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.
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