THE TIDAL WAVE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2055, 5 September 1868, Page 6

THE TIDAL WAVE.

The most noticeable item in the recent news from AustraUa is that which records the appearance of the tidal wave on the coasts of New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. We now know that this disturbance of the ocean, the result of some volcanic action, extended simultaneously over a large portion of these seas. On the morning of Saturday, the 15th instant, while the tidal wave alarmed the inhabitants of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, it equally alarmed the residents of Sydney and Newcastle, Adelaide and Hobart Town. It is singular enough that the port of Melbourne was not visited by these most extraordinary phenomena. On no part of the Victorian coast did they make their appearance. Nor were they observed ~ at any point north of Newcastle. Probably, however, we may hear some further details on the subject as vessels arrive from time to time : for no doubt the tremendous uprising of the .waters was observed at sea as weU as on the coast. The accounts received from the Chatham Islands on Friday last forcibly remind us of the very similar occurrences at the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, some months since. When we come to hear the narrative from the residents on the Chathams-^----when they describe the appearance of the great breakers suddenly rising up before themandpouringinupontheirsettlements, spreading , destruction on all sides—we shaU recognise the counter part of the scene*witnessed at St. Thomas. The next volcanic disturbance we heard of was at Hawaii. This was on the 28th of March. The tidal wave was assisted in the wreck of destruction by the eruptions of the volcano ; and both together created such havoc that the face of the country was altered beyond recognition. Whole viUages were swept away by a wave which, at one place, rose to a height of forty feet; whUe vast chasms suddenly appeared in the midst of cultivated fields. At various points in the Pacific Ocean, volcanic action appears to have taken place at short intervals during the present year; not only in places where volcanic action, might have been expected, but in places least fanuliar with such unwelcome visitations. At San Francisco and Sacramento, for instance, we have lately heard that smart shocks of earthquake were felt on the 26th May and the 29th of June; and the same papers which brought us this intelligence also informed us of an earthquake felt at sea on the 18th of May. The brig Brewster, when in latitude 44.7 north and longitude 129.35 west, experienced a shock which 'so shook the vessel as to throw the men off their feet and the watch below out of their berths. The doors of the gaUey were thrown from their sides, and the crockery in the pantry was broken.' A noise like distant thunder preceded the shock. The impression made upon the crew was that the vessel had struck upon a rock, and aU hands rushed to the pumps to ascertain the fact. Again, on the 18th of June last, shocks of earthquake were felt at various points in the city of Sydney, and more distinctly in several towns to the north, in the Hunter River district. Earthquakes have never been felt in Sydney before ; riot, at least, within the memory of the present generation.

This is a subject which will no doubt occupy the attention of scientific men here arid elsewhere. The various occur^ rences to which we have alluded, have, in all probabiUty, some links of connection, and irresistibly suggest the idea of continuous volcanic actiori extending throughout the Pacific Sea.