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.
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