Wonders of Creation Part 5

To the north of Timor lie the Molucca Islands, several of which are volcanic. In one of them, named Machian, there occurred in the year 1646 an extraordinary event. A mountain was rent from top to bottom, sending out great columns of fire and dense vapours. The two parts now remain two distinct mountains.

In the Island of Sangir, another of the Moluccas, there was a violent eruption in March 1856. A large portion of the mountain fell down, and tremendous floods of water issued forth. The destruction that ensued was dreadful, upwards of two thousand persons having perished.

In another part of the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar, lies the little Isle of Bourbon, containing the volcano Salazes, which occasionally throws out the curious thready substance already mentioned, so strongly resembling spun gla.s.s.

CHAPTER XI.

Mud and Air Volcanoes--Luss--Macaluba--Taman--Korabetoff--New Island in the Sea of Azof--Jokmali--Fires of Baku--Mud Volcano in Flank of Etna--Air Volcanoes of Turbaco, Cartagena, and Galera-Zamba.

The curious mud volcano in the Island of Java, described in the preceding chapter, although presenting some peculiar features, is not the only one of the kind in the world. Mud, as you have learned, is often thrown out in great quant.i.ties, along with boiling water, even by true volcanoes, which at other times eject ashes and lava. But there are some volcanoes that never throw out anything else than mud and water, gas and steam. Such are called mud volcanoes or salses.

The most remarkable a.s.semblage of mud volcanoes in the world exists in the district of Luss, lying at the south-east corner of Beloochistan. They extend over a very large area, and are exceedingly numerous. The cone of one of them is no less than four hundred feet high, and the crater at the top is ninety feet in diameter. The mud in the crater is quite liquid, and is constantly disturbed by bubbles of gas, and occasionally by jets of the mud itself.

More familiarly known is the mud volcano of Macaluba, near Girgenti, in Sicily. It is situated in a country much impregnated with sulphur and other inflammable matters. The top of the hill is covered with dry clay, in which are numerous basins full of warmish water mixed with mud and bitumen. From these small craters bubbles of gas arise from time to time; but at long intervals they become much more active, and throw up jets of wet mud to the height of nearly two hundred feet. This mud smells strongly of sulphur.

In the peninsula of Taman, near the entrance to the Sea of Azof, there is a group of mud volcanoes, from one of which there was a considerable eruption on the 27th of February 1793. It was preceded by underground detonations, and accompanied by a column of fire and dense vapour, which rose to the height of several hundred feet. The discharge of mud and gas was abundant. The accompaniment of fire and smoke makes this eruption more nearly resemble that of a true volcano.

There is in the adjacent parts of the Crimea a mountain named Korabetoff, which also presents similar phenomena. On the 6th of August 1853, a column of fire and smoke was seen to rise from the top of this mountain to a great height, and it continued for five or six minutes. Two other similar but less violent ejections of fire and smoke followed at short intervals. These appearances were the accompaniments of an eruption of black fetid mud, which overspread the ground at the foot of the mountain to a considerable depth.

A still more striking phenomenon occurred in the Sea of Azof, on the 10th of May 1814. On that day a column of flame and very thick smoke arose out of the water, with a loud report like that of a cannon, and ma.s.ses of earth with large stones were tossed high up into the air. Ten eruptions of this kind succeeded each other at intervals of about a quarter of an hour; and after they had ceased for a time, they began again during the night. Next morning it was found that an island had risen out of the sea, between nine and ten feet in height, surrounded by a lower level of hardened mud. A strong fetid smell, probably that of petroleum, proceeded from the island, and extended for a considerable distance all round.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Air Volcanoes of Turbaco]

Another mud volcano, named Jokmali, near the Caspian Sea, was formed in November 1827. In this case, also, the ejection of mud was for several hours preceded by flames, rising to so great a height that they could be seen at a distance of twenty-four miles.

Large pieces of rock were at the same time thrown up and scattered to considerable distances all round. The entire district in which this mountain is situated, has its soil copiously impregnated with petroleum, and numerous wells are formed for its collection.

Quant.i.ties of this mineral oil are frequently found floating on the sea, along the neighbouring sh.o.r.es, where the sailors are in the habit of setting fire to this floating petroleum, while they dexterously steer their boats so as to avoid the flames. In this district also stands the city of Baku, held sacred by the Pa.r.s.ees, or fire-wors.h.i.+ppers, who have here built a temple, in which are kept burning perpetual fires, fed by the naphtha springing from the ground.

During the past year, 1866, a small mud volcano has been formed in the flanks of Mount Etna. It began with an outburst of strong jets of boiling water. First, one rose to the height of about six feet, then several others broke out, whereupon the height of the whole set diminished. There was much gas bubbling through the water, and some petroleum floated on its surface. It was very muddy, and left a thick deposit as it flowed away. Neither flames nor noise accompanied this eruption.

There are also diminutive volcanoes, consisting of small conical hills, from which nothing seems to be emitted but various sorts of gas. These are called air volcanoes. Such are those of Turbaco in South America, discovered by Baron Humboldt, who has left us a picture of them, of which you here have a copy. These volcanic hillocks are truncated cones, eighteen or twenty in number, composed of hardened mud, from 18 to 24 feet in height, and from about 140 to about 180 feet in diameter at the base. The small craters at the top are filled with liquid mud, whence bubbles of gas, chiefly nitrogen, are being continually disengaged.

There is a similar, but much larger, group in the neighbouring province of Cartagena. It consists of about one hundred cones spread over a district of nearly four hundred square leagues. There is also a group of about fifty cones within a range of four or five miles in the adjacent peninsula of Galera-Zamba. A sub-marine volcano, from which there have been several eruptions, is supposed to be connected with these numerous salses.

CHAPTER XII.

New Zealand--Boiling Fountains and Lakes

In the eruptions of mud volcanoes, described in the foregoing chapter, a frequent ingredient is boiling water. There are, however, several instances in which there are thrown up jets of boiling water that are not intermingled with mud, but in which the water is either pure or impregnated with some mineral which it holds in perfect solution. Of this nature are the Geysers of Iceland and California, already described.

In New Zealand there is another variety of this phenomenon, the boiling water issuing forth, not in intermittent jets, as in the Geysers, but in perpetually flowing springs, forming lakes, in which the water remains nearly at the boiling point. These springs and lakes occur at a place called Roto-Mahana. The annexed woodcut will convey an idea of their appearance.

There are several basins raised one above another, and all higher than the level of the large lake. The highest is of an oval form, and about two hundred and fifty feet in circ.u.mference. It is filled from an opening at the height of about a hundred feet above the level of the lower lake. At various stages below this upper basin are numerous other springs, from which several similar basins are filled. The whole of these basins empty themselves into the large lake below, and the water in all of them is nearly boiling hot, giving forth, with a hissing sound, volumes of white vapour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Boiling Lakes of Roto Mahana]

These waters are richly impregnated with carbonate of lime, which has formed all round the margins of the basins beautiful incrustations of snowy whiteness. The sand round the lake is very warm; and if a stick be thrust into it, jets of steam arise.

Doubtless, some years hence, the enterprising English settlers will establish hot baths here. Not far from the lake there are smaller basins, in which the water is not beyond what would be agreeable for a warm bath; while it is of a blue colour and beautifully clear.

On both banks of the river Waikato, also in this neighbourhood, are found numerous basins full of boiling mud or slime, which cannot be approached save with extreme care, owing to the softness and slipperiness of the soil. The largest of these basins is oval in form, 14 feet long by 8 feet wide, and about as much in depth. It contains hot mud of a bright red colour, being strongly impregnated with oxide of iron. Large viscous bubbles are continually rising to the top, and on bursting they emit a fetid, sulphureous smell.

These phenomena are nearly akin to those of a mud volcano.

CHAPTER XIII.

Underground Sounds--Quito--Rio Apure--Guanaxuato--Melida--Nakous.

Not the least remarkable among the phenomena produced by volcanic forces, are the strange underground noises which are occasionally heard. For the most part these are the preludes either of shocks of earthquake or of volcanic eruptions. Those which for months preceded the upheaval of the volcano of Jorullo, will recur to your remembrance. For about a month before the great mud eruption from Tunguragua on 4th February 1797, already described, there proceeded from the interior of that mountain noises of the most fearful kind.

These would occur suddenly in the midst of perfect silence. They were heard by Antonio Pineda, the naturalist, who was there at the time, and they led him to foretell the approach of some great convulsion. Strange to say, however, the catastrophe itself was unaccompanied by underground noises any where near the volcano.

But, stranger still, at Quito, which is distant about 200 miles, a short time after the eruption began, there were heard tremendous underground thunders. But this distance, between the site of the underground noises and the probable focus of disturbance, was far exceeded in another remarkable instance. It is stated by Humboldt that, in the gra.s.sy plains of Calaboso, on the banks of the Rio Apure, a tributary of the Orinoco, there were heard, over a large extent of country, loud underground thunders, unaccompanied by any shaking of the ground; while great streams of lava were being poured forth from the crater of Morne-Garou, in the Island of St.

Vincent, at the distance of no less than 632 miles in a right line.

This was as though an eruption of Mount Vesuvius were accompanied by underground thunders in Normandy.

There have, nevertheless, been instances of the existence of such underground noises, without their having been followed either by an earthquake, by a volcanic eruption, or any other outward appearance whatever. One of the most remarkable cases of the kind, was that mentioned by Humboldt as having occurred at Guanaxuato in Mexico, a mountain-city situated far from any active volcano. This celebrated traveller states that these noises began on the 9th of January 1784, and lasted above a month. The sounds were at first neither very loud nor very frequent; but from the 15th to the 16th of January they resembled continuous low rolling thunder, alternating with short loud thunder-claps. The sounds then gradually died away and nothing came of them, although they excited great terror among the inhabitants while they lasted. There are mines in the neighbourhood fifteen hundred and ninety-eight English feet in depth, yet neither in them nor at the surface could the least tremor be detected.

A somewhat similar phenomenon occurred in the Island of Melida in the Adriatic, off the coast of Dalmatia, where underground rumblings were heard from March 1822 to September 1824; but in this case the sounds were sometimes accompanied by shocks.

A still more singular phenomenon of this sort occurs on the borders of the Red Sea, at a place called Nakous, where intermittent underground sounds have been heard for an unknown number of centuries. It is situated at about half a mile's distance from the sh.o.r.e, whence a long reach of sand ascends rapidly to a height of about three hundred feet. This reach is about eighty feet wide, and resembles an amphitheatre, being walled in by low rocks. The sounds coming up from the ground at this place recur at intervals of about an hour. They at first resemble a low murmur; but ere long there is heard a loud knocking, somewhat like the strokes of a bell, and which, at the end of about five minutes, becomes so strong as to agitate the sand.

The explanation of this curious phenomenon given by the Arabs, is, that there is a convent under the ground here, and that these sounds are those of the bell, which the monks ring for prayers. So they call it "Nakous," which means a bell. The Arabs affirm that the noise so frightens their camels when they hear it as to render them furious. Philosophers attribute the sounds to suppressed volcanic action--probably to the bubbling of gas or vapours underground.

CHAPTER XIV.

Extinct Volcanoes--Auvergne--Vienne--Agde--Eyfel--Italy--Lacus Cimini--Grotto del Cane--Guevo Upas--Talaga Bodas--The Dead Sea.

There are two sorts of extinct volcanoes: _first_, those in which all evidences of activity have entirely ceased; and, _secondly_, those in which a subdued state of activity lingers. The former are more widely distributed than the latter; but sometimes both kinds occur in the same district of country.

Extinct volcanoes are found in the district of Auvergne in France.

Solidified streams of lava occur at Volvic near Riom; and the crater whence they descended is still visible on the top of the Puy de Nugere. It is an oblong basin, having its edge broken on the side down which the lava flowed. In its descent the fiery stream appears to have encountered a knoll of granite, by which it was divided into two branches. These seem to have reunited lower down, and thence to have overspread the valley beneath.

The Puy de Come, a mountain near Clermont, appears to have sent forth two streams of lava, which have effected considerable changes in the surface of the country--blocking up the courses of rivers diverting them into new channels, and forming swamps in the old. On the top of Puy Pariou, to the north of Clermont, there exists a perfect crater, quite round, and about two hundred and fifty feet deep, whence there has flowed a stream of lava, whose course can be distinctly traced. The summit of Puy Graveniere, a long round-backed hill also near Clermont, consists almost entirely of a heap of volcanic cinders, which have obliterated all traces of a crater; but two streams of lava appear to have flowed from the sides of the mountain. The Puy de Dome, and the mountains in its neighbourhood, likewise appear to be of volcanic origin, and to have been upheaved somewhat in the same manner as Jorullo. Although the aspect of the mountains of Auvergne indicates so clearly their having been active since the surrounding country acquired its present general conformation, neither history nor tradition has preserved any record of their eruptions.

There is extant, however, a letter from Sidonius Apollinaris, a cotemporary of Pliny, addressed to the Bishop of Vienne, in which he refers to forms of prayer which had been appointed by the bishop at the time when earthquakes demolished the walls of Vienne, and the mountains, opening, vomited forth torrents of inflamed materials. It hence appears that the extinct volcanoes in the neighbourhood of Vienne, and perhaps those of Le Puy, had been in a state of eruption not long after the beginning of the Christian era. To the westward of the latter town, there is a number of small volcanic craters, of which the two largest are the Lake de Bouchet and the Crater of Bar, which also appears to have been at one time a lake, but is now dry. The former has its greatest diameter about 2300 feet, with a depth of about 90 feet. The latter is on the top of a mountain, which is composed entirely of such substances as are ejected by volcanoes. Its diameter is about 1660, and its depth about 130 feet; while it is almost perfect in its form. The mountains near Vienne exhibit streams of lava, which accommodate themselves to the existing valleys. Near Agde also, on the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Lions, on the top of a hill named St. Loup, there is an extinct crater, whence have descended two streams of lava apparently of recent origin. On one of them the town of Agde has been built; the other projects into the sea.