass of solid
+rock incessantly breaking off from the towering mass and rolling down
+to the foot of it, to be again covered by another avalanche of white-hot
+rocks and sand. The whole mass at its front edge was from twelve to
+thirty feet in height. Along the entire line of its advance it was
+one crash of rolling, sliding, tumbling red-hot rock. We could hear no
+explosions while we were near the flow, only a tremendous roaring like
+ten thousand blast furnaces all at work at once."
+
+This was the most extensive flow of recent years, and its progress from
+the interior plain through the dense forests above Hilo and out on to
+the open levels close to the town was startling and menacing enough.
+Through the woods especially it was a turbulent, seething mass that
+hurled down mammoth trees, and licked up streams of water, and day and
+night kept up an unintermitting cannonade of explosions. The steam
+and imprisoned gases would burst the congealing surface with loud
+detonations that could be heard for many miles. It was not an infrequent
+thing for parties to camp out close to the flow over night. Ordinarily a
+lava-flow moves sluggishly and congeals rapidly, so that what seems
+like hardihood in the narrating is in reality calm judgment, for it is
+perfectly safe to be in the close vicinity of a lava-stream, and even to
+walk on its surface as soon as one would be inclined to walk on cooling
+iron in a foundry. This notable flow finally ceased within half a mile
+of Hilo, where its black form is a perpetual reminder of a marvellous
+deliverance from destruction.
+
+
+KILAUEA IN 1840
+
+
+Kilauea seems never, in historic times, to have filled and overflowed
+its vast crater. To do so would need an almost inconceivable volume of
+liquid rock material. But it approached this culmination in 1840, when
+it became, through its whole extent, a raging sea of fire. The boiling
+lava rose in the mighty mountain-cup to a height of from 500 to
+600 feet. Then it forced a passage through a subterranean cavity
+twenty-seven miles long, and reached the sea forty miles distant, in two
+days. The stream where it fell into the sea was half a mile wide, and
+the flow kept up for three weeks, heating the ocean twenty miles from
+land. An eye-witness of this extraordinary flow thus describes it:
+
+"When the torrent of fire precipitated itself into the ocean, the
+scene assumed a character of terrific and indescribable grandeur. The
+magnificence of destruction was never more perceptibly displayed than
+when these antagonistic elements met in deadly strife. The mightiest of
+earth's magazines of fire poured forth its burning billows to meet the
+mightiest of oceans. For two score miles it came rolling, tumbling,
+swelling forward, an awful agent of death. Rocks melted like wax in its
+path; forests crackled and blazed before its fervent heat; the works of
+man were to it but as a scroll in the flames. Imagine Niagara's stream,
+above the brink of the Falls, with its dashing, whirling, madly-raging
+waters hurrying on to their plunge, instantaneously converted into fire;
+a gory-hued river of fused minerals; volumes of hissing steam arising;
+some curling upward from ten thousand vents, which give utterance to
+as many deep-toned mutterings, and sullen, confined clamorings; gases
+detonating and shrieking as they burst from their hot prison-house;
+the heavens lurid with flame; the atmosphere dark and oppressive; the
+horizon murky with vapors and gleaming with the reflected contest!
+
+"Such was the scene as the fiery cataract, leaping a precipice of fifty
+feet, poured its flood upon the ocean. The old line of coast, a mass
+of compact, indurated lava, whitened, cracked and fell. The waters
+recoiled, and sent forth a tempest of spray; they foamed and dashed
+around and over the melted rock, they boiled with the heat, and the roar
+of the conflicting agencies grew fiercer and louder. The reports of the
+exploding gases were distinctly heard twenty-five miles distant, and
+were likened to a whole broadside of heavy artillery. Streaks of the
+intensest light glanced like lightning in all directions; the outskirts
+of the burning lava as it fell, cooled by the shock, were shivered into
+millions of fragments, and scattered by the strong wind in sparkling
+showers far into the country. For three successive weeks the volcano
+disgorged an uninterrupted burning tide, with scarcely any diminution,
+into the ocean. On either side, for twenty miles, the sea became heated,
+with such rapidity that, on the second day of the junction of the lava
+with the ocean, fishes came ashore dead in great numbers, at a point
+fifteen miles distant. Six weeks later, at the base of the hills, the
+water continued scalding hot, and sent forth steam at every wash of the
+waves."
+
+
+THE SINKING OF KILAUEA'S FIRE-LAKE
+
+
+In 1866 the great crater of Kilauea presented a new and unlooked-for
+spectacle in the sinking and vanishing of its great lava lake. In March
+of that year the fires in the ancient cauldron totally disappeared, and
+the surrounding lava rock sank to a depth of nearly 600 feet. Mr. Thrum,
+in a pamphlet on "The Suspended Activity of Kilauea," says of it:
+
+"Distant rumbling noises were heard, accompanied by a series of
+earthquakes, forty-three in number. With the fourth shock the brilliancy
+of New Lake disappeared, and towards 3 A. M. the fires in Halemaumau
+disappeared also, leaving the whole crater in darkness.
+
+"With the dawn the shocks and noises ceased, and revealed the
+changes which Kilauea had undergone in the night. All the high cliffs
+surrounding Halemaumau and New Lake, which had become a prominent
+feature in the crater, had vanished entirely, and the molten lava of
+both lakes had disappeared by some subterranean passage from the bottom
+of Halemaumau. There was no material change in the sunken portion of the
+crater except a continual falling in of rocks and debris from its
+banks as the contraction from its former intense heat loosened their
+compactness and sent them hurling some 200 or 300 feet below, giving
+forth at times a boom as of distant thunder, followed by clouds
+of cinders and ashes shooting up into the air 100 to 300 feet,
+proportionate, doubtless, to the size of the newly fallen mass.
+
+"This remarkable recession of the liquid lava in Halemaumau was probably
+due to the opening of some deep subterranean passage through which the
+lake of lava made its way unseen to the ocean's depths. The Rev. Mr.
+Baker, probably the most adventuresome explorer of Hawaiian volcanoes,
+actually descended into that crumbling pit to a point within what he
+judged to be fifty feet of the bottom. But Halemaumau had only taken
+an intermission, for in two short months signs of returning life became
+frequent and unmistakable, and, in June, culminated in the sudden
+outbreak of a lake that has since then steadily increased in activity."
+
+
+THE GODDESS PELE
+
+
+We cannot close this chapter without some reference to the Goddess Pele,
+to whom the Hawaiians long imputed the wonder-work of their volcanic
+mountains. When there is unusual commotion in Kilauea myriads of
+thread-like filaments float in the air and fall upon the cliffs, making
+deposits much resembling matted hair. A single filament over fifteen
+inches long was picked up on a Hilo veranda, having sailed in the air
+a distance of fifty miles. This is the famous Pele's Hair, being the
+glass-like product of volcanic fires. It resembles Prince Rupert's
+Drops, and the tradition is that whenever the volcano becomes active
+it is because Pele, the Goddess of the crater, emerges from her fiery
+furnace and shakes her vitreous locks in anger.
+
+This fabled being, according to Emerson, in a paper on "The Lesser
+Hawaiian Gods," "could at times assume the appearance of a handsome
+young woman, as when Kamapauaa, to his cost, was smitten with her charms
+when first he saw her with her sisters at Kilauea." Kamapauaa was a
+gigantic hog, who "could appear as a handsome young man, a hog, a fish
+or a tree." "At other times the innate character of the fury showed
+itself, and Pele appeared in her usual form as an ugly and hateful old
+hag, with tattered and fire-burnt garments, scarcely concealing the
+filth and nakedness of her person. Her bloodshot eyes and fiendish
+countenance paralyzed the beholder, and her touch turned him to stone.
+She was a jealous and vindictive monster, delighting in cruelty, and at
+the slightest provocation overwhelming the unoffending victims of her
+rage in widespread ruin."
+
+The superstition regarding the Goddess Pele was thought to have received
+a death blow in 1825, when Kapiolani, an Hawaiian princess and a
+Christian convert, ascended, with numerous attendants, to the crater of
+Kilauea, where she publicly defied the power and wrath of the goddess.
+No response came to her defiance, she descended in safety, and faith in
+Pele's power was widely shaken.
+
+Yet as late as 1887 the old superstition revived and claimed an exalted
+victim, for in that year the Princess Like Like, the youngest sister of
+the king, starved herself to death to appease the anger of the Goddess
+Pele, supposed to be manifested in Mauna Loa's eruption of that year,
+and to be quieted only by the sacrifice of a victim of royal blood. Thus
+slowly do the old superstitions die away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+Popocatapetl and Other Volcanoes of Mexico and Central America.
+
+
+Mexico is very largely a vast table-land, rising through much of its
+extent to an elevation of from 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea-level, and
+bounded east and west by wide strips of torrid lowlands adjoining the
+oceans. It is crossed at about 19 degrees north latitude by a range of
+volcanic mountains, running in almost a straight line east and west,
+upon which are several extinct volcanic cones, and five active or
+quiescent volcanoes. The highest of these is Popocatapetl, south of the
+city of Mexico and nearly midway between the Atlantic and Pacific.
+
+East of this mountain lies Orizabo, little below it in height, and San
+Martin or Tuxtla, 9,700 feet high, on the coast south of Vera Cruz.
+West of it is Jorullo, 4,000 feet, and Colima, 12,800, near the Pacific
+coast. The volcanic energy continues southward toward the Isthmus,
+but decreases north of this volcanic range. These mountains have shown
+little signs of activity in recent times. Popocatapetl emits smoke, but
+there is no record of an eruption since 1540. Orizabo has been quiet
+since 1566. Tuxtla had a violent eruption in 1793, but since then has
+remained quiescent. Colima is the only one now active. For ten years
+past it has been emitting ashes and smoke. The most remarkable of these
+volcanoes is Jorullo, which closely resembled Monte Nuovo, described in
+Chapter XIII., in its mode of origin.
+
+Popocatapetl, the hill that smokes, in the Mexican language, the huge
+mountain clothed in eternal snows, and regarded by the idolaters of old
+as a god, towers up nearly 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
+in the days of the conquest of Mexico was a volcano in a state of fierce
+activity. It was looked upon by the natives with a strange dread, and
+they told the white strangers with awe that no man could attempt to
+ascend its slopes and yet live; but, from a feeling of vanity, or the
+love of adventure, the Spaniards laughed at these fears, and accordingly
+a party of ten of the followers of Cortes commenced the ascent,
+accompanied by a few Indians. But these latter, after ascending about
+13,000 feet to where the last remains of stunted vegetation existed,
+became alarmed at the subterranean bellowings of the volcano, and
+returned, while the Spaniards still painfully toiled on through
+the rarefied atmosphere, their feet crushing over the scoriae and
+black-glazed volcanic sand, until they stood in the region of perpetual
+snow, amidst the glittering, treacherous glaciers and crevasses, with
+vast slippery-pathed precipices yawning round.
+
+Still they toiled on in this wild and wondrous region. A few hours
+before they were in a land of perpetual summer; here all was snow. They
+suffered the usual distress awarded to those who dare to ascend to these
+solitudes of nature but it was not given to them to achieve the summit,
+for suddenly, at a higher elevation, after listening to various ominous
+threatenings from the interior of the volcano, they encountered so
+fierce a storm of smoke, cinders, and sparks, that they were driven back
+half suffocated to the lower portions of the mountain.
+
+Some time after another attempt was made; and upon this occasion with
+a definite object. The invaders had nearly exhausted their stock of
+gunpowder, and Cortes organized a party to ascend to the crater of the
+volcano, to seek and bring down sulphur for the manufacture of this
+necessary of warfare. This time the party numbered but five, led by
+one Francisco Montano; and they experienced no very great difficulty in
+winning their way upwards. The region of verdure gave place to the wild,
+lava-strewn slope, which was succeeded in its turn by the treacherous
+glaciers; and at last the gallant little band stood at the very edge
+of the crater, a vast depression of over a league in circumference, and
+1,000 feet in depth.
+
+
+SULPHUR FROM THE CRATER
+
+
+Flame was issuing from the hideous abysses, and the stoutest man's heart
+must have quailed as he peered down into the dim, mysterious cavity to
+where the sloping sides were crusted with bright yellow sulphur, and
+listened to the mutterings which warned him of the pent-up wrath and
+power of the mighty volcano. They knew that at any moment flame and
+stifling sulphurous vapor might be belched forth, but now no cowardice
+was shown. They had come provided with ropes and baskets, and it only
+remained to see who should descend. Lots were therefore drawn, and
+it fell to Montano, who was accordingly lowered by his followers in a
+basket 400 feet into the treacherous region of eternal fires.
+
+The basket swayed and the rope quivered and vibrated, but the brave
+cavalier sturdily held to his task, disdaining to show fear before his
+humble companions. The lurid light from beneath flashed upon his tanned
+features, and a sulphurous steam rose slowly and condensed upon the
+sides; but, whatever were his thoughts, the Spaniard collected as
+much sulphur as he could take up with him, breaking off the bright
+incrustations, and even dallying with his task as if in contempt of
+the danger, till he had leisurely filed his basket, when the signal was
+given and he was drawn up. The basket was emptied, and then he once more
+descended into the lurid crater, collected another store and was again
+drawn up; but far from shrinking from his task, he descended again
+several times, till a sufficiency had been obtained, with which the
+party descended to the plain.
+
+
+THE VOLCANO JORULLO
+
+
+No further back than the middle of the eighteenth century the site of
+Jorullo was a level plain, including several highly-cultivated fields,
+which formed the farm of Don Pedro di Jorullo. The plain was watered
+by two small rivers, called Cuitimba and San Pedro, and was bounded by
+mountains composed of basalt--the only indications of former volcanic
+action. These fields were well irrigated, and among the most fertile in
+the country, producing abundant crops of sugar-cane and indigo.
+
+In the month of June, 1759, the cultivators of the farm began to
+be disturbed by strange subterranean noises of an alarming kind,
+accompanied by frequent shocks of earthquake, which continued for nearly
+a couple of months; but they afterward entirely ceased, so that the
+inhabitants of the place were lulled into security. On the night between
+the 28th and 29th of September, however, the subterranean noises
+were renewed with greater loudness than before, and the ground shook
+severely. The Indian servants living on the place started from their
+beds in terror, and fled to the neighboring mountains. Thence gazing
+upon their master's farm they beheld it, along with a tract of ground
+measuring between three and four square miles, in the midst of which it
+stood, rise up bodily, as if it had been inflated from beneath like a
+bladder. At the edges this tract was uplifted only about 39 feet above
+the original surface, but so great was its convexity that toward the
+middle it attained a height of no less than 524 feet.
+
+The Indians who beheld this strange phenomenon declared that they saw
+flames issuing from several parts of this elevated tract, that the
+entire surface became agitated like a stormy sea, that great clouds
+of ashes, illuminated by volcanic fires glowing beneath them, rose at
+several points, and that white-hot stones were thrown to an immense
+height. Vast chasms were at the same time opened in the ground, and
+into these the two small rivers above mentioned plunged. Their waters,
+instead of extinguishing the subterranean conflagration, seemed only
+to add to its intensity. Quantities of mud, enveloping balls of basalt,
+were then thrown up, and the surface of the elevated ground became
+studded with small cones, from which volumes of dense vapor, chiefly
+steam, were emitted, some of the jets rising from 20 to 30 feet in
+height.
+
+These cones the Indians called ovens, and in many of them was long heard
+a subterranean noise resembling that of water briskly boiling. Out of a
+great chasm in the midst of those ovens there were thrown up six larger
+elevations, the highest being 1,640 feet above the level of the plain,
+4,315 above sea level, and now constituting the principal volcano of
+Jorullo. The smallest of the six was 300 feet in height; the others of
+intermediate elevation. The highest of these hills had on its summit
+a regular volcanic crater, whence there have been thrown up great
+quantities of dross and lava, containing fragments of older rocks. The
+ashes were transported to immense distances, some of them having fallen
+on the houses at Queretaro, more than forty-eight leagues from Jorullo.
+The volcano continued in this energetic state of activity for about four
+months; in the following years its eruptions became less frequent, but
+it still continues to emit volumes of vapor from the principal crater,
+as well as from many of the ovens in the upheaved ground.
+
+
+EFFECT ON THE RIVERS
+
+
+The two rivers, which disappeared on the first night of this great
+eruption, now pursue an underground course for about a mile and a
+quarter, and then reappear as hot springs, with a temperature of 126
+degrees F.
+
+This wonderful volcanic upheaval is all the more remarkable, from the
+inland situation of the plain on which it occurred, it being no less
+than 120 miles distant from the nearest ocean, while there is no other
+volcano nearer to it than 80 miles. The activity of the ovens has now
+ceased, and portions of the upheaved plain on which they are situated
+have again been brought under cultivation, and the volcano is in a state
+of quiescence.
+
+The crater of Popocatapetl, which towers to a height of 17,000 feet, is
+a vast circular basin, whose nearly vertical walls are in some parts
+of a pale rose tint, in others quite black. The bottom contains several
+small fuming cones, whence arise vapors of changeable color, being
+successively red, yellow and white. All round them are large deposits of
+sulphur, which are worked for mercantile purposes.
+
+Orizaba has a little less lofty snow-clad peak. This mountain was in
+brisk volcanic activity from 1545 to 1560, but has since then relapsed
+into a prolonged repose. It was climbed, in 1856, by Baron Muller, to
+whose mind the crater appeared like the entrance to a lower world of
+horrible darkness. He was struck with astonishment on contemplating the
+tremendous forces required to elevate and rend such enormous masses--to
+melt them, and then pile them up like towers, until by cooling they
+became consolidated into their present forms. The internal walls of the
+crater are in many places coated with sulphur, and at the bottom are
+several small volcanic craters. At the time of his visit the summit
+was wholly covered with snow, but the Indians affirmed that hot vapors
+occasionally ascend from fissures in the rocks. Since then others have
+reached its summit, among them Angelo Heilprin, the first to gaze into
+the crater of Mont Pelee after its eruption.
+
+
+ERUPTIONS IN NICARAGUA
+
+
+On the 14th of November, 1867, there commenced an eruption from a
+mountain about eight leagues to the eastward of the city of Leon,
+in Nicaragua. This mountain does not appear to have been previously
+recognized as an active volcano, but it is situated in a very volcanic
+country. The outburst had probably some connection with the earthquake
+at St. Thomas, which took place on the 18th of November following. The
+mountain continued in a state of activity for about sixteen days. There
+was thrown out an immense quantity of black sand, which was carried as
+far as to the coast of the Pacific, fifty miles distant. Glowing stones
+were projected from the crater to an estimated height of three thousand
+feet.
+
+Central America is more prolific of volcanoes than Mexico, and the
+State of Guatemala in particular. One authority credits this State with
+fifteen or sixteen and another with more than thirty volcanic cones.
+Of these at least five are decidedly active. Tajumalco, which was in
+eruption at the time of the great earthquake of 1863, yields great
+quantities of sulphur, as also does Quesaltenango. The most famous is
+the Volcan de Agua (Water Volcano), so called from its overwhelming the
+old city of Guatemala with a torrent of water in 1541.
+
+Nicaragua is also rich in volcanoes, being traversed its entire length
+by a remarkable chain of isolated volcanic cones, several of which are
+to some extent active. We have already told the story of the tremendous
+eruption of Coseguina in 1835, one of the most violent of modern times.
+The latest important eruption here was that of Ometepec, a volcanic
+mount on an island of the same name in Lake Nicaragua. This broke a long
+period of repose on June 19, 1883, with a severe eruption, in which
+the lava, pouring from a new crater, in seven days overflowed the whole
+island and drove off its population. Incessant rumblings and earthquake
+shocks accompanied the eruption, and mud, ashes, stones and lava covered
+the mountain slopes, which had been cultivated for many centuries.
+These were the most recent strong displays of volcanic energy in Central
+America, though former great outflows of lava are indicated by great
+fields of barren rock, which extend for miles.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+The Terrible Eruption of Krakatoa.
+
+
+The most destructive volcanic explosion of recent times, one perhaps
+unequalled in violence in all times, was that of the small mountain
+island of Krakatoa, in the East Indian Archipelago, in 1883. This made
+its effects felt round the entire globe, and excited such wide attention
+that we feel called upon to give it a chapter of its own.
+
+The island of Krakatoa lies in the Straits of Sunda, between Java and
+Sumatra. In size it is insignificant, and had been silent so long that
+its volcanic character was almost lost sight of. Of its early history we
+know nothing. At some remote time in the past it may have appeared as a
+large cone, of some twenty-five miles in circumference at base and not
+less than 10,000 feet high. Then, still in unknown times, its cone was
+blown away by internal forces, leaving only a shattered and irregular
+crater ring. This crater was two or three miles in diameter, while the
+highest part of its walls rose only a few hundred feet above the sea.
+Later volcanic work built up a number of small cones within the crater,
+and still later a new cone, called Rakata, rose on the edge of the old
+one to a height of 2,623 feet.
+
+The first known event in the history of the island volcano was an
+eruption in the year 1680. After that it lay in repose, forming a group
+of islands, one much larger than the others. Some of the smaller islands
+indicated the rim of the old crater, much of which was buried under the
+sea. Its state of quiescence continued for two centuries, a tropical
+vegetation richly mantled the island, and to all appearance it had sunk
+permanently to rest.
+
+Indications of a coming change appeared in 1880, in the form of
+earthquakes, which shook all the region around. These continued at
+intervals for more that two years. Then, on May 20, 1883, there were
+heard at Batavia, a hundred miles away, "booming sounds like the firing
+of artillery." Next day the captain of a vessel passing through the
+Straits saw that Krakatoa was in eruption, sending up clouds of smoke
+and showers of dust and pumice. The smoke was estimated to reach a
+height of seven miles, while the volcanic dust drifted to localities 300
+miles away.
+
+
+AWFUL PREMONITIONS
+
+
+The mountain continued to play for about fourteen weeks with varying
+activity, several parties meanwhile visiting it and making observations.
+Such an eruption, in ordinary cases, would have ultimately died away,
+with no marked change other than perhaps the ejection of a stream of
+lava. But such was not now the case. The sequel was at once unexpected
+and terrible. As the island was uninhabited, no one actually saw what
+took place, those nearest to the scene of the eruption having enough
+to do to save their own lives, while the dense clouds of vapor and dust
+baffled observation.
+
+The phase of greatest violence set in on Sunday, August 26th. Soon after
+midday sailors on passing ships saw that the island had vanished behind
+a dense cloud of black vapor, the height of which was estimated at not
+less than seventeen miles. At intervals frightful detonations resounded,
+and after a time a rain of pumice began to fall at places ten miles
+distant. For miles round fierce flashes of lightning rent the vapor,
+and at a distance of fully forty miles ghostly corposants gleamed on the
+rigging of a vessel.
+
+These phenomena grew more and more alarming until August 27th, when four
+explosions of fearful intensity shook earth and sea and air, the third
+being "far the most violent and productive of the most widespread
+results." It was, in fact, perhaps the most tremendous volcanic
+outburst, in its intensity, known in human history. It seemed to
+overcome the obstruction to the energy of the internal forces, for the
+eruption now declined, and in a day or two practically died away, though
+one or two comparatively insignificant outbursts took place later.
+
+
+FAR-REACHING DESTRUCTION
+
+
+The eruption spread ruin and death over many surrounding leagues. At
+Krakotoa itself, when men once more reached its shores, everything was
+found to be changed. About two-thirds of the main island were blown
+completely away. The marginal cone was cut nearly in half vertically,
+the new cliff falling precipitously toward the centre of the crater.
+Where land had been before now sea existed, in some places more than
+one hundred feet deep. But the part of the island that remained had been
+somewhat increased in size by ejected materials.
+
+Of the other islands and islets some had disappeared; some were
+partially destroyed; some were enlarged by fallen debris, while many
+changes had taken place in the depth of the neighboring sea-bed. Two
+new islands, Steers and Calmeyer, were formed. The ejected pumice, so
+cavernous in structure as to float upon the water, at places formed
+great floating islands which covered the sea for miles, and sometimes
+rose from four to seven feet above it, proving a serious obstacle
+to navigation. On vessels near by dust fell to the depth of eighteen
+inches. The enormous clouds of volcanic dust which had been flung high
+into the air darkened the sky for a great area around. At Batavia, about
+a hundred miles from the volcano, it produced an effect not unlike that
+of a London fog. This began about seven in the morning of August 27th.
+Soon after ten the light had become lurid and yellow, and lamps were
+required in the houses; then came a downfall of rain, mingled with dust,
+and by about half-past eleven the town was in complete darkness. It
+soon after began to lighten, and the rain to diminish, and about three
+o'clock it had ceased.
+
+At Buitenzorg, twenty miles further away, the conditions were similar,
+but lasted for a shorter time. In places much farther away the upper sky
+presented a strangely murky aspect, and the sun assumed a green color.
+Phenomena of this kind were traced over a broad area of the globe, even
+as far as the Hawaiian Islands, while over a yet wider area the sky
+after sunset was lit up by after-glows of extraordinary beauty. The
+height to which the dust was projected has been calculated from various
+data, with the result that 121,500 feet, or nearly 25 miles, is thought
+to be a probable maximum estimate, though it may be that occasional
+fragments of larger size were shot up to a still greater height.
+
+
+A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE ERUPTION
+
+
+Another effect, of a distressing character, followed the eruption. A
+succession of enormous waves, emanating from Krakatoa, traversed the
+sea, and swept the coast bordering the Straits of Sunda with such force
+as to destroy many villages on the low-lying shores in Java, Sumatra and
+other islands. Some buildings at a height of fifty feet above sea-level
+were washed away, and in some places the water rose higher, in one place
+reaching the height of 115 feet. At Telok Betong, in Sumatra, a ship was
+carried inland a distance of nearly two miles, and left stranded at a
+height of thirty feet above the sea.
+
+The eruption of Krakatoa seems to have been due to some deep-lying
+causes of extraordinary violence, this appearing not only in the
+terrible explosion which tore the island to fragments and sent its
+remnants as floating dust many miles high into the air, but also from an
+internal convulsion that affected many of the volcanoes of Java, which
+almost simultaneously broke into violent eruption. We extract from
+Dr. Robert Bonney's "Our Earth and its Story" a description of these
+closely-related events.
+
+"The disturbances originated on the island of Krakatoa, with eruptions
+of red hot stones and ashes, and by noon next day Semeru, the largest of
+the Javanese volcanoes, was reported to be belching forth flames at
+an alarming rate. The eruption soon spread to Gunung Guntur and other
+mountains, until more than a third of the forty-five craters of Java
+were either in activity or seriously threatening it.
+
+"Just before dusk a great cloud hung over Gunung Guntur, and the crater
+of the volcano began to emit enormous streams of white sulphurous
+mud and lava, which were rapidly succeeded by explosions, followed by
+tremendous showers of cinders and enormous fragments of rock, which were
+hurled high into the air and scattered in all directions, carrying death
+and destruction with them. The overhanging clouds were, moreover, so
+charged with electricity that water-spouts added to the horror of the
+scene. The eruption continued all Saturday night, and next day a dense
+cloud, shot with lurid red, gathered over the Kedang range, intimating
+that an eruption had broken out there.
+
+"This proved to be the case, for soon after streams of lava poured down
+the mountain sides into the valleys, sweeping everything before them.
+About two o'clock on Monday morning--we are drawing on the account of
+an eye-witness--the great cloud suddenly broke into small sections and
+vanished. When light came it was seen that an enormous tract of land,
+extending from Point Capucin on the south, and Negery Passoerang on the
+north and west, to the lowest point, covering about fifty square miles,
+had been temporarily submerged by the 'tidal wave.' Here were situated
+the villages of Negery and Negery Babawang. Few of the inhabitants of
+these places escaped death. This section of the island was less
+densely populated than the other portions, and the loss of life was
+comparatively small, although it must have aggregated several thousands.
+The waters of Welcome Bay in the Sunda Straits, Pepper Bay on the east,
+and the Indian Ocean on the south, had rushed in and formed a sea of
+turbulent waves.
+
+
+DETONATIONS HEARD FOR MANY MILES AWAY
+
+
+"On Monday night the volcano of Papandayang was in an active state of
+paroxysmal eruption, accompanied by detonations which are said to have
+been heard for many miles away. In Sumatra three distinct columns of
+flame were seen to rise from a mountain to a vast height, and its whole
+surface was soon covered with fiery lava streams, which spread to
+great distances on all sides. Stones fell for miles around, and black
+fragmentary matter carried into the air caused total darkness. A
+whirlwind accompanied the eruption, by which house-roofs, trees, men,
+and horses were swept into the air. The quantity of matter ejected was
+such as to cover the ground and the roofs of the houses at Denamo to
+the depth of several inches. Suddenly the scene changed. At first it was
+reported that Papandayang had been split into seven distinct peaks. This
+proved untrue; but in the open seams formed could be seen great balls of
+molten matter. From the fissures poured forth clouds of steam and black
+lava, which, flowing in steady streams, ran slowly down the mountain
+sides, forming beds 200 or 300 feet in extent. At the entrance to
+Batavia was a large group of houses extending along the shore, and
+occupied by Chinamen. This portion of the city was entirely destroyed,
+and not many of the Chinese who lived on the swampy plains managed to
+save their lives. They stuck to their homes till the waves came and
+washed them away, fearing torrents of flame and lava more than torrents
+of water.
+
+"Of the 3,500 Europeans and Americans in Batavia--which for several
+hours was in darkness, owing to the fall of ashes--800 perished at
+Anjer. The European and American quarter was first overwhelmed by rocks,
+mud and lava from the crater, and then the waters came up and swallowed
+the ruins, leaving nothing to mark the site, and causing the loss of
+about 200 lives of the inhabitants and those who sought refuge there."
+
+The loss of life above mentioned was but a small fraction of the total
+loss. All along the coasts of the adjoining large islands towns and
+villages were swept away and their inhabitants drowned, till the total
+loss was, as nearly as could be estimated, 36,000 souls. Krakatoa thus
+surpassed Mont Pelee in its tale of destruction. These two, indeed, have
+been the most destructive to life of known volcanic explosions, since
+the volcano usually falls far short of the earthquake in its murderous
+results.
+
+The distant effects of this explosion were as remarkable as the near
+ones. The concussion of the air reached to an unprecedented distance
+and the clouds of floating dust encircled the earth, producing striking
+phenomena of which an account is given at the end of this chapter.
+
+The rapidity with which the effects of the Krakatoa eruption made
+themselves evident in all parts of the earth is perhaps the most
+remarkable outcome of this extraordinary event. The floating pumice
+reached the harbor of St. Paul on the 22nd of March, 1884, after having
+made a voyage of some two hundred and sixty days at a rate of
+six-tenths of a mile an hour. Immense quantities of pumice of a similar
+description, and believed to have been derived from the same source,
+reached Tamatave in Madagascar five months later, and no doubt much of
+it long continued to float round the world.
+
+
+SERIES OF ATMOSPHERIC WAVES
+
+
+Another result of the eruption was the series of atmospheric waves,
+caused by the disturbance in the atmosphere, which affected the
+barometer over the entire world. The velocity with which these waves
+traveled has been variously estimated at from 912.09 feet to 1066.29
+feet per second. This speed is, of course, very much inferior to that at
+which sound travels through the air. Yet, in three distinct cases, the
+noise of the Krakatoa explosions was plainly heard at a distance of at
+least 2,200 miles, and in one instance--that recorded from Rodriguez--of
+nearly 3,000. The sound travelled to Ceylon, Burmah, Manila, New Guinea
+and Western Australia, places, however, within a radius of about 2,000
+miles; out Diego Garcia lies outside that area, and Rodriguez a thousand
+miles beyond it. Six days subsequent to the explosion, after the
+atmospheric waves had traveled four times round the globe, the barometer
+was still affected by them.
+
+Another result, similar in kind, was the extraordinary dissemination of
+the great ocean wave, which in a like manner seems to have encircled the
+earth, since high waves, without evident cause, appeared not only in
+the Pacific, but at many places on the Atlantic coast within a few days
+after the event. They were observed alike in England and at New York.
+The writer happened to be at Atlantic City, on the New Jersey coast,
+at this time. It was a period of calm, the winds being at rest, but,
+unheralded, there came in an ocean wave of such height as to sweep away
+the ocean-front boardwalk and do much other damage. He ascribed this
+strange wave at the time to the Krakatoa explosion, and is of the same
+opinion still.
+
+In addition to the account given of this extraordinary volcanic event,
+it seems desirable to give Sir Robert S. Ball's description of it in his
+recent work, "The Earth's Beginnings." While repeating to some
+extent what we have already said, it is worthy, from its freshness of
+description and general readability, of a place here.
+
+
+SIR ROBERT S. BALL'S DESCRIPTION
+
+
+"Until the year 1883 few had ever heard of Krakatoa. It was unknown
+to fame, as are hundreds of other gems of glorious vegetation set
+in tropical waters. It was not inhabited, but the natives from the
+surrounding shores of Sumatra and Java used occasionally to draw their
+canoes up on its beach, while they roamed through the jungle in search
+of the wild fruits that there abounded. It was known to the mariner who
+navigated the Straits of Sunda, for it was marked on his charts as one
+of the perils of the intricate navigation in those waters. It was no
+doubt recorded that the locality had been once, or more than once,
+the seat of an active volcano. In fact, the island seemed to owe its
+existence to some frightful eruption of by-gone days; but for a couple
+of centuries there had been no fresh outbreak. It almost seemed as if
+Krakatoa might be regarded as a volcano that had become extinct. In this
+respect it would only be like many other similar objects all over the
+globe, or like the countless extinct volcanoes all over the moon.
+
+"As the summer of 1883 advanced the vigor of Krakatoa, which had sprung
+into notoriety at the beginning of the year, steadily increased and the
+noises became more and more vehement; these were presently audible on
+shores ten miles distant, and then twenty miles distant; and still those
+noises waxed louder and louder, until the great thunders of the volcano,
+now so rapidly developing, astonished the inhabitants that dwelt over an
+area at least as large as Great Britain. And there were other symptoms
+of the approaching catastrophe. With each successive convulsion a
+quantity of fine dust was projected aloft into the clouds. The wind
+could not carry this dust away as rapidly as it was hurled upward by
+Krakatoa, and accordingly the atmosphere became heavily charged with
+suspended particles.
+
+"A pall of darkness thus hung over the adjoining seas and islands. Such
+was the thickness and density of these atmospheric volumes of Krakatoa
+dust that, for a hundred miles around, the darkness of midnight
+prevailed at midday. Then the awful tragedy of Krakatoa took place.
+Many thousands of the unfortunate inhabitants of the adjacent shores of
+Sumatra and Java were destined never to behold the sun again. They were
+presently swept away to destruction in an invasion of the shore by the
+tremendous waves with which the seas surrounding Krakatoa were agitated.
+
+"As the days of August passed by the spasms of Krakatoa waxed more and
+more vehement. By the middle of that month the panic was widespread, for
+the supreme catastrophe was at hand. On the night of Sunday, August 26,
+1883, the blackness of the dust-clouds, now much thicker than ever in
+the Straits of Sunda and adjacent parts of Sumatra and Java, was only
+occasionally illumined by lurid flashes from the volcano.
+
+"At the town of Batavia, a hundred miles distant, there was no quiet
+that night. The houses trembled with subterranean violence, and the
+windows rattled as if heavy artillery were being discharged in the
+streets. And still these efforts seemed to be only rehearsing for the
+supreme display. By ten o'clock on the morning of Monday, August 27,
+1883, the rehearsals were over, and the performance began. An overture,
+consisting of two or three introductory explosions, was succeeded by
+a frightful convulsion which tore away a large part of the island of
+Krakatoa and scattered it to the winds of heaven. In that final outburst
+all records of previous explosions on this earth were completely broken.
+
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY NOISE
+
+
+"This supreme effort it was which produced the mightiest noise that, so
+far as we can ascertain, has ever been heard on this globe. It must have
+been indeed a loud noise which could travel from Krakatoa to Batavia and
+preserve its vehemence over so great a distance; but we should form a
+very inadequate conception of the energy of the eruption of Krakatoa if
+we thought that its sounds were heard by those merely a hundred miles
+off. This would be little indeed compared with what is recorded on
+testimony which it is impossible to doubt.
+
+"Westward from Krakatoa stretches the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean.
+On the opposite side from the Straits of Sunda lies the island of
+Rodriguez, the distance from Krakatoa being almost three thousand miles.
+It has been proved by evidence which cannot be doubted that the
+thunders of the great volcano attracted the attention of an intelligent
+coast-guard on Rodriguez, who carefully noted the character of the
+sounds and the time of their occurrence. He had heard them just four
+hours after the actual explosion, for this is the time the sound
+occupied on its journey.
+
+
+A CONSTANT WIND
+
+
+"This mighty incident at Krakatoa has taught us other lessons on the
+constitution of our atmosphere. We previously knew little, or I might
+say almost nothing, as to the conditions prevailing above the height
+of ten miles overhead. It was Krakatoa which first gave us a little
+information which was greatly wanted. How could we learn what winds were
+blowing at a height four times as great as the loftiest mountain on the
+earth, and twice as great as the loftiest altitude to which a balloon
+has ever soared? No doubt a straw will show which way the wind blows,
+but there are no straws up there. There was nothing to render the winds
+perceptible until Krakatoa came to our aid. Krakatoa drove into those
+winds prodigious quantities of dust. Hundreds of cubic miles of air were
+thus deprived of that invisibility which they had hitherto maintained.
+
+"With eyes full of astonishment men watched those vast volumes of
+Krakatoa dust on a tremendous journey. Of course, every one knows the
+so-called trade-winds on our earth's surface, which blow steadily in
+fixed directions, and which are of such service to the mariner. But
+there is yet another constant wind. It was first disclosed by Krakatoa.
+Before the occurrence of that eruption, no one had the slightest
+suspicion that far up aloft, twenty miles over our heads, a mighty
+tempest is incessantly hurrying, with a speed much greater than that of
+the awful hurricane which once laid so large a part of Calcutta on the
+ground and slew so many of its inhabitants. Fortunately for humanity,
+this new trade-wind does not come within less than twenty miles of the
+earth's surface. We are thus preserved from the fearful destruction that
+its unintermittent blasts would produce, blasts against which no tree
+could stand and which would, in ten minutes, do as much damage to a city
+as would the most violent earthquake. When this great wind had become
+charged with the dust of Krakatoa, then, for the first, and, I may add,
+for the only time, it stood revealed to human vision. Then it was seen
+that this wind circled round the earth in the vicinity of the equator,
+and completed its circuit in about thirteen days.
+
+
+A VAST CLOUD Of DUST
+
+
+"The dust manufactured by the supreme convulsion was whirled round
+the earth in the mighty atmospheric current into which the volcano
+discharged it. As the dust-cloud was swept along by this incomparable
+hurricane it showed its presence in the most glorious manner by decking
+the sun and the moon in hues of unaccustomed splendor and beauty. The
+blue color in the sky under ordinary circumstances is due to particles
+in the air, and when the ordinary motes of the sunbeam were reinforced
+by the introduction of the myriads of motes produced by Krakatoa even
+the sun itself sometimes showed a blue tint. Thus the progress of the
+great dust-cloud was traced out by the extraordinary sky effects it
+produced, and from the progress of the dust-cloud we inferred the
+movements of the invisible air current which carried it along. Nor need
+it be thought that the quantity of material projected from Krakatoa
+should have been inadequate to produce effects of this world-wide
+description. Imagine that the material which was blown to the winds of
+heaven by the supreme convulsion of Krakatoa could be all recovered and
+swept into one vast heap. Imagine that the heap were to have its bulk
+measured by a vessel consisting of a cube one mile long, one mile broad
+and one mile deep; it has been estimated that even this prodigious
+vessel would have to be filled to the brim at least ten times before all
+the products of Krakatoa had been measured."
+
+It is not specially to the quantity of material ejected from Krakatoa
+that it owes its reputation. Great as it was, it has been much
+surpassed. Professor Judd says that the great eruptions of
+Papapandayang, in Java, in 1772, of Skaptur Jokull, in Iceland, in 1783,
+and of Tamboro, in Sumbawa, in 1815, were marked by the extrusion of
+much larger quantities of material. The special feature of the Krakatoa
+eruption was its extreme violence, which flung volcanic dust to a height
+probably never before attained, and produced sea and air waves of an
+intensity unparalleled in the records of volcanic action. Judd thinks
+this was due to the situation of the crater, and the possible inflow
+through fissures of a great volume of sea water to the interior lava,
+the result being the sudden production of an enormous volume of steam.
+
+
+EXTRAORDINARY RED SUNSETS
+
+
+The red sunsets spoken of above were so extraordinary in character
+that a fuller description of them seems advisable. A remarkable fact
+concerning them is the great rapidity with which they were disseminated
+to distant regions of the earth. They appeared around the entire
+equatorial zone in a few days after the eruption, this doubtless being
+due to the great rapidity with which the volcanic dust was carried by
+the upper air current. They were seen at Rodriguez, 3,000 miles away, on
+August 28, and within a week in every part of the torrid zone. From
+this zone they spread north and south with less rapidity. Their first
+appearance in Australia was on September 15th, and at the Cape of Good
+Hope on the 20th. On the latter day they were observed in California and
+the Southern United States. They were first seen in England on November
+9th. Elsewhere in Europe and the United States they appeared from
+November 20th to 30th.
+
+The effect lasted in some instances as long as an hour and
+three-quarters after sunset. In India the sun and skies assumed a
+greenish hue, and there was much curiosity regarding the cause of the
+"green sun." Another remarkable phenomenon of this period was the great
+prevalence of rain during the succeeding winter. This probably was due
+to the same cause; that is, to the fact of the air being so filled with
+dust; the prevailing theory in regard to rain being that the existence
+of dust in the air is necessary to its fall. The vapor of the air
+concentrates into drops around such minute particles, the result being
+that where dust is absent rain cannot fall.
+
+As regards the sunsets spoken of, there are three similar instances on
+record. The first of these was in the year 526, when a dry fog covered
+the Roman Empire with a red haze. Nothing further is known concerning
+it. The other instances were in the years 1783 and 1831. The former of
+these has been traced to the great eruption of Skaptur Jokull in that
+year. It lasted for several months as a pale blue haze, and occasioned
+so much obscurity that the sun was only visible when twelve degrees
+above the horizon, and then it had a blood-red appearance. Violent
+thunderstorms were associated with it, thus assimilating it with that of
+1883. Alike in 1783 and 1831 there was a pearly, phosphorescent gleam in
+the atmosphere, by which small print could be read at midnight. We know
+nothing regarding the meteorological conditions of 1831.
+
+The red sunsets of 1883 were remarkable for their long persistence.
+They were observed in the autumn of 1884 with almost their original
+brilliancy, and they were still visible in 1885, being seen at
+intervals, as if the dust was then distributed in patches, and driven
+about by the winds. In fact, similar sunsets were occasionally visible
+for several years afterwards. These may well have been due to the same
+cause, when we consider with what extreme slowness very fine dust makes
+its way through the air, and how much it may be affected by the winds.
+
+
+THE RED SUNSETS DESCRIBED
+
+
+One writer describes the appearance of these sunsets in the following
+terms: "Immediately after sunset a patch of white light appeared ten
+or fifteen degrees above the horizon, and shone for ten minutes with a
+pearly lustre. Beneath it a layer of bright red rested on the horizon,
+melting upward into orange, and this passed into yellow light, which
+spread around the lucid spot. Next the white light grew of a rosy tint,
+and soon became an intense rose hue. A vivid golden oriole yellow strip
+divided it from the red fringe below and the rose red above." This
+description, although exaggerated, represents the general conditions of
+the phenomenon.
+
+On October 20th, 1884, the author observed the sunset effect as follows:
+"Immediately after the sun had set, a broad cone of silvery lustre
+rested upon a horizon of smoky pink. After fifteen minutes the white
+became rose color above and yellowish below, deepening to lemon color,
+and finally into reddish tint, while the rose faded out. The whole cone
+gradually sank and died away in the brownish red flush on the horizon,
+more than an hour after sunset." The time of duration varied, since,
+on the succeeding evening, it lasted only a half-hour. These sunset
+effects, if we can justly attribute them all to the Krakatoa eruption,
+were extraordinary not alone for their intensity and beauty but for
+their extended duration, the influence of this remarkable volcanic
+outbreak being visible for several years after the event.
+
+Though no doubt is entertained concerning the cause of the red sunset
+effects of 1783 and 1883, that of 1831 is not so readily explained,
+there having been no known volcanic explosion of great intensity in that
+year. But in view of the fact that volcanoes exist in unvisited parts
+of the earth, some of which may have been at work unknown to scientific
+man, this difficulty is not insuperable. Possibly Mounts Erebus or
+Terror, the burning mountains of the Antarctic zone, may, unseen by
+man, have prepared for civilized lands this grand spectacular effect of
+Nature's doings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+Mount Pelee and its Harvest of Death.
+
+
+St. Pierre, the principal city of the French island of Martinique, in
+the West Indies, lies for the length of about a mile along the island
+coast, with high cliffs hemming it in, its houses climbing the slope,
+tier upon tier. At one place where a river breaks through the cliffs,
+the city creeps further up towards the mountains. As seen from the bay,
+its appearance is picturesque and charming, with the soft tints of its
+tiles, the grey of its walls, the clumps of verdure in its midst,
+and the wall of green in the rear. Seen from its streets this beauty
+disappears, and the chief attraction of the town is gone.
+
+Back from the three miles of hills which sweep in an arc round the town,
+is the noble Montagne Pelee lying several miles to the north of the
+city, a mass of dark rock some four thousand feet high, with jagged
+outline, and cleft with gorges and ravines, down which flow numerous
+streams, gushing from the crater lake of the great volcano.
+
+Though known to be a volcano, it was looked upon as practically extinct,
+though as late as August, 1856, it had been in eruption. No lava at that
+time came from its crater, but it hurled out great quantities of ashes
+and mud, with strong sulphurous odor. Then it went to rest again, and
+slept till 1902.
+
+The people had long ceased to fear it. No one expected that grand old
+Mount Pelee, the slumbering (so it was thought) tranquil old hill, would
+ever spurt forth fire and death. This was entirely unlooked for. Mont
+Pelee was regarded by the natives as a sort of protector; they had an
+almost superstitious affection for it. From the outskirts of the city it
+rose gradually, its sides grown thick with rich grass, and dotted here
+and there with spreading shrubbery and drooping trees. There was
+no pleasanter outing for an afternoon than a journey up the green,
+velvet-like sides of the towering mountain and a view of the quaint,
+picturesque city slumbering at its base.
+
+
+A PEACEFUL SCENE
+
+
+There were no rocky cliffs, no crags, no protruding boulders. The
+mountain was peace itself. It seemed to promise perpetual protection.
+The poetic natives relied upon it to keep back storms from the land and
+frighten, with its stern brow, the tempests from the sea. They pointed
+to it with profoundest pride as one of the most beautiful mountains in
+the world.
+
+Children played in its bowers and arbors; families picnicked there day
+after day during the balmy weather; hundreds of tourists ascended to
+the summit and looked with pleasure at the beautiful crystal lake
+which sparkled and glinted in the sunshine. Mont Pelee was the place
+of enjoyment of the people of St. Pierre. I can hear the placid natives
+say: "Old Father Pelee is our protector--not our destroyer."
+
+Not until two weeks before the eruption did the slumbering mountain
+show signs of waking to death and disaster. On the 23d of April it first
+displayed symptoms of internal disquiet. A great column of smoke began
+to rise from it, and was accompanied from time to time by showers of
+ashes and cinders.
+
+Despite these signals, there was nothing until Monday, May 5th, to
+indicate actual danger. On that day a stream of smoking mud and lava
+burst through the top of the crater and plunged into the valley of
+the River Blanche, overwhelming the Guerin sugar works and killing
+twenty-three workmen and the son of the proprietor. Mr. Guerin's was
+one of the largest sugar works on the island; its destruction entailed
+a heavy loss. The mud which overwhelmed it followed the beds of streams
+towards the north of the island.
+
+The alarm in the city was great, but it was somewhat allayed by the
+report of an expert commission appointed by the Governor, which decided
+that the eruption was normal and that the city was in no peril. To
+further allay the excitement, the Governor, with several scientists,
+took up his residence in St. Pierre. He could not restrain the people
+by force, but the moral effect of his presence and the decision of the
+scientists had a similar disastrous result.
+
+
+A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION BY A SUFFERER.
+
+
+The existing state of affairs during these few waiting days is so
+graphically given in a letter from Mrs. Thomas T. Prentis, wife of the
+United States Consul at St. Pierre, to her sister in Melrose, a suburban
+city of Boston, that we quote it here:
+
+"My Dear Sister: This morning the whole population of the city is on the
+alert and every eye is directed toward Mont Pelee, an extinct volcano.
+Everybody is afraid that the volcano has taken into its heart to burst
+forth and destroy the whole island.
+
+"Fifty years ago Mont Pelee burst forth with terrific force and
+destroyed everything within a radius of several miles. For several days
+the mountain has been bursting forth in flame and immense quantities of
+lava are flowing down its sides.
+
+"All the inhabitants are going up to see it. There is not a horse to
+be had on the island, those belonging to the natives being kept in
+readiness to leave at a moment's notice.
+
+"Last Wednesday, which was April 23d, I was in my room with little
+Christine, and we heard three distinct shocks. They were so great that
+we supposed at first that there was some one at the door, and Christine
+went and found no one there. The first report was very loud, and the
+second and third were so great that dishes were thrown from the shelves
+and the house was rocked.
+
+"We can see Mont Pelee from the rear windows of our house, and although
+it is fully four miles away, we can hear the roar of the fire and lava
+issuing from it.
+
+"The city is covered with ashes and clouds of smoke have been over our
+heads for the last five days. The smell of sulphur is so strong that
+horses on the streets stop and snort, and some of them are obliged to
+give up, drop in their harness and die from suffocation. Many of the
+people are obliged to wear wet handkerchiefs over their faces to protect
+them from the fumes of sulphur.
+
+"My husband assures me that there is no immediate danger, and when there
+is the least particle of danger we will leave the place. There is an
+American schooner, the R. F. Morse, in the harbor, and she will remain
+here for at least two weeks. If the volcano becomes very bad we shall
+embark at once and go out to sea. The papers in this city are asking
+if we are going to experience another earthquake similar to that which
+struck here some fifty years ago."
+
+
+THE FATEFUL EIGHTH OF MAY
+
+
+The writer of this letter and her husband, Consul Prentis, trusted Mont
+Pelee too long. They perished, with all the inhabitants of the city, in
+a deadly flood of fire and ashes that descended on the devoted place
+on the fateful morning of Thursday, May 8th. Only for the few who were
+rescued from the ships in the harbor there would be scarcely a living
+soul to tell that dread story of ruin and death. The most graphic
+accounts are those given by rescued officers of the Roraima, one of the
+fleet of the Quebec Steamship Co., trading with the West Indies. This
+vessel had left the Island of Dominica for Martinique at midnight of
+Wednesday, and reached St. Pierre about 7 o'clock Thursday morning. The
+greatest difficulty was experienced in getting into port, the air being
+thick with falling ashes and the darkness intense. The ship had to
+grope its way to the anchorage. Appalling sounds were issuing from the
+mountain behind the town, which was shrouded in darkness. The ashes were
+falling thickly on the steamer's deck, where the passengers and others
+were gazing at the town, some being engaged in photographing the scene.
+
+The best way in which we can describe a scene of which few lived to tell
+the story, is to give the narratives of a number of the survivors.
+From their several stories a coherent idea of the terrible scene can
+be formed. From the various accounts given of the terrible explosion
+by officers of the Roraima, we select as a first example the following
+description by Assistant Purser Thompson:
+
+
+A TALE OF SUDDEN RUIN
+
+
+"I saw St. Pierre destroyed. It was blotted out by one great flash of
+fire. Nearly 40,000 persons were all killed at once. Out of eighteen
+vessels lying in the roads only one, the British steamship Roddam,
+escaped, and she, I hear, lost more than half on board. It was a dying
+crew that took her out.
+
+"Our boat, the Roraima, of the Quebec Line, arrived at St. Pierre early
+Thursday morning. For hours before we entered the roadstead we could see
+flames and smoke rising from Mont Pelee. No one on board had any idea
+of danger. Captain G. T. Muggah was on the bridge, and all hands got on
+deck to see the show.
+
+"The spectacle was magnificent. As we approached St. Pierre we could
+distinguish the rolling and leaping of the red flames that belched from
+the mountain in huge volumes and gushed high in to the sky. Enormous
+clouds of black smoke hung over the volcano.
+
+"When we anchored at St. Pierre I noticed the cable steamship Grappler,
+the Roddam, three or four American schooners and a number of Italian and
+Norwegian barks. The flames were then spurting straight up in the air,
+now and then waving to one side or the other for a moment and again
+leaping suddenly higher up.
+
+"There was a constant muffled roar. It was like the biggest oil refinery
+in the world burning up on the mountain top. There was a tremendous
+explosion about 7.45 o'clock, soon after we got in. The mountain was
+blown to pieces. There was no warning. The side of the volcano was
+ripped out, and there was hurled straight toward us a solid wall of
+flame. It sounded like thousands of cannon.
+
+"The wave of fire was on us and over us like a lightning flash. It was
+like a hurricane of fire. I saw it strike the cable steamship Grappler
+broadside on and capsize her. From end to end she burst into flames and
+then sank. The fire rolled in mass straight down upon St. Pierre and the
+shipping. The town vanished before our eyes and the air grew stifling
+hot, and we were in the thick of it.
+
+"Wherever the mass of fire struck the sea the water boiled and sent
+up vast clouds of steam. The sea was torn into huge whirlpools that
+careened toward the open sea.
+
+"One of these horrible hot whirlpools swung under the Roraima and pulled
+her down on her beam ends with the suction. She careened way over to
+port, and then the fire hurricane from the volcano smashed her, and over
+she went on the opposite side. The fire wave swept off the masts and
+smokestack as if they were cut with a knife.
+
+
+HEAT CAUSED EXPLOSIONS
+
+
+"Captain Muggah was the only one on deck not killed outright. He was
+caught by the fire wave and terribly burned. He yelled to get up the
+anchor, but, before two fathoms were heaved in the Roraima was almost
+upset by the boiling whirlpool, and the fire wave had thrown her down on
+her beam ends to starboard. Captain Muggah was overcome by the flames.
+He fell unconscious from the bridge and toppled overboard.
+
+"The blast of fire from the volcano lasted only a few minutes. It
+shriveled and set fire to everything it touched. Thousands of casks of
+rum were stored in St. Pierre, and these were exploded by the terrific
+heat. The burning rum ran in streams down every street and out to the
+sea. This blazing rum set fire to the Roraima several times. Before the
+volcano burst the landings of St. Pierre were crowded with people. After
+the explosion not one living being was seen on land. Only twenty-five of
+those on the Roraima out of sixty-eight were left after the first flash.
+
+"The French cruiser Suchet came in and took us off at 2 P. M. She
+remained nearby, helping all she could, until 5 o'clock, then went to
+Fort de France with all the people she had rescued. At that time it
+looked as if the entire north end of the island was on fire."
+
+C. C. Evans, of Montreal, and John G. Morris, of New York, who were
+among those rescued, say the vessel arrived at 6 o'clock. As eight bells
+were struck a frightful explosion was heard up the mountain. A cloud of
+fire, toppling and roaring, swept with lightning speed down the mountain
+side and over the town and bay. The Roraima was nearly sunk, and caught
+fire at once.
+
+"I can never forget the horrid, fiery, choking whirlwind which enveloped
+me," said Mr. Evans. "Mr. Morris and I rushed below. We are not very
+badly burned, not so bad as most of them. When the fire came we were
+going to our posts (we are engineers) to weigh anchor and get out. When
+we came up we found the ship afire aft, and fought it forward until 3
+o'clock, when the Suchet came to our rescue. We were then building a
+raft."
+
+"Ben" Benson, the carpenter of the Roraima, said: "I was on deck,
+amidships, when I heard an explosion. The captain ordered me to up
+anchor. I got to the windlass, but when the fire came I went into the
+forecastle and got my 'duds.' When I came out I talked with Captain
+Muggah, Mr. Scott, the first officer and others. They had been on the
+bridge. The captain was horribly burned. He had inhaled flames and
+wanted to jump into the sea. I tried to make him take a life-preserver.
+The captain, who was undressed, jumped overboard and hung on to a line
+for a while. Then he disappeared."
+
+
+THE COOPER'S STORY.
+
+
+James Taylor, a cooper employed on the Roraima, gives the following
+account of his experience of the disaster:
+
+"Hearing a tremendous report and seeing the ashes falling thicker, I
+dived into a room, dragging with me Samuel Thomas, a gangway man and
+fellow countryman, shutting the door tightly. Shortly after I heard a
+voice, which I recognized as that of the chief mate, Mr. Scott. Opening
+the door with great caution, I drew him in. The nose of Thomas was
+burned by the intense heat.
+
+"We three and Thompson, the assistant purser, out of sixty-eight souls
+on board, were the only persons who escaped practically uninjured. The
+heat being unbearable, I emerged in a few moments, and the scene that
+presented itself to my eyes baffles description. All around on the deck
+were the dead and dying covered with boiling mud. There they lay, men,
+women and little children, and the appeals of the latter for water were
+heart-rending. When water was given them they could not swallow it,
+owing to their throats being filled with ashes or burnt with the heated
+air.
+
+"The ship was burning aft, and I jumped overboard, the sea being
+intensely hot. I was at once swept seaward by a tidal wave, but, the sea
+receding a considerable distance, the return wave washed me against an
+upturned sloop to which I clung. I was joined by a man so dreadfully
+burned and disfigured as to be unrecognizable. Afterwards I found he was
+the captain of the Roraima, Captain Muggah. He was in dreadful agony,
+begging piteously to be put on board his ship.
+
+"Picking up some wreckage which contained bedding and a tool chest, I,
+with the help of five others who had joined me on the wreck, constructed
+a rude raft, on which we placed the captain. Then, seeing an upturned
+boat, I asked one of the five, a native of Martinique, to swim and fetch
+it. Instead of returning to us, he picked up two of his countrymen and
+went away in the direction of Fort de France. Seeing the Roddam, which
+arrived in port shortly after we anchored, making for the Roraima, I
+said good-bye to the captain and swam back to the Roraima.
+
+"The Roddam, however, burst into flames and put to sea. I reached the
+Roraima at about half-past 2, and was afterwards taken off by a boat
+from the French warship Suchet. Twenty-four others with myself were
+taken on to Fort de France. Three of these died before reaching port. A
+number of others have since died."
+
+Samuel Thomas, the gangway man, whose life was saved by the forethought
+of Taylor, says that the scene on the burning ship was awful. The groans
+and cries of the dying, for whom nothing could be done, were horrible.
+He describes a woman as being burned to death with a living babe in her
+arms. He says that it seemed as if the whole world was afire.
+
+
+CONSUL AYME'S STATEMENT
+
+
+The inflammable material in the forepart of the ship that would have
+ignited that part of the vessel was thrown overboard by him and the
+other two uninjured men. The Grappler, the telegraph company's ship,
+was seen opposite the Usine Guerin, and disappeared as if blown up by a
+submarine explosion. The captain's body was subsequently found by a boat
+from the Suchet.
+
+Consul Ayme, of Guadeloupe, who, as already stated, had hastened to
+Fort de France on hearing of the terrible event, tells the story of the
+disaster in the following words:
+
+"Thursday morning the inhabitants of the city awoke to find heavy clouds
+shrouding Mont Pelee crater. All day Wednesday horrid detonations had
+been heard. These were echoed from St. Thomas on the north to Barbados
+on the south. The cannonading ceased on Wednesday night, and fine ashes
+fell like rain on St. Pierre. The inhabitants were alarmed, but
+Governor Mouttet, who had arrived at St. Pierre the evening before, did
+everything possible to allay the panic.
+
+"The British steamer Roraima reached St. Pierre on Thursday with ten
+passengers, among whom were Mrs. Stokes and her three children, and Mrs.
+H. J. Ince. They were watching the rain of ashes, when, with a frightful
+roar and terrific electric discharges, a cyclone of fire, mud and steam
+swept down from the crater over the town and bay, sweeping all before it
+and destroying the fleet of vessels at anchor off the shore. There the
+accounts of the catastrophe so far obtainable cease. Thirty thousand
+corpses are strewn about, buried in the ruins of St. Pierre, or else
+floating, gnawed by sharks, in the surrounding seas. Twenty-eight
+charred, half-dead human beings were brought here. Sixteen of them
+are already dead, and only four of the whole number are expected to
+recover."
+
+
+A WOMAN'S EXPERIENCE ON THE "RORAIMA"
+
+
+Margaret Stokes, the 9 year old daughter of the late Clement Stokes,
+of New York, who, with her mother, a brother aged 4 and a sister aged 3
+years, was on the ill-fated steamer Roraima, was saved from that vessel,
+but is not expected to live. Her nurse, Clara King, tells the following
+story of her experience:
+
+She says she was in her stateroom, when the steward of the Roraima
+called out to her:
+
+"Look at Mont Pelee."
+
+She went on deck and saw a vast mass of black cloud coming down from the
+volcano. The steward ordered her to return to the saloon, saying, "It is
+coming."
+
+Miss King then rushed to the saloon. She says she experienced a feeling
+of suffocation, which was followed by intense heat. The afterpart of the
+Roraima broke out in flames. Ben Benson, the carpenter of the Roraima,
+severely burned, assisted Miss King and Margaret Stokes to escape. With
+the help of Mr. Scott, the first mate of the Roraima, he constructed
+a raft, with life preservers. Upon this Miss King and Margaret were
+placed.
+
+While this was being done Margaret's little brother died. Mate Scott
+brought the child water at great personal danger, but it was unavailing.
+Shortly after the death of the little boy Mrs. Stokes succumbed.
+Margaret and Miss King eventually got away on the raft, and were picked
+up by the steamer Korona. Mate Scott also escaped. Miss King did not
+sustain serious injuries. She covered the face of Margaret with her
+dress, but still the child was probably fatally burned.
+
+The only woman known at that time to have survived the disaster at St.
+Pierre was a negress named Fillotte. She was found in a cellar Saturday
+afternoon, where she had been for three days. She was still alive, but
+fearfully burned from head to toes. She died afterward in the hospital.
+
+
+CAPTAIN FREEMAN'S THRILLING ACCOUNT
+
+
+Of the vessels in the harbor of St. Pierre on the fateful morning, only
+one, the British steamer Roddam, escaped, and that with a crew of whom
+few reached the open sea alive. Those who did escape were terribly
+injured. Captain Freeman, of this vessel, tells what he experienced in
+the following thrilling language:
+
+"St. Lucia, British West Indies, May 11.--The steamer Roddam, of which I
+am captain, left St. Lucia at midnight of May 7, and was off St. Pierre,
+Martinique, at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 8th. I noticed that the
+volcano, Mont Pelee, was smoking, and crept slowly in toward the bay,
+finding there among others the steamer Roraima, the telegraph repairing
+steamer Grappler and four sailing vessels. I went to anchorage between 7
+and 8 and had hardly moored when the side of the volcano opened out with
+a terrible explosion. A wall of fire swept over the town and the bay.
+The Roddam was struck broadside by the burning mass. The shock to the
+ship was terrible, nearly capsizing her.
+
+
+AWFUL RESULTS
+
+
+"Hearing the awful report of the explosion and seeing the great wall of
+flames approaching the steamer, those on deck sought shelter wherever it
+was possible, jumping into the cabin, the forecastle and even into the
+hold. I was in the chart room, but the burning embers were borne by so
+swift a movement of the air that they were swept in through the door and
+port holes, suffocating and scorching me badly. I was terribly burned
+by these embers about the face and hands, but managed to reach the
+deck. Then, as soon as it was possible, I mustered the few survivors
+who seemed able to move, ordered them to slip the anchor, leaped for
+the bridge and ran the engine for full speed astern. The second and the
+third engineer and a fireman were on watch below and so escaped injury.
+They did their part in the attempt to escape, but the men on deck could
+not work the steering gear because it was jammed by the debris from the
+volcano. We accordingly went ahead and astern until the gear was free,
+but in this running backward and forward it was two hours after the
+first shock before we were clear of the bay.
+
+"One of the most terrifying conditions was that, the atmosphere
+being charged with ashes, it was totally dark. The sun was completely
+obscured, and the air was only illuminated by the flames from the
+volcano and those of the burning town and shipping. It seems small to
+say that the scene was terrifying in the extreme. As we backed out we
+passed close to the Roraima, which was one mass of blaze. The steam was
+rushing from the engine room, and the screams of those on board were
+terrible to hear. The cries for help were all in vain, for I could
+do nothing but save my own ship. When I last saw the Roraima she was
+settling down by the stern. That was about 10 o'clock in the morning.
+
+"When the Roddam was safely out of the harbor of St. Pierre, with its
+desolations and horrors, I made for St. Lucia. Arriving there, and when
+the ship was safe, I mustered the survivors as well as I was able and
+searched for the dead and injured. Some I found in the saloon where they
+had vainly sought for safety, but the cabins were full of burning embers
+that had blown in through the port holes. Through these the fire swept
+as through funnels and burned the victims where they lay or stood,
+leaving a circular imprint of scorched and burned flesh. I brought
+ten on deck who were thus burned; two of them were dead, the others
+survived, although in a dreadful state of torture from their burns.
+Their screams of agony were heartrending. Out of a total of twenty-three
+on board the Roddam, which includes the captain and the crew, ten are
+dead and several are in the hospital. My first and second mates, my
+chief engineer and my supercargo, Campbell by name, were killed. The
+ship was covered from stem to stern with tons of powdered lava, which
+retained its heat for hours after it had fallen. In many cases it was
+practically incandescent, and to move about the deck in this burning
+mass was not only difficult but absolutely perilous. I am only now able
+to begin thoroughly to clear and search the ship for any damage done
+by this volcanic rain, and to see if there are any corpses in
+out-of-the-way places. For instance, this morning, I found one body in
+the peak of the forecastle. The body was horribly burned and the sailor
+had evidently crept in there in his agony to die.
+
+"On the arrival of the Roddam at St. Lucia the ship presented an
+appalling appearance. Dead and calcined bodies lay about the deck, which
+was also crowded with injured helpless and suffering people. Prompt
+assistance was rendered to the injured by the authorities here and my
+poor, tortured men were taken to the hospital. The dead were buried.
+I have omitted to mention that out of twenty-one black laborers that I
+brought from Grenada to help in stevedoring, only six survived. Most
+of the others threw themselves overboard to escape a dreadful fate, but
+they met a worse one, for it is an actual fact that the water around
+the ship was literally at a boiling heat. The escape of my vessel
+was miraculous. The woodwork of the cabins and bridge and everything
+inflammable on deck were constantly igniting, and it was with great
+difficulty that we few survivors managed to keep the flames down. My
+ropes, awnings, tarpaulins were completely burned up.
+
+"I witnessed the entire destruction of St. Pierre. The flames enveloped
+the town in every quarter with such rapidity that it was impossible that
+any person could be saved. As I have said, the day was suddenly turned
+to night, but I could distinguish by the light of the burning town
+people distractedly running about on the beach. The burning buildings
+stood out from the surrounding darkness like black shadows. All this
+time the mountain was roaring and shaking, and in the intervals between
+these terrifying sounds I could hear the cries of despair and agony from
+the thousands who were perishing. These cries added to the terror of
+the scene, but it is impossible to describe its horror or the dreadful
+sensations it produced. It was like witnessing the end of the world.
+
+"Let me add that, after the first shock was over, the survivors of
+the crew rendered willing help to navigate the ship to this port. Mr.
+Plissoneau, our agent in Martinique, happening to be on board, was
+saved, and I really believe that he is the only survivor of St. Pierre.
+As it is, he is seriously burned on the hands and face.
+
+"FREEMAN,
+
+"Master British Steamship Roddam."
+
+
+THE "ETONA" PASSES ST. PIERRE
+
+
+The British steamer Etona, of the Norton Line, stopped at St. Lucia to
+coal on May 10th. Captain Cantell there visited the Roddam and had an
+interview with Captain Freeman. On the 11th the Elona put to sea again,
+passing St. Pierre in the afternoon. We subjoin her captain's story:
+
+"The weather was clear and we had a fine view, but the old outlines of
+St. Pierre were not recognizable. Everything was a mass of blue lava,
+and the formation of the land itself seemed to have changed. When we
+were about eight miles off the northern end of the island Mount Pelee
+began to belch a second time. Clouds of smoke and lava shot into the
+air and spread over all the sea, darkening the sun. Our decks in a
+few minutes were covered with a substance that looked like sand dyed a
+bluish tint, and which smelled like phosphorus. For all that the day was
+clear, there was little to be seen satisfactorily. Over the island there
+hung a blue haze. It seemed to me that the formation, the topography, of
+the island was altered.
+
+"Everything seemed to be covered with a blue dust, such as had fallen
+aboard us every day since we had been within the affected region. It
+was blue lava dust. For more than an hour we scanned the coast with our
+glasses, now and then discovering something that looked like a ruined
+hamlet or collection of buildings. There was no life visible. Suddenly
+we realized that we might have to fight for our lives as the Roddam's
+people had done.
+
+"We were about four miles off the northern end of the island when
+suddenly there shot up in the air to a tremendous height a column of
+smoke. The sky darkened and the smoke seemed to swirl down upon us. In
+fact, it spread all around, darkening the atmosphere as far as we could
+see. I called Chief Engineer Farrish to the deck.
+
+"'Do you see that over there?' I asked, pointing to the eruption, for
+it was the second eruption of Mont Pelee. He saw it all right. Captain
+Freeman's story was fresh in my mind.
+
+"'Well, Farrish, rush your engines as they have never been rushed
+before,' I said to him. He went below, and soon we began to burn coal
+and pile up the feathers in our forefoot.
+
+"I was on watch with Second Officer Gibbs. At once we began to furl
+awnings and make secure against fire. The crew were all showing an
+anxious spirit, and everybody on board, including the four passengers,
+were serious and apprehensive.
+
+"We began to cut through the water at almost twelve knots. Ordinarily we
+make ten knots. We could see no more of the land contour, but everything
+seemed to be enveloped in a great cloud. There was no fire visible, but
+the lava dust rained down upon us steadily. In less than an hour there
+were two inches of it upon our deck.
+
+"The air smelled like phosphorus. No one dared to look up to try to
+locate the sun, because one's eyes would fill with lava dust. Some of
+the blue lava dust is sticking to our mast yet, although we have swabbed
+decks and rigging again and again to be clear of it.
+
+"After a little more than an hour's fast running we saw daylight ahead
+and began to breathe easier. If I had not talked with Captain Freeman
+and heard from him just how the black swirl of wind and fire rolled down
+upon him, I would not have been so apprehensive, but would have thought
+that the darkness and cloud that came down upon us meant just an
+unusually heavy squall."
+
+
+CHIEF ENGINEER FARRISH'S STORY
+
+
+"The Etona's run from Montevideo was a fast one--I think a record
+breaker. We were 22 days and 21 hours from port to port. Off Martinique
+I stared at the coast for about an hour, and then went below. The blue
+lava that covered everything faded into the haze that hung over the
+island so that nothing was distinctly visible. Through my glass I
+discovered a stream of lava, though. It stretched down the mountain
+side, and seemed to be flowing into the sea. It was not clearly and
+distinctly visible, however.
+
+"About 3 o'clock I went below to take forty winks. I had been in my
+berth only a few minutes when the steward told me the captain wanted me
+on the bridge.
+
+"'Do you see that, Farrish?' he asked, pointing at the land. An outburst
+of smoke seemed to be sweeping down upon us. It made me think of the
+Roddam's experience. Smoke and dust closed in about us, shutting out the
+sunlight, and precipitating a fall of lava on our decks.
+
+"'Go below and drive her,' said the captain, and I didn't lose any time,
+I can tell you. We burned coal as though it didn't cost a cent. The
+safety valve was jumping every second, even though we were making twelve
+knots an hour. For two hours we kept up the pace, and then, running into
+clear daylight, let the engines slow down and we all cheered up a bit."
+
+
+CAPTAIN CANTELL VISITS THE "RODDAM"
+
+
+Captain Cantell went on board the Roddam, whose frightful condition he
+thus describes:
+
+"At St. Lucia, on May 11th, I went on board the British steamship
+Roddam, which had escaped from the terrible volcanic eruption at
+Martinique two days before. The state of the ship was enough to show
+that those on board must have undergone an awful experience.
+
+"The Roddam was covered with a mass of fine bluish gray dust or ashes of
+cement-like appearance. In some parts it lay two feet deep on the decks.
+This matter had fallen in a red-hot state all over the steamer, setting
+fire to everything it struck that was burnable, and, when it fell on
+the men on board, burning off limbs and large pieces of flesh. This was
+shown by finding portions of human flesh when the decks were cleared of
+the debris. The rigging, ropes, tarpaulins, sails, awnings, etc., were
+charred or burned, and most of the upper stanchions and spars were swept
+overboard or destroyed by fire. Skylights were smashed and cabins were
+filled with volcanic dust. The scene of ruin was deplorable.
+
+"The captain, though suffering the greatest agony, succeeded in
+navigating his vessel safely to the port of Castries, St. Lucia, with
+eighteen dead bodies on the deck and human limbs scattered about. A
+sailor stood by constantly wiping the captain's injured eyes.
+
+"I think the performance of the Roddam's captain was most wonderful, and
+the more so when I saw his pitiful condition. I do not understand how
+he kept up, yet when the steamer arrived at St. Lucia and medical
+assistance was procured, this brave man asked the doctors to attend to
+the others first and refused to be treated until this was done.
+
+"My interview with the captain brought out this account. I left him in
+good spirits and receiving every comfort. The sight of his face would
+frighten anyone not prepared to see it."
+
+
+THE VIVID ACCOUNT OF M. ALBERT
+
+
+To the accounts given by the survivors of the Roraima and the officers
+of the Etona, it will be well to add the following graphic story told by
+M. Albert, a planter of the island, the owner of an estate situated only
+a mile to the northeast of the burning crater of Mont Pelee. His escape
+from death had in it something of the marvellous. He says:
+
+"Mont Pelee had given warning of the destruction that was to come, but
+we, who had looked upon the volcano as harmless, did not believe that
+it would do more than spout fire and steam, as it had done on other
+occasions. It was a little before eight o'clock on the morning of May
+8 that the end came. I was in one of the fields of my estate when the
+ground trembled under my feet, not as it does when the earth quakes, but
+as though a terrible struggle was going on within the mountain. A terror
+came upon me, but I could not explain my fear.
+
+"As I stood still Mont Pelee seemed to shudder, and a moaning sound
+issued from its crater. It was quite dark, the sun being obscured by
+ashes and fine volcanic dust. The air was dead about me, so dead that
+the floating dust seemingly was not disturbed. Then there was a rending,
+crashing, grinding noise, which I can only describe as sounding as
+though every bit of machinery in the world had suddenly broken down. It
+was deafening, and the flash of light that accompanied it was blinding,
+more so than any lightning I have ever seen.
+
+"It was like a terrible hurricane, and where a fraction of a second
+before there had been a perfect calm, I felt myself drawn into a vortex
+and I had to brace myself firmly. It was like a great express train
+rushing by, and I was drawn by its force. The mysterious force levelled
+a row of strong trees, tearing them up by the roots and leaving bare a
+space of ground fifteen yards wide and more than one hundred yards long.
+Transfixed I stood, not knowing in what direction to flee. I looked
+toward Mont Pelee, and above its apex there appeared a great black cloud
+which reached high in the air. It literally fell upon the city of St.
+Pierre. It moved with a rapidity that made it impossible for anything to
+escape it. From the cloud came explosions that sounded as though all of
+the navies of the world were in titanic combat. Lightning played in and
+out in broad forks, the result being that intense darkness was followed
+by light that seemed to be of magnifying power.
+
+"That St. Pierre was doomed I knew, but I was prevented from seeing the
+destruction by a spur of the hill that shut off the view of the city. It
+is impossible for me to tell how long I stood there inert. Probably it
+was only a few seconds, but so vivid were my impressions that it
+now seems as though I stood as a spectator for many minutes. When I
+recovered possession of my senses I ran to my house and collected the
+members of the family, all of whom were panic stricken. I hurried them
+to the seashore, where we boarded a small steamship, in which we made
+the trip in safety to Fort de France.
+
+"I know that there was no flame in the first wave that was sent down
+upon St. Pierre. It was a heavy gas, like firedamp, and it must have
+asphyxiated the inhabitants before they were touched by the fire, which
+quickly followed. As we drew out to sea in the small steamship, Mont
+Pelee was in the throes of a terrible convulsion. New craters seemed to
+be opening all about the summit and lava was flowing in broad streams
+in every direction. My estate was ruined while we were still in sight
+of it. Many women who lived in St. Pierre escaped only to know that they
+were left widowed and childless. This is because many of the wealthier
+men sent their wives away, while they remained in St. Pierre to attend
+to their business affairs."
+
+
+WHAT HAPPENED ON THE "HORACE"
+
+
+The British steamer Horace experienced the effect of the explosion when
+farther from land. After touching at Barbados, she reached the vicinity
+of Martinique on May 9th, her decks being covered with several inches
+of dust when she was a hundred and twenty-five miles distant. We quote
+engineer Anderson's story:
+
+"On the afternoon of May 8 (Thursday) we noticed a peculiar haze in
+the direction of Martinique. The air seemed heavy and oppressive. The
+weather conditions were not at all unlike those which precede the great
+West Indian hurricanes, but, knowing it was not the season of the year
+for them, we all remarked in the engine room that there must be a heavy
+storm approaching.
+
+"Several of the sailors, experienced deep water seamen, laughed at our
+prognostications, and informed us there would be no storm within
+the next sixty hours, and insisted that, according to all fo'cas'le
+indications, a dead calm was in sight.
+
+"So unusually peculiar were the weather conditions that we talked
+of nothing else during the evening. That night, in the direction of
+Martinique, there was a very black sky, an unusual thing at this season
+of the year, and a storm was apparently brewing in a direction from
+which storms do not come at this season.
+
+
+GREAT FLASHES OF LIGHT
+
+
+"As the night wore on those on watch noticed what appeared to be great
+flashes of lightning in the direction of Martinique. It seemed as though
+the ordinary conditions were reversed, and even the fo'cas'le prophets
+were unable to offer explanations.
+
+"Occasionally, over the pounding of the engines and the rush of water,
+we thought we could hear long, deep roars, not unlike the ending of a
+deep peal of thunder. Several times we heard the rumble or roar, but at
+the time we were not certain as to exactly what it was, or even whether
+we really heard it.
+
+"There would suddenly come great flashes of light from the dark bank
+toward Martinique. Some of them seemed to spread over a great area,
+while others appeared to spout skyward, funnel shaped. All night this
+continued, and it was not until day came that the flashes disappeared.
+The dark bank that covered the horizon toward Martinique, however, did
+not fade away with the breaking of day, and at eight in the morning of
+the 9th (Friday) the whole section of the sky in that direction seemed
+dark and troubled.
+
+"About nine o'clock Friday morning I was sitting on one of the
+hatches aft with some of the other engineers and officers of the ship,
+discussing the peculiar weather phenomena. I noticed a sort of grit that
+got into my mouth from the end of the cigar I was smoking.
+
+"I attributed it to some rather bad coal which we had shipped aboard,
+and, turning to Chief Engineer Evans, I remarked that 'that coal was
+mighty dirty,' and he said that it was covering the ship with a sort of
+grit. Then I noticed that grit was getting on my clothes, and finally
+some one suggested that we go forward of the funnels, so we would not
+get dirt on us. As we went forward we met one or two of the sailors from
+the forecastle, who wanted to know about the dust that was falling on
+the ship. Then we found that the grayish-looking ash was sifting all
+over the ship, both forward and aft.
+
+
+ASHES RAINED ON THE SHIP
+
+
+"Every moment the ashes rained down all over the ship, and at the same
+time grew thicker. A few moments later, the lookout called down that we
+were running into a fog-bank dead ahead. Fog banks in that section are
+unheard of at nine o'clock in the morning at this season, and we were
+more than a hundred miles from land, and what could fog and sand be
+doing there.
+
+"Before we knew it, we went into the fog, which proved to be a big
+dense bank of this same sand, and it rained down on us from every side.
+Ventilators were quickly brought to their places, and later even the
+hatches were battened down. The dust became suffocating, and the men at
+times had all they could do to keep from choking. What the stuff was we
+could not at first conjecture, or rather, we didn't have much time to
+speculate on it, for we had to get our ship in shape to withstand we
+hardly knew what.
+
+"At first we thought that the sand must have been blown from shore. Then
+we decided that if the Captain's figures were right we wouldn't be near
+enough to shore to have sand blow on us, and as we had just cleared
+Barbados, we knew that the Captain's figures had to be right.
+
+"Just as the storm of sand was at its height, Fourth Engineer Wild was
+nearly suffocated by it, but was easily revived. About this time it
+became so dark that we found it necessary to start up the electric
+lights, and it was not until after we got clear from the fog that
+we turned the current off. In the meantime they had burned from nine
+o'clock in the morning until after two in the afternoon.
+
+
+THE ENGINE BECAME CHOKED
+
+
+"Then there was another anxious moment shortly after nine o'clock. Third
+Engineer Rennie had been running the donkey engine, when suddenly it
+choked, and when he finally got it clear from the sand or ashes, he
+found the valves were all cut out, and then it was we discovered that
+it was not sand, but some sort of a composition that seemed to cut steel
+like emery. Then came the danger that it would get into the valves of
+the engine and cut them out, and for several moments all hands scurried
+about and helped make the engine room tight, and even then the ash
+drifted in and kept all the engine room force wiping the engines clear
+of it.
+
+"Toward three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday we were practically
+clear of the sand, but at eleven o'clock that night we ran into a second
+bank of it, though not as bad as the first. We made some experiments,
+and found the stuff was superior to emery dust. It cut deeper and
+quicker, and only about half as much was required to do the work. We
+made up our minds we would keep what came on board, as it was better
+than the emery dust and much cheaper, so we gathered it up.
+
+"That night there were more of the same electric phenomena toward
+Martinique, but it was not until we got into St. Lucia, where we saw the
+Roddam, that we learned of the terrible disaster at St. Pierre, and then
+we knew that our sand was lava dust."
+
+The volcanic ash which fell on the decks of the Horace was ground as
+fine as rifle powder, and was much finer than that which covered the
+decks of the Etona.
+
+Returning to the stories told by officers of the Roraima, of which a
+number have been given, it seems desirable to add here the narrative of
+Ellery S. Scott, the mate of the ruined ship, since it gives a vivid and
+striking account of his personal experience of the frightful disaster,
+with many details of interest not related by others.
+
+
+MATE SCOTT'S GRAPHIC STORY
+
+
+"We got to St. Pierre in the Roraima," began Mr. Scott, "at 6.30 o'clock
+on Thursday morning. That's the morning the mountain and the town and
+the ships were all sent to hell in a minute.
+
+"All hands had had breakfast. I was standing on the fo'c's'l head trying
+to make out the marks on the pipes of a ship 'way out and heading for
+St. Lucia. I wasn't looking at the mountain at all. But I guess the
+captain was, for he was on the bridge, and the last time I heard him
+speak was when he shouted, 'Heave up, Mr. Scott; heave up.' I gave the
+order to the men, and I think some of them did jump to get the anchor
+up, but nobody knows what really happened for the next fifteen minutes.
+I turned around toward the captain and then I saw the mountain.
+
+"Did you ever see the tide come into the Bay of Fundy. It doesn't sneak
+in a little at a time as it does 'round here. It rolls in in waves.
+That's the way the cloud of fire and mud and white-hot stones rolled
+down from that volcano over the town and over the ships. It was on us
+in almost no time, but I saw it and in the same glance I saw our captain
+bracing himself to meet it on the bridge. He was facing the fire cloud
+with both hands gripped hard to the bridge rail, his legs apart and his
+knees braced back stiff. I've seen him brace himself that same way many
+a time in a tough sea with the spray going mast-head high and green
+water pouring along the decks.
+
+"I saw the captain, I say, at the same instant I saw that ruin coming
+down on us. I don't know why, but that last glimpse of poor Muggah on
+his bridge will stay with me just as long as I remember St. Pierre and
+that will be long enough.
+
+"In another instant it was all over for him. As I was looking at him he
+was all ablaze. He reeled and fell on the bridge with his face toward
+me. His mustache and eyebrows were gone in a jiffy. His hat had gone,
+and his hair was aflame, and so were his clothes from head to foot.
+I knew he was conscious when he fell, by the look in his eyes, but he
+didn't make a sound.
+
+"That all happened a long way inside of half a minute; then something
+new happened. When the wave of fire was going over us, a tidal wave of
+the sea came out from the shore and did the rest. That wall of rushing
+water was so high and so solid that it seemed to rise up and join the
+smoke and flame above. For an instant we could see nothing but the water
+and the flame.
+
+"That tidal wave picked the ship up like a canoe and then smashed her.
+After one list to starboard the ship righted, but the masts, the bridge,
+the funnel and all the upper works had gone overboard.
+
+"I had saved myself from fire by jamming a metal ventilator cover over
+my head and jumping from the fo'c's'l head. Two St. Kitts negroes saved
+me from the water by grabbing me by the legs and pulling me down into
+the fo'c's'l after them. Before I could get up three men tumbled in on
+top of me. Two of them were dead.
+
+"Captain Muggah went overboard, still clinging to the fragments of his
+wrecked bridge. Daniel Taylor, the ship's cooper, and a Kitts native
+jumped overboard to save him. Taylor managed to push the captain on to
+a hatch that had floated off from us and then they swam back to the ship
+for more assistance, but nothing could be done for the captain. Taylor
+wasn't sure he was alive. The last we saw of him or his dead body it was
+drifting shoreward on that hatch.
+
+"Well, after staying in the fo'c's'l about twenty minutes I went out on
+deck. There were just four of us left aboard who could do anything.
+The four were Thompson, Dan Taylor, Quashee, and myself. It was still
+raining fire and hot rocks and you could hardly see a ship's length for
+dust and ashes, but we could stand that. There were burning men and some
+women and two or three children lying around the deck. Not just burned,
+but burning, then, when we got to them. More than half the ship's
+company had been killed in that first rush of flame. Some had rolled
+overboard when the tidal wave came and we never saw so much as their
+bodies. The cook was burned to death in his galley. He had been paring
+potatoes for dinner and what was left of his right hand held the shank
+of his potato knife. The wooden handle was in ashes. All that happened
+to a man in less than a minute. The donkey engineman was killed on deck
+sitting in front of his boiler. We found parts of some bodies--a hand,
+or an arm or a leg. Below decks there were some twenty alive.
+
+"The ship was on fire, of course, what was left of it. The stumps of
+both masts were blazing. Aft she was like a furnace, but forward the
+flames had not got below deck, so we four carried those who were still
+alive on deck into the fo'c's'l. All of them were burned and most of
+them were half strangled.
+
+"One boy, a passenger and just a little shaver [the four-year-old son of
+the late Clement Stokes, above spoken of] was picked up naked. His hair
+and all his clothing had been burned off, but he was alive. We rolled
+him in a blanket and put him in a sailor's bunk. A few minutes later we
+looked at him and he was dead.
+
+"My own son's gone, too. It had been his trick at lookout ahead during
+the dog watch that morning, when we were making for St. Pierre, so I
+supposed at first when the fire struck us that he was asleep in his bunk
+and safe. But he wasn't. Nobody could tell me where he was. I don't know
+whether he was burned to death or rolled overboard and drowned. He was
+a likely boy. He had been several voyages with me and would have been a
+master some day. He used to say he'd make me mate.
+
+"After getting all hands that had any life left in them below and
+'tended to the best we could, the four of us that were left half way
+ship-shape started in to fight the fire. We had case oil stowed forward.
+Thanks to that tidal wave that cleared our decks there wasn't much left
+to burn, so we got the fire down so's we could live on board with it for
+several hours more and then the four turned to to knock a raft together
+out of what timber and truck we could find below. Our boats had gone
+overboard with the masts and funnel.
+
+
+PREPARED TO TRUST TO LUCK
+
+
+"We made that raft for something over thirty that were alive. We put
+provisions on for two days and rigged up a make-shift mast and sail,
+for we intended to go to sea. We were only three boats' length from the
+shore, but the shore was hell itself. We intended to put straight out
+and trust to luck that the Korona, that was about due at St. Pierre,
+would pick us up. But we did not have to risk the raft, for about 3
+o'clock in the afternoon, when we were almost ready to put the raft
+overboard, the Suchet came along and took us all off. We thought for a
+minute just after we were wrecked that we were to get help from a ship
+that passed us. We burned blue lights, but she kept on. We learned
+afterward that she was the Roddam."
+
+Soundings made off Martinique after the explosion showed that earthquake
+effects of much importance had taken place under the sea bottom, which
+had been lifted in some places and had sunk in others. While deep
+crevices had been formed on the land, a still greater effect had
+seemingly been produced beneath the water. During the explosion the sea
+withdrew several hundred feet from its shore line, and then came back
+steaming with fury; this indicating a lift and fall of the ocean bed off
+the isle. Soundings made subsequently near the island found in one place
+a depth of 4,000 feet where before it had been only 600 feet deep. The
+French Cable Company, which was at work trying to repair the cables
+broken by the eruption, found the bottom of the Caribbean Sea so changed
+as to render the old charts useless.
+
+New charts will need to be made for future navigation. The changes
+in sea levels were not confined to the immediate centre of volcanic
+activity, but extended as far north as Porto Rico, and it was believed
+that the seismic wave would be found to have altered the ocean bed round
+Jamaica. Vessels plying between St. Thomas, Martinique, St. Lucia and
+other islands found it necessary to heave the lead while many miles at
+sea.
+
+It is estimated that the sea had encroached from ten feet to two miles
+along the coast of St. Vincent near Georgetown, and that a section on
+the north of the island had dropped into the sea. Soundings showed
+seven fathoms where before the eruption there were thirty-six fathoms of
+water. Vessels that endeavored to approach St. Vincent toward the north
+reported that it was impossible to get nearer than eight miles to
+the scene of the catastrophe, and that at that distance the ocean was
+seriously perturbed as from a submarine volcano, boiling and hissing
+continually.
+
+In this connection the remarkable experience reported by the officers
+of the Danish steamship Nordby, on the day preceding the eruption, is of
+much interest, as seeming to show great convulsions of the sea bottom
+at a point several hundred miles from Martinique. The following is the
+story told by Captain Eric Lillien-skjold:
+
+
+THE STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF THE "NORDBY"
+
+
+"On May 5th," the captain said, "we touched at St. Michael's for water.
+We had had an easy voyage from Girgenti, in Sicily, and we wanted to
+finish an easy run here. We left St. Michael's on the same day. Nothing
+worth while talking about occurred until two days afterward--Wednesday,
+May 7th.
+
+"We were plodding along slowly that day. About noon I took the bridge
+to make an observation. It seemed to be hotter than ordinary. I shed my
+coat and vest and got into what little shade there was. As I worked it
+grew hotter and hotter. I didn't know what to make of it. Along about
+2 o'clock in the afternoon it was so hot that all hands got to talking
+about it. We reckoned that something queer was coming off, but none of
+us could explain what it was. You could almost see the pitch softening
+in the seams.
+
+"Then, as quick as you could toss a biscuit over its rail, the Nordby
+dropped--regularly dropped--three or four feet down into the sea. No
+sooner did it do this than big waves, that looked like they were coming
+from all directions at once, began to smash against our sides. This was
+queerer yet, because the water a minute before was as smooth as I ever
+saw it. I had all hands piped on deck and we battened down everything
+loose to make ready for a storm. And we got it all right--the strangest
+storm you ever heard tell of.
+
+"There was something wrong with the sun that afternoon. It grew red and
+then dark red and then, about a quarter after 2, it went out of sight
+altogether. The day got so dark that you couldn't see half a ship's
+length ahead of you. We got our lamps going, and put on our oilskins,
+ready for a hurricane. All of a sudden there came a sheet of lightning
+that showed up the whole tumbling sea for miles and miles. We sort of
+ducked, expecting an awful crash of thunder, but it didn't come. There
+was no sound except the big waves pounding against our sides. There
+wasn't a breath of wind.
+
+"Well, sir, at that minute there began the most exciting time I've ever
+been through, and I've been on every sea on the map for twenty-five
+years. Every second there'd be waves 15 or 20 feet high, belting us
+head-on, stern-on and broadside, all at once. We could see them coming,
+for without any stop at all flash after flash of lightning was blazing
+all about us.
+
+"Something else we could see, too. Sharks! There were hundreds of them
+on all sides, jumping up and down in the water. Some of them jumped
+clear out of it. And sea birds! A flock of them, squawking and crying,
+made for our rigging and perched there. They seemed like they were
+scared to death. But the queerest part of it all was the water itself.
+It was hot--not so hot that our feet could not stand it when it washed
+over the deck, but hot enough to make us think that it had been heated
+by some kind of a fire.
+
+"Well that sort of thing went on hour after hour. The waves, the
+lightning, the hot water and the sharks, and all the rest of the odd
+things happening, frightened the crew out of their wits. Some of them
+prayed out loud--I guess the first time they ever did in their lives.
+Some Frenchmen aboard kept running around and yelling, 'Cest le dernier
+jour!' (This is the last day.) We were all worried. Even the officers
+began to think that the world was coming to an end. Mighty strange
+things happen on the sea, but this topped them all.
+
+"I kept to the bridge all night. When the first hour of morning came
+the storm was still going on. We were all pretty much tired out by that
+time, but there was no such thing as trying to sleep. The waves still
+were batting us around and we didn't know whether we were one mile or
+a thousand miles from shore. At 2 o'clock in the morning all the queer
+goings on stopped just the way they began--all of a sudden. We lay to
+until daylight; then we took our reckonings and started off again. We
+were about 700 miles off Cape Henlopen.
+
+"No, sir; you couldn't get me through a thing like that again for
+$10,000. None of us was hurt, and the old Nordby herself pulled through
+all right, but I'd sooner stay ashore than see waves without wind and
+lightning without thunder."
+
+
+FIERY STREAM CONTAINED POISONOUS GASES
+
+
+Careful inspection showed that the fiery stream which so completely
+destroyed St. Pierre must have been composed of poisonous gases, which
+instantly suffocated every one who inhaled them, and of other gases
+burning furiously, for nearly all the victims had their hands covering
+their mouths, or were in some other attitude showing that they had
+perished from suffocation.
+
+It is believed that Mont Pelee threw off a great gasp of some
+exceedingly heavy and noxious gas, something akin to firedamp, which
+settled upon the city and rendered the inhabitants insensible. This was
+followed by the sheet of flame that swept down the side of the mountain.
+This theory is sustained by the experience of the survivors who were
+taken from the ships in the harbor, as they say that their first
+experience was one of faintness.
+
+The dumb animals were wiser than man, and early took warning of the
+storm of fire which Mont Pelee was storing up to hurl upon the island.
+Even before the mountain began to rumble, late in April, live stock
+became uneasy, and at times were almost uncontrollable. Cattle lowed in
+the night. Dogs howled and sought the company of their masters, and when
+driven forth they gave every evidence of fear.
+
+Wild animals disappeared from the vicinity of Mont Pelee. Even the
+snakes, which at ordinary times are found in great numbers near the
+volcano, crawled away. Birds ceased singing and left the trees that
+shaded the sides of Pelee. A great fear seemed to be upon the island,
+and though it was shared by the human inhabitants, they alone neglected
+to protect themselves.
+
+Of the villages in the vicinity of St. Pierre only one escaped, the
+others suffering the fate of the city. The fortunate one was Le Carbet,
+on the south, which escaped uninjured, the flood of lava stopping when
+within two hundred feet of the town. Morne Rouge, a beautiful summer
+resort, frequented by the people of the island during the hot season as
+a place of recreation, also escaped. In the height of the season several
+thousand people gathered there, though at the time of the explosion
+there were but a few hundred. Though located on an elevation between the
+city and the crater, it was by great good fortune saved.
+
+The Governor of Martinique, Mr. Mouttet, whose precautions to prevent
+the people fleeing from the city aided to make the work of death
+complete, was himself among the victims of the burning mountain. With
+him in this fate was Colonel Dain, commander of the troops who formed a
+cordon round the doomed city.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+St. Vincent Island and Mont Soufriere in 1812.
+
+
+Among all the islands of the Caribbees St. Vincent is unique in natural
+wonders and beauties. Situated about ninety-five miles west of Barbados,
+it has a length of eighteen and a width of eleven miles, the whole mass
+being largely composed of a single peak which rises from the ocean's
+bed. From north to south volcanic hills traverse its length, their
+ridges intersected by fertile and beautiful valleys.
+
+A ridge of mountains crosses the island, dividing it into eastern and
+western parts. Kingstown, the capital, a town of 8,000 inhabitants, is
+on the southward side and extends along the shores of a beautiful
+bay, with mountains gradually rising behind it in the form of a vast
+amphitheatre. Three streets, broad and lined with good houses, run
+parallel to the water-front. There are many other intersecting highways,
+some of which lead back to the foothills, from which good roads ascend
+the mountains.
+
+The majority of the houses have red tile roofing and a goodly number of
+them are of stone, one story high, with thick walls after the Spanish
+style--the same types of houses that were in St. Pierre and which
+are not unlike the old Roman houses which in all stages of ruin and
+semi-preservation are found in Pompeii to this day.
+
+Behind the general group of the houses of the town loom the Governor's
+residence and the buildings of the botanical gardens which overlook the
+town.
+
+Kingstown is the trading centre and the town of importance in the
+island. It contains the churches and chapels of five Protestant
+denominations and a number of excellent schools. Away from Kingstown,
+and the smaller settlement of Georgetown, the population is almost
+wholly rural, occupying scattered villages which consist of negro huts
+clustering around a few substantial buildings or of cabins grouped about
+old plantation buildings somewhat after the ante-bellum fashion in our
+own Southern States.
+
+One of the tragedies of the West Indies was the sinking of old Port
+Royal, the resort of buccaneers, in 1692. The harbor of Kingstown is
+commonly supposed to cover the site of the old settlement. There is
+a tradition that a buoy for many years was attached to the spire of a
+sunken church in order to warn mariners. Three thousand persons perished
+in the disaster.
+
+
+DESCENDANTS OF ORIGINAL INDIAN POPULATION
+
+
+The northern portion of the island, that desolated by the recent
+volcanic eruption, was inhabited by people living in the manner
+just described, the great majority of them being negroes. The total
+population of the island is about 45,000, of whom 30,000 are Africans
+and about 3,000 Europeans, the remainder being nearly all Asiatics.
+There are, or rather were, a number of Caribs, the descendants of the
+original warlike Indian population of these islands. Many of these live
+in St. Vincent, though there are others in Dominico. As their residence
+was in the northern section of the island, the volcano seems to have
+completed the work for the Caribs of this island which the Spaniard long
+ago began. These Caribs were really half-breds, having amalgamated with
+the negroes. Many of the blacks own land of their own, raising arrow
+root, which, since the decay of the sugar industry, is the chief export.
+
+In an island only eighteen miles long by eleven broad there is not room
+for any distinctly marked mountain range. The whole of St. Vincent, in
+fact, is a fantastic tumble of hills, culminating in the volcanic ridge
+which runs lengthwise of the oval-shaped island. The culminating peak of
+the great volcanic mass, for St. Vincent is nothing more, is Mont Garou,
+of which La Soufriere is a sort of lofty excrescence in the northwest,
+4,048 feet high, and flanking the main peak at some distance away.
+
+It may be said that all the volcanic mountains in this part of the West
+Indies have what the people call a "soufriere"--a "sulphur pit," or
+"sulphur crater"--the name coming, as in the case of past disturbances
+of Mont Pelee, from the strong stench of sulphuretted hydrogen which
+issues from them when the volcano becomes agitated.
+
+In 1812 it was La Soufriere adjacent to Mont Garou which broke loose on
+the island of St. Vincent, and it is the same Soufriere which again has
+devastated the island and has bombarded Kingstown with rocks, lava and
+ashes.
+
+The old crater of Mont Garou has long been extinct, and, like the old
+crater of Mont Pelee, near St. Pierre, it had far down in its depths,
+surrounded by sheer cliffs from 500 to 800 feet high, a lake. Glimpses
+of the lake of Mont Garou are difficult to get, owing to the thick
+verdure growing about the dangerous edges of the precipices, but those
+who have seen it describe it as a beautiful sheet of deep blue water.
+
+
+THE APPEARANCE OF THE SOUFRIERE
+
+
+Previous to the eruption of 1812 the appearance of the Soufriere was
+most interesting. The crater was half a mile in diameter and five
+hundred feet in depth. In its centre was a conical hill, fringed with
+shrubs and vines; at whose base were two small lakes, one sulphurous,
+the other pure and tasteless. This lovely and beautiful spot was
+rendered more interesting by the singularly melodious notes of a bird,
+an inhabitant of these upper solitudes, and altogether unknown to the
+other parts of the island--hence called, or supposed to be, "invisible,"
+as it had never been seen. (It is of interest to state that Frederick
+A. Ober, in a visit to the island some twenty years ago, succeeded in
+obtaining specimens of this previously unknown bird.) From the fissures
+of the cone a thin white smoke exuded, occasionally tinged with a light
+blue flame. Evergreens, flowers and aromatic shrubs clothed the steep
+sides of the crater, which made, as the first indication of the eruption
+on April 27, 1812, a tremulous noise in the air. A severe concussion of
+the earth followed, and then a column of thick black smoke burst from
+the crater.
+
+
+THE ERUPTION OF 1812
+
+
+The eruption which followed these premonitory symptoms was one of the
+most terrific which had occurred in the West Indies up to that time. It
+was the culminating event which seemed to relieve a pressure within the
+earth's crust which extended from the Mississippi Valley to Caracas,
+Venezuela, producing terrible effects in the latter place. Here,
+thirty-five days before the volcanic explosion, the ground was rent and
+shaken by a frightful earthquake which hurled the city in ruins to the
+ground and killed ten thousand of its inhabitants in a moment of time.
+
+La Soufriere made the first historic display of its hidden powers in
+1718, when lava poured from its crater. A far more violent demonstration
+of its destructive forces was that above mentioned. On this occasion the
+eruption lasted for three days, ruining a number of the estates in the
+vicinity and destroying many lives. Myriads of tons of ashes, cinders,
+pumice and scoriae, hurled from the crater, fell in every section of
+the island. Volumes of sand darkened the air, and woods, ridges and cane
+fields were covered with light gray ashes, which speedily destroyed all
+vegetation. The sun for three days seemed to be in a total eclipse,
+the sea was discolored and the ground bore a wintry appearance from the
+white crust of fallen ashes.
+
+Carib natives who lived at Morne Rond fled from their houses to
+Kingstown. As the third day drew to a close flames sprang pyramidically
+from the crater, accompanied by loud thunder and electric flashes,
+which rent the column of smoke hanging over the volcano. Eruptive matter
+pouring from the northwest side plunged over the cliff, carrying down
+rocks and woods in its course. The island was shaken by an earthquake
+and bombarded with showers of cinders and stones, which set houses on
+fire and killed many of the natives.
+
+
+THE TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE AT CARACAS
+
+
+For nearly two years before this explosion earthquakes had been common,
+and sea and land had been agitated from the valley of the Mississippi to
+the coasts of Venezuela and the mountains of New Grenada, and from the
+Azores to the West Indies. On March 26, 1812, these culminated in the
+terrible tragedy, spoken of above, of which Humboldt gives us a vivid
+account.
+
+On that day the people of the Venezuelan city of Caracas were assembled
+in the churches, beneath a still and blazing sky, when the earth
+suddenly heaved and shook, like a great monster waking from slumber,
+and in a single minute 10,000 people were buried beneath the walls of
+churches and houses, which tumbled in hideous ruin upon their heads. The
+same earthquake made itself felt along the whole line of the Northern
+Cordilleras, working terrible destruction, and shook the earth as far
+as Santa Fe de Bogota and Honda, 180 leagues from Caracas. This was a
+preliminary symptom of the internal disorder of the earth.
+
+While the wretched inhabitants of Caracas who had escaped the earthquake
+were dying of fever and starvation, and seeking among villages and
+farms places of safety from the renewed earthquake shocks, the almost
+forgotten volcano of St. Vincent was muttering in suppressed wrath. For
+twelve months it had given warning, by frequent shocks of the earth,
+that it was making ready to play its part in the great subterranean
+battle. On the 27th of April its deep-hidden powers broke their bonds,
+and the conflict between rock and fire began.
+
+
+THE MOUNTAIN STONES A HERD-BOY
+
+
+The first intimation of the outbreak was rather amusing than alarming.
+A negro boy was herding cattle on the mountain side. A stone fell near
+him. Another followed. He fancied that some other boys were pelting him
+from the cliff above, and began throwing stones upward at his fancied
+concealed tormentors. But the stones fell thicker, among them some too
+large to be thrown by any human hand. Only then did the little fellow
+awake to the fact that it was not a boy like himself, but the mighty
+mountain, that was flinging these stones at him. He looked up and saw
+that the black column which was rising from the crater's mouth was no
+longer harmless vapor, but dust, ashes and stones. Leaving the cattle to
+their fate, he fled for his life, while the mighty cannon of the Titans
+roared behind him as he ran. For three days and nights this continued;
+then, on the 30th, a stream of lava poured over the crater's rim and
+rushed downward, reaching the sea in four hours, and the great eruption
+was at an end.
+
+On the same day, says Humboldt, at a distance of more than 200 leagues,
+"the inhabitants not only of Caracas, but of Calabozo, situated in
+the midst of the Lianos, over a space of 4,000 square leagues, were
+terrified by a subterranean noise which resembled frequent discharges of
+the heaviest cannon. It was accompanied by no shock, and, what is very
+remarkable, was as loud on the coast as at eighty leagues' distance
+inland, and at Caracas, as well as at Calabozo, preparations were made
+to put the place in defence against an enemy who seemed to be advancing
+with heavy artillery."
+
+It was no enemy that man could deal with. Fortunately, it confined its
+assault to deep noises, and desisted from earthquake shocks. Similar
+noises were heard in Martinique and Guadeloupe, and here also without
+shocks. The internal thunder was the signal of what was taking place on
+St. Vincent. With this last warning sound the trouble, which had lasted
+so long, was at an end. The earthquakes which for two years had shaken
+a sheet of the earth's surface larger than half Europe, were stilled by
+the eruption of St. Vincent's volcanic peak.
+
+
+BARBADOS COVERED WITH ASHES
+
+
+Northeast of the original crater of the Soufriere a new one was formed
+which was a half mile in diameter and five hundred feet deep. The old
+crater was in time transformed into a beautiful blue lake, as above
+stated, walled in by ragged cliffs to a height of eight hundred feet.
+
+It was looked upon as a remarkable circumstance that although the air
+was perfectly calm during the eruption, Barbados, which is ninety-five
+miles to the windward, was covered inches deep with ashes. The
+inhabitants there and on other neighboring islands were terrified by the
+darkness, which continued for four hours and a half. Troops were called
+under arms, the supposition from the continued noise being that hostile
+fleets were in an engagement.
+
+The movement of the ashes to windward, as just stated, was viewed as a
+remarkable phenomenon, and is cited by Elise Reclus, in "The Ocean," to
+show the force of different aerial currents; "On the first day of May,
+1812, when the northeast trade-wind was in all its force, enormous
+quantities of ashes obscured the atmosphere above the Island of
+Barbados, and covered the ground with a thick layer. One would have
+supposed that they came from the volcanoes of the Azores, which were
+to the northeast; nevertheless they were cast up by the crater in St.
+Vincent, one hundred miles to the west. It is therefore certain that the
+debris had been hurled, by the force of the eruption, above the moving
+sheet of the trade-winds into an aerial river proceeding in a contrary
+direction." For this it must have been hurled miles high into the air,
+till caught by the current of the anti-trade winds.
+
+
+KINGSLEY'S VISIT TO SAINT VINCENT
+
+
+From Charles Kingsley's "At Last" we extract, from the account of the
+visit of the author to St. Vincent, some interesting matter concerning
+the 1812 eruption and its effect on the mountain; also its influence
+upon distant Barbados, as just stated.
+
+"The strangest fact about this eruption was, that the mountain did not
+make use of its old crater. The original vent must have become so jammed
+and consolidated, in the few years between 1785 and 1812, that it could
+not be reopened, even by a steam force the vastness of which may be
+guessed at from the vastness of the area which it had shaken for
+two years. So, when the eruption was over, it was found that the old
+crater-lake, incredible as it may seem, remained undisturbed, so far
+as has been ascertained; but close to it, and separated only by a
+knife-edge of rock some 700 feet in height, and so narrow that, as I
+was assured by one who had seen it, it is dangerous to crawl along it,
+a second crater, nearly as large as the first, had been blasted out, the
+bottom of which, in like manner, was afterward filled with water.
+
+"I regretted much that I could not visit it. Three points I longed
+to ascertain carefully--the relative heights of the water in the two
+craters; the height and nature of the spot where the lava stream issued;
+and, lastly, if possible, the actual causes of the locally famous
+Rabacca, or 'Dry River,' one of the largest streams in the island,
+which was swallowed up during the eruption, at a short distance from its
+source, leaving its bed an arid gully to this day. But it could not be,
+and I owe what little I know of the summit of the soufriere principally
+to a most intelligent and gentleman-like young Wesleyan minister, whose
+name has escaped me. He described vividly, as we stood together on the
+deck, looking up at the volcano, the awful beauty of the twin lakes, and
+of the clouds which, for months together, whirl in and out of the cups
+in fantastic shapes before the eddies of the trade wind.
+
+
+BLACK SUNDAY AT BARBADOS
+
+
+"The day after the explosion, 'Black Sunday,' gave a proof of, though no
+measure of, the enormous force which had been exerted. Eighty miles to
+windward lies Barbados. All Saturday a heavy cannonading had been heard
+to the eastward. The English and French fleets were surely engaged. The
+soldiers were called out; the batteries manned; but the cannonade died
+away, and all went to bed in wonder. On the 1st of May the clocks struck
+six, but the sun did not, as usual in the tropics, answer to the call.
+The darkness was still intense, and grew more intense as the morning
+wore on. A slow and silent rain of impalpable dust was falling over the
+whole island. The negroes rushed shrieking into the streets. Surely the
+last day was come. The white folk caught (and little blame to them) the
+panic, and some began to pray who had not prayed for years. The pious
+and the educated (and there were plenty of both in Barbados) were not
+proof against the infection. Old letters describe the scene in the
+churches that morning as hideous--prayers, sobs, and cries, in Stygian
+darkness, from trembling crowds. And still the darkness continued and
+the dust fell.
+
+
+INCIDENTS AT BARBADOS
+
+
+"I have a letter written by one long since dead, who had at least powers
+of description of no common order, telling how, when he tried to go out
+of his house upon the east coast, he could not find the trees on his own
+lawn save by feeling for their stems. He stood amazed not only in utter
+darkness, but in utter silence; for the trade-wind had fallen dead,
+the everlasting roar of the surf was gone, and the only noise was the
+crashing of branches, snapped by the weight of the clammy dust. He went
+in again, and waited. About one o'clock the veil began to lift; a
+lurid sunlight stared in from the horizon, but all was black overhead.
+Gradually the dust drifted away; the island saw the sun once more, and
+saw itself inches deep in black, and in this case fertilizing, dust. The
+trade-wind blew suddenly once more out of the clear east, and the surf
+roared again along the shore.
+
+"Meanwhile a heavy earthquake-wave had struck part at least of the
+shores of Barbados. The gentleman on the east coast, going out, found
+traces of the sea, and boats and logs washed up some ten to twenty feet
+above high-tide mark; a convulsion which seemed to have gone unmarked
+during the general dismay.
+
+"One man at least, an old friend of John Hunter, Sir Joseph Banks and
+others their compeers, was above the dismay, and the superstitious panic
+which accompanied it. Finding it still dark when he rose to dress, he
+opened (so the story used to run) his window; found it stick, and felt
+upon the sill a coat of soft powder. 'The volcano in St. Vincent has
+broken out at last,' said the wise man, 'and this is the dust of it.' So
+he quieted his household and his negroes, lighted his candles, and went
+to his scientific books, in that delight, mingled with an awe not the
+less deep, because it is rational and self-possessed, with which he,
+like the other men of science, looked at the wonders of this wondrous
+world."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Submarine Volcanoes and their Work of Island Building.
+
+
+In November, 1867, a volcano suddenly began to show signs of activity
+beneath the deep sea of the Pacific Ocean. There are some islands nearly
+two thousands miles to the east of Australia called the Navigator's
+Group, in which there had been no history of an eruption, nor had such
+an event been handed down by tradition. Most of the islands in the
+Pacific Ocean are old volcanoes, or are made up of rocks cast forth from
+extinct burning mountains. They rise up like peaks through the
+great depths of the ocean, and the top, which just appears above the
+sea-level, is generally encircled by a growth of coral. Hence they are
+termed coral islands. These islands every now and then rise higher than
+the sea-level, owing to some deep upheaving force, and then the coral is
+lifted up above the water, and become a solid rock. But occasionally the
+reverse of this takes place, and the islands begin to sink into the
+sea, owing to a force which causes the base of the submarine mountain
+to become depressed. Sometimes they disappear. All this shows that some
+great disturbing forces are in action at the bottom of the sea, and just
+within the earth's crust, and that they are of a volcanic nature.
+
+For some time before the eruption in question, earthquakes shook the
+surrounding islands of the Navigator's Group, and caused great alarm,
+and when the trembling of the earth was very great, the sea began to be
+agitated near one of the islands, and vast circles of disturbed water
+were formed. Soon the water began to be forced upwards, and dead fish
+were seen floating about. After a while, steam rushed forth, and jets of
+mud and volcanic sand. Moreover, when the steam began to rush up out of
+the water, the violence of the general agitation of the land and of the
+surface of the sea increased.
+
+
+AN ERUPTION DESCRIBED
+
+
+When the eruption was at its height vast columns of mud and masses of
+stone rushed into the air to a height of 2,000 feet, and the fearful
+crash of masses of rock hurled upwards and coming in collision with
+others which were falling attested the great volume of ejected matter
+which accumulated in the bed of the ocean, although no trace of a
+volcano could be seen above the surface of the sea. Similar submarine
+volcanic action has been observed in the Atlantic Ocean, and crews of
+ships have reported that they have seen in different places sulphurous
+smoke, flame, jets of water, and steam, rising up from the sea, or they
+have observed the waters greatly discolored and in a state of violent
+agitation, as if boiling in large circles.
+
+New shoals have also been encountered, or a reef of rocks just emerging
+above the surface, where previously there was always supposed to have
+been deep water. On some few occasions, the gradual building up of an
+island by submarine volcanoes has been observed, as that of Sabrina in
+1181, off St. Michael's, in the Azores. The throwing up of ashes in this
+case, and the formation of a conical hill 300 feet high, with a crater
+out of which spouted lava and steam, took place very rapidly. But the
+waves had the best of it, and finally washed Sabrina into the depths of
+the ocean. Previous eruptions in the same part of the sea were recorded
+as having happened in 1691 and 1720.
+
+In 1831, a submarine volcanic eruption occurred in the Mediterranean
+Sea, between Sicily and that part of the African coast where Carthage
+formerly stood. A few years before, Captain Smyth had sounded the
+spot in a survey of the sea ordered by Government, and he found the
+sea-bottom to be under 500 feet of water. On June 28, about a fortnight
+before the eruption was visible, Sir Pulteney Malcom, in passing over
+the spot in his ship, felt the shock of an earthquake as if he had
+struck on a sandbank, and the same shocks were felt on the west coast of
+Sicily, in a direction from south-west to north-east.
+
+
+BUILDING UP OF AN ISLAND BY SUBMARINE VOLCANOES
+
+
+About July 10, the captain of a Sicilian vessel reported that as he
+passed near the place he saw a column of water like a waterspout, sixty
+feet high, and 800 yards in circumference, rising from the sea, and soon
+after a dense rush of steam in its place, which ascended to the height
+of 1,800 feet. The same captain, on his return eighteen days after,
+found a small island twelve feet high, with a crater in its centre,
+throwing forth volcanic matter and immense columns of vapor, the sea
+around being covered with floating cinders and dead fish. The eruption
+continued with great violence to the end of the same month. By the end
+of the month the island grew to ninety feet in height, and measured
+three-quarters of a mile round. By August 4th it became 200 feet high
+and three miles in circumference; after which it began to diminish in
+size by the action of the waves. Towards the end of October the island
+was levelled nearly to the surface of the sea.
+
+Naval officers and foreign ministers alike took an absorbing interest
+in this new island. The strong national thirst for territory manifested
+itself and eager mariners waited only till the new land should be cool
+enough to set foot on to strive who should be first to plant there
+his country's flag. Names in abundance were given it by successive
+observers,--Nerita, Sciacca, Fernandina, Julia, Hotham, Corrao, and
+Graham. The last holds good in English speech, and as Graham's Island
+it is known in books to-day, though the sea took back what it had given,
+leaving but a shoal of cinders and sand.
+
+The Bay of Santorin, in the island of that name, which lies immediately
+to the north of Crete, has long been noted for its submarine volcanoes.
+According to one account, indeed, the whole island was at a remote
+period raised from the bottom of the sea; but this is questionable. It
+is, with more reason, supposed that the bay is the site of an ancient
+crater, which was situated on the summit of a volcanic cone that
+subsequently fell in. Certain it is that islands have from time to time
+been thrown up by volcanic forces from the bottom of the sea within this
+bay, and that some of them have remained, while others have sunk again.
+
+
+HOW AN ISLAND GREW
+
+
+Of the existing islands, some were thrown up shortly before the
+beginning of the Christian era; in particular, one called the Great
+Cammeni, which, however, received a considerable accession to its size
+by a fresh eruption in A. D. 726. The islet nearest Santorin was raised
+in 1573, and was named the Little Cammeni; and in 1707 there was added,
+between the other two, a third, which is now called the Black Island.
+This made its appearance above water on the 23rd of May, 1707, and was
+first mistaken for a wreck; but some sailors, who landed on it, found
+it to be a mass of rock; consisting of a very white soft stone, to which
+were adhering quantities of fresh oysters. While they were collecting
+these, a violent shaking of the ground scared them away.
+
+During several weeks the island gradually increased in volume; but in
+July, at a distance of about sixty paces from the new islet, there was
+thrown up a chain of black calcined rocks, followed by volumes of thick
+black smoke, having a sulphurous smell. A few days thereafter the water
+all around the spot became hot, and many dead fishes were thrown up.
+Then, with loud subterraneous noises, flames arose, and fresh quantities
+of stones and other substances were ejected, until the chain of black
+rocks became united to the first islet that had appeared. This eruption
+continued for a long time, there being thrown out quantities of ashes
+and pumice, which covered the island of Santorin and the surface of the
+sea--some being drifted to the coasts of Asia Minor and the Dardanelles.
+The activity of this miniature volcano was prolonged, with greater or
+less energy, for about ten years.
+
+In 1866 similar phenomena took place in the Bay of Santorin, beginning
+with underground sounds and slight shocks of earthquake, which were
+followed by the appearance of flames on the surface of the sea. Soon
+after there arose, out of a dense smoke, a small islet, which gradually
+increased until in a week's time it was 60 feet high, 200 long and 90
+wide. The people of Santorin named it "George," in honor of the King of
+Greece. In another week it joined and became continuous with the Little
+Cammeni. The detonations increased in loudness, and large quantities of
+incandescent stones were thrown up from the crater.
+
+About the same time, at the distance of nearly 150 feet from the coast,
+to the westward of a point called Cape Phlego, there rose from the sea
+another island, to which was given the name of Aphroessa. It sank and
+reappeared several times before it established itself above water. The
+detonations and ejection of incandescent lava and stones continued at
+intervals during three weeks. From the crater of the islet George, which
+attained a height of 150 feet, some stones several cubic yards in bulk
+were projected to a great distance. One of them falling on board of a
+merchant vessel, killed the captain and set fire to the ship.
+
+By the 10th of March the eruptions had partially subsided, but were then
+renewed, and a third island, which was named Reka, rose alongside of
+Aphroessa. They were at first separated by a channel sixty feet deep;
+but in three days this was filled up, and the two islets became united.
+
+Reference may properly be made here to Monte Nuovo and Jorullo, not that
+they appertain to the present subject, but that they form examples of
+the action of similar forces, in the one instance exerted on a lake
+bottom, in the other on dry land, each yielding permanent volcanic
+elevations in every respect analogous to those which rise as islands
+from the bottom of the sea.
+
+
+IN THE ICELANDIC SEAS
+
+
+Off the coast of Iceland islands have appeared during several of
+the volcanic eruptions which that remote dependency of Denmark has
+manifested, and at various periods in Iceland's history the sea has been
+covered with pumice and other debris, which tell their own tale of what
+has been going on, without being in sufficient quantity to reach the
+surface in the form of an island mass. The sea off Reykjanes--Smoky
+Cape, as the name means--has been a frequent scene of these submarine
+eruptions. In 1240, during what the Icelandic historians describe as
+the eighth outburst, a number of islets were formed, though most of them
+subsequently disappeared, only to have their places occupied by others
+born at a later date. In 1422 high rocks of considerable circumference
+appeared. In 1783, about a month before the eruption of Skaptar Jokull,
+a volcanic island named Nyoe, from which fire and smoke issued, was
+built up. But in time it vanished under the waves, all that remains
+of it to-day being a reef from five to thirty-five fathoms below the
+sea-level. In 1830, after several long-continued eruptions of the usual
+character, another isle arose; while at the same time the skerries known
+as the Geirfuglaska disappeared, and with them vanished the great auks,
+or gare-fowls--birds now extinct--which up to that time had bred on
+them. At all events, though the auks could not well have been drowned,
+no traces of them were seen after the date mentioned. In July, 1884, an
+island again appeared about ten miles off Reykjanes; but it is already
+beginning to diminish in size, and may soon disappear.
+
+
+OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA
+
+
+Elsewhere in the region of the northern seas there are other instances
+of the influence of the submarine forces in raising up and lowering
+land. The coast of Alaska is a region of intense volcanic action. In
+1795, during a period of volcanic activity in the craters of Makushina,
+on Unalaska, and in others on Umnak Island, a volume of smoke was seen
+to rise out of the sea about 42 miles to the north of Unalaska, and
+the next year it was followed by a heap of cindery material, from which
+arose flame and volcanic matter, the glow being visible over a radius
+of ten miles. In four years the island grew into a large cone, 3000 feet
+above the sea-level, and two or three miles in circumference. Two years
+later it was still so hot that when some hunters landed on it they found
+the soil too warm for walking. It was named Ionna Bogoslova (St. John
+the Theologian), by the Russians, Agashagok by the Aleuts, and is now
+known to the whites of that region as Bogosloff. Mr. Dall believes
+that it occupies the site of some rocks that existed there as long as
+tradition extends.
+
+There were additions to the cone up to the year 1823, when it became so
+quiescent as to be the favorite haunt of seals and sea-fowls, and,
+when the weather was favorable, was visited by native egg-hunters
+from Unalaska. During the summer of 1883 Bogosloff was again seen
+in eruption, as it was thought. However, on closely examining the
+neighborhood, it was found that the old island was undisturbed, but that
+there had been a fresh eruption, which had resulted in the extension of
+Bogosloff by the appearance of a cone and crater (Hague Volcano), 357
+feet high, connected with the parent island by a low sand-spit, and
+situated in a spot where, the year before, the lead showed 800 fathoms
+of water. At the same time Augustin and two other previously quiet
+islands on the peninsula of Alaska began simultaneously to emit smoke,
+dust and ashes, while a reef running westward and formerly submerged
+became elevated to the sea surface. Other islands, of origin exactly
+similar to Bogosloff and those mentioned, are to be found in this
+region, notably Koniugi and Kasatochi, in the western Aleutians,
+and Pinnacle Island, near St. Matthew Island. Indeed, the volcano of
+Kliutchevsk, which rises to a height of over 15,000 feet, is really a
+volcanic island.
+
+A permanent addition was made to the Aleutian group of Islands by the
+action of a submarine volcano in 1806. This new island has the form of
+a volcanic peak, with several subsidiary cones. It is four geographical
+miles in circumference. In 1814 another arose out of the sea in the same
+archipelago, the cone of which attained a height of 3,000 feet; but at
+the end of a year it lost a portion of this elevation.
+
+In 1856, in the sea in the same neighborhood, Captain Newell, of the
+whaling bark Alice Fraser, witnessed a submarine eruption, which was
+also seen by the crews of several other vessels. There was no island
+formed on this occasion, but large jets of water were thrown up, and the
+sea was greatly agitated all around. Then followed volcanic smoke, and
+quantities of stones, ashes, and pumice; the two latter being scattered
+over the surface of the sea to a great distance. Loud thundering reports
+accompanied this eruption, and all the ships in the neighborhood felt
+concussions like those produced by an earthquake. These phenomena seem
+to have ended in the formation of some great submarine chasm, into which
+the waters rushed with extreme violence and a terrific roar.
+
+Occurrences similar to this last have been several times observed in
+a tract of open sea in the Atlantic, about half a degree south of the
+equator, and between 20 and 22 degrees of west longitude. Although
+quantities of volcanic dross have been from time to time thrown up to
+the surface in this region, no island has yet made its appearance above
+water.
+
+The events here described repeat on a far smaller scale similar ones
+which have occurred in remote ages in many parts of the ocean and left
+great island masses as the permanent effects of their work. We may
+instance the Hawaiian group, which is wholly of volcanic origin, with
+the exception of its minor coral additions, and represents a stupendous
+activity of underground agencies beneath the domain of Father Neptune.
+
+In part, as we have said elsewhere in this work, all oceanic islands,
+remote from those in the shoal bordering waters of the continents, have
+been of volcanic or coral formation, or more often a combination of the
+two. No sooner does an island mass appear above or near the surface of
+tropical waters than the minute coral animals--effective only by their
+myriads--begin their labors, building fringes of coral rock around
+the cindery heaps lifted from the ocean floor. The atolls of the
+Pacific--circular or oval rings of coral with lagunes of sea-water
+within--have long been thought to be built on the rims of submarine
+volcanoes, rising to within a few hundred feet of the surface, much
+as coral reefs around actual islands. If the volcanic mass should
+subsequently subside, as it is likely to do, the minute ocean builders
+will continue their work--unless the subsidence be too rapid for their
+powers of production--and in this way ring-like islands of coral may
+in time rise from great depths of sea, their basis being the volcanic
+island which has sunk from near the surface far toward old ocean's
+primal floor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+Mud Volcanoes, Geysers, and Hot Springs.
+
+
+Our usual impression of a volcano is indicated in the title of "burning
+mountain," so often employed, a great fire-spouting cone of volcanic
+debris, from which steam, lava, rock-masses, cinder-like fragments, and
+dust, often of extreme fineness, are flung high into the air or flow
+in river-like torrents of molten rock. This, no doubt, applies in the
+majority of cases, but the volcanic forces do not confine themselves to
+these magnificent displays of energy, nor are their products limited to
+those above specified. We have seen that mud is a not uncommon product,
+due to the mingling of water with volcanic dust, while water alone is
+occasionally emitted, of which we have a marked instance in the Volcan
+de Agua, of Guatemala, already mentioned. As regards mud flows, we may
+specially instance the first outflow from Mont Pelee, that by which the
+Guerin sugar works were overwhelmed.
+
+The imprisoned forces of the earth have still other modes of
+manifestation. A very frequent one of these, and the most destructive to
+human life of them all, is the earthquake.
+
+Minor manifestations of volcanic action may be seen in the geyser and
+the hot spring, the latter the most widely disseminated of all the
+resultant effects of the heated condition of the earth's interior. It
+is these displays of subterranean energy, differing from those usually
+termed volcanic, yet due to the same general causes, that we have next
+to consider. And it may be premised that their manifestations, while,
+except in the case of the earthquake, less violent, are no less
+interesting, especially as the minor displays are free from that peril
+to human life which renders the major ones so terrible.
+
+While the largest volcanoes at times pour out rivers of liquid mud,
+there are volcanoes from which nothing is ever ejected but mud and
+water, the latter being generally salt. From this circumstance they
+are sometimes called salses, but they are more generally termed
+mud-volcanoes. Some varieties of them throw out little else than gases
+of different sorts, and these are called air-volcanoes.
+
+
+THE GREAT MUD VOLCANO OF SICILY
+
+
+One of the best known mud-volcanoes is at Macaluba, near Girgenti, in
+Sicily. It consists of several conical mounds, varying from time to time
+in their form and height, which ranges from eight to thirty feet. From
+orifices on the tops of these mounds there are thrown out sometimes jets
+of warmish water and mud mixed with bitumen, sometimes bubbles of
+gas, chiefly carbonic acid and carburetted hydrogen, occasionally pure
+nitrogen. The mud ejected has often a strong sulphurous smell. The jets
+in general ascend only to a moderate height; but occasionally they are
+thrown up with great violence, attaining a height of about 200 feet.
+In 1777 there was ejected an immense column, consisting of mud strongly
+impregnated with sulphur and mixed with naphtha and stones, accompanied
+also by quantities of sulphurous vapors. This mud-volcano is known to
+have been in action for fifteen centuries.
+
+Very recently a small mud-volcano has been formed on the flanks of Mount
+Etna. It began with the throwing up of jets of boiling water, mixed with
+petroleum and mud, great quantities of gas bubbling up at the same time.
+In several of the valleys of Iceland there are similar phenomena, the
+boiling water and mud being thrown up in jets to the height of fifteen
+feet and upwards, the mud accumulating around the orifices whence the
+jets arise.
+
+A mud-volcano named Korabetoff, in the Crimea, presents phenomena more
+akin to those of the igneous volcanoes of South America. There was an
+eruption from this mountain on the 6th of August, 1853. It began by
+throwing up from the summit a column of fire and smoke, which ascended
+to a great height. This continued for five or six minutes, and was
+followed at short intervals by two similar eruptions. There was then
+ejected with a hissing noise a quantity of black fetid mud, which was so
+hot as to scorch the grass on the edges of the stream. The mud continued
+to pour out for three hours, covering a wide space at the mountain's
+base. The mud-volcanoes on the coast of Beloochistan are very numerous,
+and extend over an area of nearly a thousand square miles. Their action
+resembles that at Macaluba.
+
+
+THE MUD VOLCANO OF JAVA
+
+
+There is a mud volcano in Java which is of interest as somewhat
+resembling the geyser in its mode of operation and apparently due to
+similar agencies. It is thus described by Dr. Horsfield:--
+
+"On approaching it from a distance, it is first discovered by a large
+volume of smoke, rising and disappearing at intervals of a few seconds,
+resembling the vapors rising from a violent surf. A loud noise is heard,
+like that of distant thunder. Having advanced so near that the vision
+was no longer impeded by the smoke, a large hemispherical mass was
+observed, consisting of black earth mixed with water, about sixteen
+feet in diameter, rising to the height of twenty or thirty feet in
+a perfectly regular manner, and as if it were pushed up by a force
+beneath, which suddenly exploded with a loud noise, and scattered about
+a volume of black mud in every direction. After an interval of two or
+three, or sometimes four or five seconds, the hemispherical body of mud
+rose and exploded again. In the manner stated this volcanic ebullition
+goes on without interruption, throwing up a globular body of mud, and
+dispersing it with violence through the neighboring plain. The spot
+where the ebullition occurs is nearly circular, and perfectly level. It
+is covered only with the earthy particles, impregnated with salt water,
+which are thrown up from below. The circumference may be estimated at
+about half an English mile. In order to conduct the salt water to the
+circumference, small passages or gutters are made in the loose muddy
+earth, which lead to the borders, where it is collected in holes dug in
+the ground for the purpose of evaporation."
+
+The mud has a strong, pungent, sulphurous smell, resembling that of
+mineral oil, and is hotter than the surrounding atmosphere. During the
+rainy season the explosions increase in violence.
+
+There are submarine mud volcanoes as well as those of igneous kind. In
+1814 one of this character broke out in the Sea of Azof, beginning with
+flame and black smoke, accompanied by earth and stones, which were flung
+to a great height. Ten of these explosions occurred, and, after a period
+of rest, others were heard during the night. The next morning there
+was visible above the water an island of mud some ten feet high. A very
+similar occurrence took place in 1827, near Baku, in the Caspian sea.
+This began with a flaming display and the ejection of great fragments of
+rock. An eruption of mud succeeded. A set of small volcanoes discovered
+by Humboldt in Turbaco, in South America, confined their emissions
+almost wholly to gases, chiefly nitrogen.
+
+There is a close connection in character between mud volcanoes and
+those intermittent boiling springs named geysers. A good many of the mud
+volcanoes throw out jets of boiling water along with the mud; but in
+the case of the geysers, the boiling water is ejected alone, without
+any visible impregnation, though some mineral in solution, as silica,
+carbonate of lime, or sulphur, is usually present.
+
+
+THE GEYSER IS A WATER VOLCANO
+
+
+The phenomenon of the geyser serves in a measure to support the theory
+that steam is an important agent in volcanic action. A geyser, in fact,
+may be designated as a water volcano, since it throws up water only. It
+comprises a cone or mound, usually only a few feet high. In the middle
+of this is a crater-like opening with a passage leading down into the
+earth. As in the case of the volcano, the geyser cone is built up by its
+own action. In the boiling water which is ejected there is dissolved a
+certain amount of silica. As the water falls and cools this mineral is
+deposited, gradually building up a cup-like elevation. The basin of the
+geyser is generally full of clear water, with a little steam rising
+from its surface; but at intervals an eruption takes place, sometimes at
+regular periods, but more often at irregular intervals.
+
+Among the largest and best known geysers in the world are those of
+Iceland, chief among them being the Great Geyser. Silica is the
+mineral with which the waters of this fountain are impregnated, and
+the substance which they deposit, as they slowly evaporate, is named
+siliceous sinter. Of this material is composed the mound, six or seven
+feet high, on which the spring is situated. On the top of the mound is
+a large oval basin, about three feet in depth, measuring in its larger
+diameter about fifty-six, and in its shorter about forty-six feet. The
+centre of this basin is occupied by a circular well about ten feet in
+diameter, and between seventy and eighty feet deep.
+
+Out of the central well springs a jet of boiling water, at intervals of
+six or seven hours. When the fountain is at rest, both the basin and the
+well appear quite empty, and no steam is seen. But on the approach of
+the moment for action, the water rises in the well, till it flows over
+into the basin. Then loud subterranean explosions are heard, and the
+ground all round is violently shaken.
+
+Instantly, and with immense force, a steaming jet of boiling water, of
+the full width of the well, springs up and ascends to a great height
+in the air. The top of this large column of water is enveloped in vast
+clouds of steam, which diffuse themselves through the air, rendering it
+misty. These jets succeed each other with great rapidity to the number
+of sixteen or eighteen, the period of action of the fountain being about
+five minutes. The last of the jets generally ascends to the greatest
+height, usually to about 100, but sometimes to 150 feet; on one occasion
+it rose to the great height of 212 feet. Having ejected this great
+column of water, the action ceases, and the water that had filled the
+basin sinks down into the well. There it remains till the time for the
+next eruption, when the same phenomena are repeated. It has been found
+that, by throwing large stones into the well, the period of the eruption
+may be hastened, while the loudness of the explosions and the violence
+of the fountain effect are increased, the stones being at the same time
+ejected with great force.
+
+
+ERUPTION CAN BE INDUCED BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS
+
+
+Geysers are found all over the island, presenting various peculiarities.
+In the case of one of the smaller ones, which is called Strokr, or the
+Churn, an eruption can be induced by artificial means. A barrow-load of
+sods is thrown into the crater of the geyser, with the effect of causing
+an eruption. The sensitiveness of Strokr is due to its peculiar form.
+An observer states that, "The bore is eight feet in diameter at the
+top, and forty-four feet deep. Below twenty-seven feet it contracts to
+nineteen inches, so that the turf thrown in completely chokes it. Steam
+collects below; a foaming scum covers the surface of the water, and in
+a quarter of an hour it surges up the pipe. The fountain then begins
+playing, sending its bundles of jets rather higher than those of
+the Great Geyser, flinging up the clods of turf which have been its
+obstruction like a number of rockets. This magnificent display continues
+for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. The erupted water flows
+back into the pipe from the curved sides of the bowl. This occasions a
+succession of bursts, the last expiring effort, very generally, being
+the most magnificent. Strokr gives no warning thumps, like the Great
+Geyser, and there is not the same roaring of steam accompanying the
+outbreak of the water."
+
+The same author thus describes an eruption of the Great Geyser, which
+occurred about two o'clock in the morning: "A violent concussion of the
+ground brought me and my companions to our feet. We rushed out of the
+tent in every condition of dishabille and were in time to see Geyser put
+forth his full strength. Five strokes underground were the signal, then
+an overflow, wetting every side of the mound. Presently a dome of
+water rose in the centre of the basin and fell again, immediately to
+be followed by a fresh bell, which sprang into the air fully forty feet
+high, accompanied by a roaring burst of steam. Instantly the fountain
+began to play with the utmost violence, a column rushing up to the
+height of ninety or one hundred feet against the gray night sky, with
+mighty volumes of white steam cloud rolling after it and swept off by
+the breeze to fall in torrents of hot rain. Jets and lines of water tore
+their way through the clouds, or leaped high above its domed mass. The
+earth trembled and throbbed during the explosion, then the column sank,
+started up again, dropped once more, and seemed to be sucked back into
+the earth. We ran to the basin, which was left dry, and looked down the
+bore at the water, which was bubbling at the depth of six feet."
+
+In the case of Strokr, the cause of this eruption is not difficult to
+understand. The narrow part of the channel is choked up by the turf and
+the steam, and prevented from escaping. Finally it gains such force as
+to drive out the obstacle with a violent explosion, just as a bottle
+of fermenting liquor may blow out the cork and discharge some of its
+contents.
+
+Geysers are somewhat abundant phenomena, existing in many parts of the
+earth, while striking examples of them are found in the widely separated
+regions of Iceland, New Zealand, Japan and the western United States.
+In the volcanic region of New Zealand geysers and their associated hot
+springs are abundant. It was to their action that we owed the famous
+white and pink terraces and the warm lake of Rotomahana which were
+ruined by the destructive eruption of Mount Tarawera, already described.
+
+
+GEYSERS OF THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+The United States is abundantly supplied with hot springs, but geysers,
+outside of the Yellowstone region, are found only in California and
+Nevada. Those of California exist chiefly in Napa Valley, north of San
+Francisco, in a canon or defile. Their waters are impregnated not with
+silica, but with sulphur, and they thus approach more nearly in their
+character to mud-volcanoes, whose ejections are, in like manner, much
+impregnated with that substance. They are also, like them, collected in
+groups, there being no less than one hundred openings within a space of
+flat ground a mile square. Owing to their number and proximity, their
+individual energy is nothing like so violent as that of the geysers of
+Iceland. Their jets seldom rise higher than 20 or 30 feet; but so great
+a number playing within so confined a space produces an imposing effect.
+The jets of boiling water issue with a loud noise from little conical
+mounds, around which the ground is merely a crust of sulphur. When this
+crust is penetrated, the boiling water may be seen underneath. The rocks
+in the neighborhood of these fountains are all corroded by the action of
+the sulphurous vapors. Nevertheless, within a distance of not more than
+50 feet from them, trees grow without injury to their health.
+
+Few of these fountains, however, are regular geysers, most of them
+discharging only steam. From the Steamboat Geyser this ascends to a
+height of from 50 to 100 feet, with a roar like that of the escape
+from a steamboat boiler. Associated with the geysers are numerous hot
+springs, some clear, some turbid, and variously impregnated with
+iron, sulphur or alum. In Nevada the Steamboat Springs, as they are
+designated, exist in Washoe Valley, east of the Virginian range. They
+come nearer in character to the Yellowstone geysers, their waters
+depositing true geyserite, or silicious concretions. The Volcano
+Springs, in Lauder County, are also true geysers, though of small
+importance. The ground here is so thickly perforated by holes from which
+steam escapes that it looks like a cullender.
+
+
+THE YELLOWSTONE GEYSERS
+
+
+The most remarkable geyser country in the world, alike for the size and
+the number of its spouting fountains, is the Yellowstone region in the
+northwest part of the Territory of Wyoming, in the United States, which,
+by a special act of Congress, has been reserved as the Yellowstone
+National Park, exempt from settlement, purchase or preemption. Here
+nearly every form of geyser and unintermittent hot spring occurs,
+with deposits of various kinds, silicious, calcareous, etc. Of the
+hot springs, Dr. Peale enumerates 2,195, and considers that within the
+limits of the park--which is about 54 miles by 62 miles, and includes
+3,312 square miles--as many as 3,000 actually exist. The same geologist
+notes the existence of 71 geysers in the area mentioned, though some
+of the number are only inferred to be spouting springs from the form of
+their basins and the character of the surrounding deposits. Of this
+vast collection of still and eruptive springs, between which there seems
+every gradation, those which do not send water into the air are, owing
+to the magnificent cascades which they form, often quite as remarkable
+as those which take the shape of geysers. The more striking of the
+latter may, however, be briefly mentioned.
+
+In the Gibbon Basin is a geyser of late origin. In 1878 this consisted
+of two steam holes, roaring on the side of a hill, that looked as if
+they had recently burst through the surface; and the gully leading
+towards the ravine was at that date filled with sand, which appeared to
+have been poured out during an eruption. Dead trees stood on the line of
+this sand floor, and others, with their bark still remaining, and
+even with their foliage not lost, were uprooted hard by, everything
+indicating that the "steamboat vent," as it was called, was of recent
+formation. In 1875 it had no existence, but in 1879 the spouting
+spring--which first opened, it is believed, on the 11th of August in the
+preceding year--had "settled down to business as a very powerful flowing
+geyser," with a double period; one eruption occurring every half
+hour, and projecting water to the height of 30 feet; the main eruption
+occurring every six or seven days, with long continued action, and a
+column of nearly 100 feet.
+
+The New Geyser in the same basin is also of quite recent origin.
+It consists of two fissures in the rock, in which the water boils
+vigorously. But there is no mound, and the rocks of the fissure are just
+beginning to get a coating of the silicious geyserite deposited from the
+water, so that it cannot long have been spouting. Again, in the Grotto
+Geyser--in the Upper Geyser Basin of Fire Hole River--the main or
+larger crater is hollowed into fantastic arches, beneath which are
+the grotto-like cavities from which it is named, which act as lateral
+orifices for the escape of water during an eruption. It plays several
+times in the course of the twenty-four hours, and sends a column of
+water sixty feet high, the eruption lasting an hour. As yet, however,
+the force of the water has not been sufficient, or of sufficiently long
+duration, to break through the arches covering the basin or crater.
+The Excelsior--claimed to be the largest of its order, which sent water
+nearly 300 feet into the air at intervals of about five hours, and of
+such volume as to wash away bridges over small streams below--was not,
+until comparatively recent years, known as a specially powerful geyser.
+But if it had for a time waned in importance, its immense crater, 330
+feet in length and 200 feet at the widest part, shows that at a still
+earlier date it was a gigantic fountain. In this deep pit, when the
+breeze wafted aside the clouds of steam constantly arising from its
+surface, the water could be seen seething 15 or 20 feet below the
+surrounding level. Yet into the cauldron of boiling water a little
+stream of cold water, from the melting snow of the uplands, ran
+unceasingly. Since 1888 this great geyser has been inactive.
+
+The Castle Geyser is so named on account of the fancied resemblance
+which its mound of white and grey deposit presents to the ruins of a
+feudal keep, the crater itself being placed on a cone or turret, which
+has a somewhat imposing appearance compared with the other geysers in
+the neighborhood. It throws a column usually about fifty or sixty feet
+high, at intervals of two or three hours, but sometimes the discharge
+shoots up much higher.
+
+The Giant, in the Upper Geyser Basin, has a peculiar crater, which
+has been likened to the stump of a hollow sycamore tree of gigantic
+proportions, whose top has been wrenched off by a storm. This curious
+cup is broken down at one side, as though it had been torn away during
+an eruption of more than ordinary violence, and on this side the visitor
+is able to look into the crater, if he can contrive to avoid the jets
+which are constantly spouted from it. The periods of rest which it takes
+are varied, an eruption often not occurring for several days at a time;
+yet when it breaks out it continues playing for more than three hours,
+with a volume of water reaching a height of from 130 to 140 feet. In the
+interval little spouts are constantly in progress. Mr. Stanley saw one
+eruption which he calculated to have shot a column of water to the
+height of more than 200 feet. At first it seemed as though the geyser
+was only making a feint, the discharge which preceded the great one
+being merely repeated several times, followed by a cessation both of
+the rumbling noises and of the ejection of water. But soon, after a
+premonitory cloud of steam, the geyser began to work in earnest,
+the column discharged rising higher and higher, until it reached the
+altitude mentioned.
+
+"At first it appeared to labor in raising the immense volume, which
+seemed loath to start on its heavenward tour; but it was with perfect
+ease that the stupendous column was held to its place, the water
+breaking into jets and returning in glittering showers to the basin.
+The steam ascended in dense volumes for thousands of feet, when it
+was freighted on the wings of the winds and borne away in clouds. The
+fearful rumble and confusion attending it were as the sound of distant
+artillery, the rushing of many horses to battle, or the roar of a
+fearful tornado. It commenced to act at 2 P. M., and continued for an
+hour and a half, the latter part of which it emitted little else than
+steam, rushing upward from its chambers below, of which, if controlled,
+there was enough to run an engine of wonderful power. The waving to and
+fro of such a gigantic fountain, when the column is at its height,
+
+'Tinselled o'er in robes of varying hues,'
+
+and glistening in the bright sunlight, which adorns it with the glowing
+colors of many a gorgeous rainbow, affords a spectacle so wonderful
+and grandly magnificent, so overwhelming to the mind, that the ablest
+attempt at description gives the reader who has never witnessed such a
+display but a feeble idea of its glory."
+
+
+A DESCRIPTION OF THE GEYSER AT WORK
+
+
+The only other geysers in this remarkable geyserland which we can spare
+room to notice are those known as the Giantess, the Beehive, and the
+Grand. The Giantess sends a column of water to the height of 250 feet.
+An eruption is usually divided into three periods--two preliminary
+efforts and a final one, divided from each other by intervals of between
+one and two hours, while the intervals of discharge are very long.
+Sometimes it does not play for several weeks. The Beehive, which is 400
+feet from the Giantess, gets its name from the peculiar beehive-like
+cone which it has formed. The eruption is also almost unique. It is
+heralded by a slight escape of steam, which is followed by a column of
+steam and water, shooting to the height of over 200 feet. The column
+is somewhat fan-shaped, but it does not fall in rain, the spray being
+evaporated and carried off as steam--if, indeed, there is not more steam
+than water in the column. The duration of the discharge is between four
+and five minutes, and the interval between two eruptions from twenty-one
+to twenty-five hours.
+
+The Grand is one of the most important in the Upper Geyser basin. Yet,
+unlike the Grotto, the Giant, or the Old Faithful,--so called from its
+frequent and regular eruptions--it has no raised cone or crater, and a
+much less cavernous bowl than the Giantess and other geysers. The column
+discharged ascends to the height of from eighty to two hundred feet, and
+the eruptions last from fifteen minutes to three-quarters of an hour,
+with intervals on an average of from seven to twenty hours. This
+fountain is apparently very irregular in its action, though it is just
+possible that when the Yellowstone geysers have been more consecutively
+studied, it will be found that these seeming irregularities depend on
+the varying supplies of water at different times of the year.
+
+
+THE MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
+
+
+The marvellous phenomena of the Yellowstone region are not confined
+to geyser action, hot springs of steady flow being, as above stated,
+exceedingly numerous. Of these the most striking are those known as the
+Mammoth Hot Springs, whose waters find their way through underground
+passages, finally flowing from an opening as the "Boiling River," which
+empties into the Gardiner River.
+
+These springs are marvels of beauty. Their terraced bowls, adorned with
+delicate fret-work, are among the finest specimens of Nature's handiwork
+in the world, and the colored waters themselves are startling in their
+brilliancy. Red, pink, black, canary, green, saffron, blue, chocolate,
+and all their intermediate gradations are found here in exquisite
+harmony. The springs rise in terraces of various heights and widths,
+having intermingled with their delicate shades chalk-like cliffs, soft
+and crumbly, these latter being the remains of springs from which the
+life and beauty have departed. The great spring is the largest in the
+country, the water flowing through three openings into a basin forty
+feet long by twenty-five feet wide. From this the hot mineral waters
+drip over into lower basins, of gracefully curved and scalloped outline,
+the minerals deposited on the lips of the basin forming stalagmites of
+variegated hue, yielding a brilliant and beautiful effect. The terraced
+basins bear a close resemblance to the former New Zealand pink and white
+terraces, and since the annihilation of the latter are the most charming
+examples in existence of this rare form of Nature's artistic handiwork.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The San Francisco Calamity, by Various
+
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