CHAPTER VI. THE effects of volcanoes' are generally known; it is not, therefore, our intention to enter into a history of them; but we may just state a few of comparatively recent occurrence. A great part of the Passandayang in Java was swallowed in 1772, with explosions more than equal to the heaviest cannon. Forty villages were destroyed; two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven inhabitants; and fifteen miles in length and six of breadth ingulphed. The terrible catastrophes in Borneo have been amply described3; and the convulsions in 1766, in which the whole city of Cumana was overturned; and a subsequent one at Carraccas, in which nine-tenths of that city was destroyed, and ten thousand persons buried under its ruins, are described in Humboldt's best manner.* "Vesuvius," says Dr. Clarke, "is in all respects, as to its chemical nature, a vast gas blowpipe; corresponding in all its phenomena, with the appearances and effects, the explosions and detonations, the heat and the light, exhibited by the apparatus, which bears this name; and differing from it only as the mighty operations of Nature in the universe differ from the puny imitations of the chemist in his laboratory.” No volcanic eruption takes place without the agency and decomposition of water. "Hence," says Dr. Clarke, " before any great eruption of Vesuvius, not only does the water disappear in all the wells of Naples, Portici, Resina, and other towns at the foot of the mountain, but even the sea itself retires." • Batavian Transactions, vol. ix.; Raffles' Hist. of Java, 4to. vol. i. p. 15. 3 Pennant's Outlines, vol. iv. p. 52. 4 Personal Narrative, vol. iv. P. 1 12. Earthquakes are frequently fatal in Peru; where entire districts are devoted, as it were, to incessant volcanic impulses: and the natives perpetually behold new territories lying on the wrecks and fragments of old ones. In 1600 a volcano in Peru covered an area of ground above thirty-four thousand square acres, with sand, ashes, and other matter. Bouguer seems to think, that from the multitude of caverns and volcanoes, the solidity of the Cordilleras by no means corresponds with their bulk. It is curious to observe, that while volcanoes spread such wide and incessant destruction in South America, they are totally unknown in the Northern part of the American continent. Nor have any data yet been discovered, which can, in any way, lead to the conclusion, that there ever has been any. Java, one of the finest islands in the world, is, on the contrary, almost entirely volcanic. Dr. Horsfield visited one of the craters. "Every thing," says he, "contributes to fill the mind with the most awful satisfaction. It doubtless is one of the most grand and terrific scenes, which Nature presents; and afforded an enjoyment, which I have no power to describe."" In that island there was an eruption in 1586,2 which killed ten thousand persons. But a more extraordinary one was that of Tomboso, a mountain situated in the island of Sambawa, in the year 1815. So tremendous was this explosion, that its effects extended over the Molucca Islands, Java, a large portion of Celebes, Sumatra, and Borneo, to a circumference of a thousand miles from its centre, by tremulous motions; and the report of the explosions' was heard at Java (three hundred miles distant) and inspired as much awe, as if the volcano were present; while showers of ashes fell upon the island and totally darkened the atmosphere. The ashes, too, laid an inch and a half deep at Macassar, distant two hundred and fifty miles. The sea was, for many miles round Sambawa, so covered with pumice-stone and trunks of trees, as to impede the progress of ships3: and the atmosphere was for two entire days in darkness equal to that of the darkest night. The wind was still; but the sea much agitated. The explosions were not only heard at Java and the before mentioned islands, but at Banca and at Amboyna*: the latter eight hundred and ninety miles distant, the former nine hundred and eighty-six. In 1783 a volcanic eruption broke out in Iceland: and for two months spouted out volumes of matter to a height of two miles; covering in its fall a tract of square land to the amount of three thousand six hundred miles! In this island, volcanoes have all the dreadful accompaniments with those of Italy: but few of their benefits. In Iceland they produce little fertility; but in Italy, volcanoes, during their periods of repose, seem to rest for the purpose of concentrating 1 Raffles' Hist. Java, vol. i. p. 26. 2 Batavian Transactions. 3 Asiatic Journal, vol. i. p. 92. 4 Asiatic Journal, vol. ii. p. 117, 125, 166 and 167. their power of producing new empires. The fertility, they impart, atone, in no small degree, for their previous desolation. II. If we recur to earthquakes, the scene of change widens to an astonishing extent. The high mountain, Picus, in one of the Molucca islands, has been changed into a lake, of a shape answering to its base: St. Culphernia in Calabria, and all its inhabitants, were overwhelmed by one earthquake: while by another (A. D. 1692-3), not only fifty-four towns and cities, besides villages, were damaged, or destroyed, but sixty thousand persons perished. The earthquake of Lisbon !-Not more astonishing were its effects, than the extent of its operation:-at Lisbon and Oporto; in every province of Spain, except those of Valentia, Arragon and Catalonia; at Algiers; in the kingdom of Fez; in the empire of Morocco; in the Madeira islands, and in those of Antigua, and Barbadoes in the western hemisphere. It was felt also in Corsica; at Bayonne, Bourdeaux, Angouleme and Havre in France; in many parts of Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, and Holland; England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Norway. In China a whole province of mountains sunk into a lake'; and it is said, that an earthquake, in the year 1663, overwhelmed a whole chain of Canadian mountains, extending to the distance of three hundred miles! VOL. IV. 1 A. D. 1556. Thus Nature periodically assumes new attitudes; but in those changes seldom does she outstep the harmony of her own decisions.-Doves still reside upon the island of Cythera; snow still covers the summit of the Caucasus; sands still rise in volumes over the deserts of Ethiopia; grapes and apricots are still abundant near the city of Damascus; and myrtles, lavender, and the rose of Jericho, still grow upon the mountains of Keswarân. The Danube, the Wolga, the Tigris, and the Ganges, still wind their serpentizing lengths along; nightingales still delight the gardens of Persia and bees still frequent the rosemary of Narbonne.' CHAPTER VII. THE highest order of poetical minds seems to have been that, which originally conceived the idea, that matter exists only as it is perceived.—Though Berkeley has been esteemed the father of this dogma, it is Lord Byron has a passage, beautifully illustrative of these reflections. Speaking of the fallen condition of Greece. . Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild; Art, glory, freedom fails :-but Nature still is fair. |