NAMELESS VOLCANO.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 75, 31 March 1910, Page 3

NAMELESS VOLCANO.

IN A SAMOAN VALLEY. / MISSIONARY'S GRAPHIC STORY. i A SERPENT" OF' FIRE. What had been a peaceful, sleepy, very beautiful valley on the north coast of Savaii, in Samoa, during the afternoon, became suddenly, in the .still of one night, an inferno of roaring red gases, fold on fold of black crumpled cloud rushing aloft, a bowl brimming with dazzling white lava, which lapped over and trickled down the valley. The sleeping settlements of natives were aenrrying from the neighbourhood like frightened rabbits. That night was some years ago. Bui the lava in running still. The st»ry of it was told last week by a man who had just left it— Rev. J. E. Newell, who reached Sydney by the steamer Atua. (Brief mention of the master was made in the cables at the time.) "It is now in active eruption," he said. "It is pouring tons of lava into the sea — constantly. It is now making a new promontory. It has piled up in the sea, han reached tho sea level, and is now piling itself up on the sea. A great pillar of smoke is always rising, riFing, from the sea. You can Bee that cloud 20 miles away. "The native village of Matautu is the nearest to the volcano — only six miles away. The people- are still living at> Matautu, quite unconcerned now. But it was not always, like that. At first they were very, very much alarmed — terror stricken. They used to hold prayer meetings everj morning at dayJight for a long time after *th» first outbreak. Now they take ifc as part of their natural surroundings — go about their business exactly as if it were aot there at all. "It is a singular fact that no lives were lost in these eruptions. He was a kindly volcano in this respect — he always pre-announced liis eruptions by violent shocks of earthquake, and terrific rumblings, fo that the people had plenty of warning. "Moreover, you can bee the volcano coming down like a great fiery serpent, licking up forest trees as it crawls along. You can stand and watch that glowing serpent in the distance creeping up to a giant tree, feeling its way completely round it, and then flinging it bodily downhill as if it had been felled in th» twinkling of an eye by some miraculous axeman. There is no resisting the flow of this terrific lava when it goes along at that serpent pace down a river bed or along a valley towards the ocean. "One night I was camped on a mountain close beside the valley, when an eruption took place. The lava was actually pouring out of the side of the mountain less than half a mile away from our camp. We could see to read by the hght from it. It wa» a terrific night. The whole mountain shook at. the outburst. It was a portentous .shock. "The actual point where the crater lies is only six miles from the sea. But the lava must have crawled arou«d;aboat eight miles before it cama out on the--coast. If it had gone straight it would have overborne the village of Matautu. But it went easterly, . and took in five other villages, each of considerable size. "The-ro are in Samoa old dry river beds which become torrents oniy in the -wet season, and are dry beds^f or the- rest of the year. Our volcano came in the dry season and monopolised the river beds and flowed along them, in a hug» molten mass. I have watched that stream moving until I was fascinated. I could not withdraw my ejies. I could not leave it. The mountain is in eruption now, but you cannot see the lava. The crust of it has cooled, bat it is still flowing along a tunnel underneath, dowit one of these old river beds to the sea. "Many people think a volcano must be in a mountain. That is wrong. This volcano started in a vailey. It has actually become a mountain since by-rea-son of the accumulation of lava. That i« how mountains are formed. Dr. Jansen, who has been to Samoa, has a theory that this is one of a string of volcanoes stretching right back to one that v»a» told of in tradition by the natives, ..and which is now extinct. Thero "was another burst out eight years agoand died away. Now this one broke oat in a peaceinl valley, and has been active ever since." "What is the name of tfio -vokaao. Mr. Newell"?" "It has no name.' 1 '

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