Show EFFECTS OF A WAVE STEAMER STANDS HIGH AND DRY OVER TWO MILES INLAND tidal wave that carried away evry but H lighthouse and destroyed over lives the steamer intact but Is la alip amidst of a danglo tourists that visit batavia ire quite out of the fashion if they fail lo 10 the passage through sunda strait and see all that is left of Kraka tua ind the vestiges of the ruin wrought by she terrible eruption of 1882 if they push ap the bay of on the sumatra side of the channel they ara likely to land on the low shores occupied by the village of abetong ind hire carts for a short jaunt into the interior and when they have gone about two miles they will pause to tak e in the curious scene presented for here is seen we of the most interesting results of tho great wave of Krak atau there was just one man amid all that wild scene of death and devastation who ivas not overwhelmed in the common ruin ha escaped while perished he was the lighthouse keeper who lived llone on an isolated rock in the strait it was broad daylight when Krak atau burst asunder but in a few moments the were so densely shrouded by dast mud and smoke that the darkness af midnight covered all the channel the guardian of the lighthouse was in the lantern feet above the sea level here he remained safe and sound in tha midst of the terrible commotion he felt the trembling of the lighthouse but it was so dark that he could not see the threatened danger he did not know that a tremendous wave had almost overwhelm ned the lighthouse and that its crest had nearly touched the base of the lantern he did not hear it because he was deafened by the awful le of Kraka tua in a few moments the wave over a hundred feet in height had swept along i coast line of a hundred miles on both rides of the channel scores of populous villages were buried beep beneath tha avalanche of water treat groves of palms wera leveled to the ground promontories carried away new bays were dug out of the yielding littoral every work of human hands except that lighthouse atvas destroyed and persons per shed in the deluge that mounted from the sea or beneath the rain of mud that oiled tho heavens A an the top of that wave through forests and jungle over two miles into the country aud was left us the wave receded it will be remembered that for weeks before the final cataclysm at Krafe atau tho volcano was in a state of eruption pleasure parta were made up at batavia to visit the volcano not a few people landed on tho island little dreaming that in the twinkling of an eye two of it was to bo blown into tha air as though shot from a gun they wished to get as near as they thought they might safely venture to the growling steaming crater this little steamboat on the day before the explosion carried one of thesa parties to the island there were only twenty on board besides the crew they spent a couple of hours around the island and then steamed ap the deep and narrow bay of and it is supposed they anchored for the night in front of the big town of abetong which was one of the largest settlements on the coast of sumatra the ill fated pleasure party wag never beard of again it is supposed that the boat was turned over and over litre an eggshell in the surf it had every appearance pe arance of such rough usage when it was found bome months later the machinery and furniture badly broken tind were strewn about in the greatest confusion ant the vessel held together and wa finally set down in good erect on her keel only two bodies were found in the vessel they were of course below deck As it was morning when she was picked ap by the wave it is supposed that nearly everybody was on shore not a vestige remains of the villages that lined the water edge but tho hulk of this little boat still stands battered and broken though as erect as when bhe plowed the channel and ehe is the most carious and interesting relic of the greatest volcanic eruption of modern umea kew york sun |