VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 290, 5 December 1894, Page 2

VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

AT THE NEW HEBRIDES,

THE OUTBREAK AT AMBRYM

ISLAND,

TERROR - STRICKEN NATIVES — A

TORRENT OF LAVA,

Further particulars have been received ab Sydney from H.M.s. Darb of bhe great volcanic erupbion which book place ab Ambrym Island, in bhe New Hebrides, tome five or six weeks ago. The writer, under date November Bth, says: The Darb was lying off Dip Point on the morning of October 16th when the eruption broke oub. A dense mass ot smoke was observed ascending .from near Mounb Benbow, and there was a heavy rumbling sound like disbanb thunder. Within an hour the Dart was abreast of the spot, and the lava waa rushing down on its way to the sea, setting fire to everything in its course, and tilling up valleya and blocking watercourses. Ab aboub 7 a.m. tbe lava reached bhe sea, and, sweeping away the cliff for aboub 30 yards, rushed into the ocean with a tremendous roaring and hissing. An immense volume of steam rose from the sea to the height of between 5,000 ft and 6,000fb, and \ the sight was a grand one. As the lava continued its course to the sea, explosion followed explosion in rapid succession, hurling huge pieces of stone and rocka into the air. The Dart lay a quarter of a mile from the spot where the molten mass rolled into the sea, until the water alongside the vessel began to bubble with the heab, when Bhe waa moved to a safer distance. A panic amongst the natives followed the eruption, and men, women, and children were seen frantically rushing aboub the beach, preparing to escape from the island. Alany of the women had children strapped on their backs. Tho Darb took over 80 natives on board, and carried them further down the coasb. As the day advanced the smoke and dusb from the erupbion became so denso as to obscure the sun, and the land, which was bub a shorb distance away, was hardly visible from tho Dart. Nexb morning bhe Darb steamed around the island, bub the Bpot of the eruption could not be identified. Hundreds of dead fish were seen floating, and it is probable thab many thousands were killed by the. boiling lava. During the evening of the same day the warship proceeded to Port Sandwich, and on the way several violent shocks of earthquake were experienced. The dust was almost suffocating, and below and on deck the vessel waß covered with a thick coating. The night waa remarkable for a great number of shocks, which occurred in rapid succession. Some of them were' very violent, and caused a sickly sensation amongst the men. On tbe 18bh the Dart returned to the spot where bhe lava bad reached the sea. The flow had stopped, bub the mass of molten metal cooling under the water was etill causing a dense volume of steam to arise. The lava had filled up a portion of bhe sea and formed a pile 6fb above the water. The coast line had also fallen in in several places, especially at Dip Point, where the line is now 40 yards further back. On the 20th a body of men landed on bhe island and marched inland. They did not succeed in discovering the point of the eruption, but made it pretty clear that the stream of lava which fell into the sea at Dip Point was only a branch stream from tho main body of lava. On next day another attempt to locate the crater failed, but on the following day the search was successful, after a trying march over beds of cooling lava, through fields of ashes and over ridges and valleys, a distance of 16 miles. The mouth of the crater is about three miles in circumference. They looked down and saw the bottom several hundreds of feet below, with lava in its liquid atate. While they wore there the flames would burst forth fiercer and a number of explosions took place like the cracking of rifles, and Btones were thrown in all directions. The mon were overtaken by night when returning, and had to grope their way in single file. The fall of ashes was ab the time of writing so dense that a greab deal of the vegetation on the island had been killed, and it was feared that the natives would be reduced to a state of starvation in consequences of the ashes killing their crops.