A FLASH AND A MUD DELUGE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10764, 11 May 1911, Page 6

A FLASH AND A MUD DELUGE.

WHEN THE TAAL VOLCANO BLEW UP. Taal volcano went up in a bla/,c of pyrotechnic glory on January 30th ami came down in a crop-destroying rain of gray mud. The waters of the lake spread far beyond their bounds, destroying life and property. The earth quaked and billowed gases from the volcano filled the air, and from towns and villages in the neighborhood the people lied.

This is in brief the story of the early hours of January 30th. The disturbances began on Friday, when the first eruption took place, but on Saturday everything was fairly quiet save that in pueblos and barrios the people were alarmed. Talisay, which is a lake town due north of the volcano, was especially in a ferment of superstitious fear. Years ago the church of Talisay and the statue of its patron, St. Guillermo, were burned, and the people were frightened over a story that the saint had reappeared in the church Ilea ring al lighted candle. Sunday passed with intermittent rumblings and the steady belching of blackness from the crater. The folks about the volcano included several Americans. There were a detachment of constabulary consisting of some 30 men under Major Sweet and Lients. Deweese and Sholt; Mr and Mrs J. D. Ward, who wero engaged in piloting excursion parties to the crater, and Mr and Mrs Orlie S. Sullivan, of the Philippines Medical School, who had gone over to visit the Wards in search of adventure. In tents on the shores of the lake they had gone to: sleep,'but. not, for long'. Midnight brought with it the first great quake. Then, about 1.30, with a crash that woke even distant Manila, came the great explosion. The heart of the mountain volleyed out in fire, and a huge pillar, of smoke shot up into the night. -This broke- and spread but as'a giant rose might 'open. The •' stem • of' it to" alive ■■- with' huge masses of fiery rock, and everywhere the lightning : played; ' ;: V '"'";'' A puff of wind foul with gases of the inner earth drove the- smoke in folds toward where the -were.': en-.-camped, ,and ..tliey 'fled ■-. for.-higher! .ground 1 .- -'Hc-timid and- pebbles were; falling around them. _ With' this first" explosion the waters of the daker receded: The;.earth shook with-the strivings of jthe! immense power within, which, suddenly" freed, -burst up again Avith -thetsame deafening .crash and drove "the waters but. "A wave poured over the country, drowning and destroying. The sun rose on Monday over aruined country. Boats from :the_ lake had :beent< carried fafc inland, ; -dead animals* littered the beach, the heavy volcanic mud lay thick over the crops of bananas, sugar, rice, and oranges. Dust was still falling, the cloud of smoke still lay heavy over Taal Mountain, and the shores of the lake were black with people. •-- ."-•- ' ■ Talisay was a deserted village. Taal volcano itself was reported to have sunk: five feetj and was still-sinking, and the waters":, -'of-the lake were troubled. Through the morning they heaved so turbulenrly that no man would, put ( out upon "them in a boat, though later in the day-Mr-Martin, the photographer of the Bureau' of Science, crossed to the volcano with Mr W 7 ard, intent of the making of pictures. Taal voncano is oil a small island near the centre of Lake Taal, about 35 miles south-of-Manila, ■ and approximately seven miles from the coast line. It is very low and one of the most accessible active volcanos in the world. A climb of an hour will' carry one to the rim of the crater, from which a magnificent view may he had. ■ ■ - Several craters and small vents are within the perimeter of the great crater, also three lakes, known as the 'vellow, the green, and the red, and "many, of the vents spout steam and gas, making a picturesque sight, .and so accessible -that Taal had - become 1 popular with tourists and -photographers. Some 300 people lived in scattered groups of huts about the base of the volcano island, and villages or small barrios dotted the shores of Lake Taal, which before the eruption sheltered 10,000 or 15,000 peasants, whose chief occupations were fishing and the cultivation of the fertile strip lying be-, twecn the lake shore and the hills. To the east and south-east of the volcano comparatively little damage was done beyond:.the-, discomforts of. a muddy shower one or .two-inches in depth. The great force of the eruption took a broad path to the sea, and it was on the west and north-west' shores of the lake that there occurred the great loss of life and destruction of houst and crops. An enormous outpouring of mud and lava mixed with superheated stones obliterated the huts at the base of the volcano island, -smothering and cremating 150 or possibly 175 persons. It swept over the tarrow stretch of water two to three miles wide, striking the west coast of the lake and half-burying six little villages with some 200 natives. According to the best accounts the deluge of boiling mud was accompanied by a blazing blast' of poisonous gases. The tremendous disturbances within the heaving mountain caused prolonged and heavy, earthquakes, which were felt throughout Luzon, and the explosions ~ werer. heard as far north as Vigan and-Baguior'a distance of approximately 200 miles. •The Weather Bureau says that the eruption, with the exception of the one in 1754, which lasted seven months, is the greatest disturbance of Taal volcano in two centuries. It also: appears that a world's record has been estab-lished-in thanumber. of. seismic disturbances recorded from a single cause, there having been..a daily ' average of more than 110 shocks since tho instruments wero first set in agitation six days ago. ■ . . Three members of the Engineer Corps had a narrow escape from death. They were on mapping detail and had established a camp on the edge of the lake surrounding the Taal" volcano. About 2.40 a.m. they were awakened by an -explosion, and a concussion which threw all three men several feet. They got - to -.their. - ; f peti -and: .were again thrown violently to the ground. They put on their shoes, grabbed .-their rifles, and started to get to higher land. Again came the . They were blinded by the light. Sulphuric 'fumes filled the air, suffocating them. The men held their woollen shirts to their mouihs.ahd nostrils as .they struggled to "higher ground. One'of them says:—"We were groping at first in the dark. We knew that, something was coming, but from which quarter we could not be positive. We knew that the water would rise on account of the violent earthquakes, so we struggled to get higher Up. One of my mates thought that it was all 'over and would stop. As he spoke he was hurled down a small ravine and had to he .assisted out. We-stuck together and got higher up. The mud started to come down, straight at first, but then :as the force of the explosions was manifested dt'started'swirtog away-from -the direction of- the-..volcano. . We turned our faces .and started walking through the underbrush. The mud was at first so hot that it raised blisters when, it struck against our shoulders and hands and faces. Then it became cool, or warm, as you choose to call it. But it was whirling in every direction. No matter which way we faced it caught us. Even while it was whirling we heard a rumble and roar coming and could see by the flashes of blinding lightning that a wave was coming. We were above it, but it swept everything along before it. Trees two feet in diameter were uprooted and carried along as lightly as feathers. A house would stop' the progress of the water about as much as a match stick would stop an ocean wave in astorm. We wero caked with this warm mud by this time, TtTTt were thankful wo wore, above the water. Then it came.on to rain, ft- was the hardest downpour of water T have ever felt or seen. It seemed as if heaven had opened the floodgates. I We turned our faces straight up and ; let the rain beat us in the face. We j were washed clean. Then we moved on. After a while day came and we were able to find our way back to a temporary camp. My companion was bruised by his fall and burned on the hands and was sent to the hospital at tho army post at Ratangas." A record of a fight against death lay I bare in the glaring tropical sun at Point : Manalao. two miles from the volcano | island, three days after the eruption. I W 7 hen the United States army burial I corps and the relief expedition sent out j by the civil government landed at the ! nearest point to the island their atten-

tion was attracted by what was apparently the remains of an umbrella. As the' party started toward it dead bodies in all positions were encountered. The object seen was indeed all. that was left of a steel-handled umbrella. One side of the top was still intact, although everything else in the vicinity was burned to a crisp. Under the umbrella was a woman crouched over a small child with its head held tight against her neck, and over these two figures was stretched the firm of a fullgrown man as it endeavoring to protect them from tho downpour of death-deal-ing mud. Not ten feet away was a child about four or five who had, ostrich fashion, got into a hole under what had been tho house, and in this position was roasted to death. Not a tree nor a roof was left- standing with the exception of a small, partly sheltered stump, up which a young boy had endeavored' to escape from the water, only to be caught by the descending' mud and sulphuric fumes which roasted the body of the tree. Tho following story was related by one man, as he. lay awaiting transporta-; tion to the hospital, and with face, : arms, legs, and body swathed in cotton and bandages:—"l can't remember well. Wo all returned from the far fields Saturday night to be with our families Sunday. There was nothing bad Sunday; we were happy and contented. We went to bed. Suddenly it seemed as if a piece of dynamite had exploded at our feet. My son- went to the door and opened it; a blinding flash,' a horrible roar, and he lay dead on the floor; The door was shut, but gases and suffocatingfair came in from the sides. We covered our heads with cloths wet with drinking water. The houses rocked and the people'screamed in ' terrdr: The mud- and : wind came tearing through the sides of the house and the house collapsed. Ah, madre . mio, that mud was awful! It. got into the mouth, eyes', and nose. As fast as I could _ get it out. more was in. My wife and two other': children were huddled, up under the fallen house calling for''help. I was held down by a piece of wood. I could not get to them. They-ikept- calling. •-:Ah, madre mio, they kept calling. I got out. How? Through hell"some way; • I got to them.. They.-; were'-choking..' I dug out the- mud,, only to see it get in again. Then it rained. The mud came out. Then came the water. I had hold of Hi'y -wife when if bit me, but she was taken away, and I clung to. a piece of nipa as I was bumped and bumped. How hardit.is.to die!" I lay still after that. Then I crawled to some wreck : age, and when the mud came down again .I...crawled .under it,. The sting was fearful. ' I lay a long while. I saw them carrying me. I suffer, theyput oil on me, but I suffer. How was it like ?:>...: When youvthrow.- ; dynamite •into a school of fish 'most alt die. It' was that way. 'Most all died when the air came apart Mid came together -again.'-'- It was agony for this man to talk. Ho was burned from head to foot, and his body was a mass of bruises and cuts. He was taken to tho hospital, at the army camp at Batangas, where lie lies, praying that lie also may die.. ' --. - --."• -----