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But them's bigger cracks than or'nar'." The old Malay was right as to the cause, but wrong as to distance. Instead of being a volcano "close at hand," it was Krakatoa eviscerating itself a hundred miles off, and the sound of its last grand effort "extended over 50 degrees, equal to about 3000 miles."
After five minutes more the-light had faded, though not vanished, in the east and south, and the finest purple-red rose up in the south-west; one could imagine one's-self in Fairyland." All this, and a great deal more, was caused by the dust of Krakatoa! "But how how why?" exclaims an impatient and puzzled reader. "Ay there's the rub." Rubbing, by the way, may have had something to do with it.
The canoe was carried down and put into the water, watched with profound interest by hundreds of natives and traders, who were all more or less acquainted with the hermit of Rakata. It was still daylight when they paddled out into Lampong Bay, but the volumes of dust which rose from Krakatoa although nearly fifty miles off did much to produce an unusually early twilight.
As there was a lull in the violence of the eruption just then, the captain left Kathleen in the cabin and went on deck. It was not known at that time what caused this lull, but as it preceded the first of the four grand explosions which effectually eviscerated emptied the ancient crater of Krakatoa, we will give, briefly, the explanation of it as conjectured by the men of science.
A fair, steady breeze wafted them westward, and, on the morning of the third day, they came in sight of the comparatively small uninhabited island of Krakatoa.
Oceans of molten lava creating expansive gases below; no outlet possible underneath, and the neck of the bottle corked with tons of solid rock! One of two things must happen in such circumstances: the cork must go or the bottle must burst! Both events happened on that terrible night. All night long the corks were going, and at last Krakatoa burst!
These waters are rich in names that stir the blood, like Krakatoa, Gunong Delam, or Lambuan; or finer, more sounding than all the rest, Telok Betong and Rajah Bassa, a town and a mountain Telok Betong at the head of Lampong Bay and Rajah Bassa, grand old bulwark on the Sumatra shore, the cradle of fierce and sudden squalls."
Each air-wave which conveyed these sounds, commencing at Krakatoa as a centre, spread out in an ever-increasing circle till it reached a distance of 180° from its origin and encircled the earth at its widest part, after which it continued to advance in a contracting form until it reached the antipodes of the volcano; whence it was reflected or reproduced and travelled back again to Krakatoa.
At last our travellers found themselves in the town of Telok Betong, where, being within forty-five miles of Krakatoa, the hermit could both see and hear that his island-home was in violent agitation; tremendous explosions occurring frequently, while dense masses of smoke were ascending from its craters.
Even sharks were disturbed in their sinister and slimy habits of life by this outburst of Krakatoa and no wonder, when it is recorded that in some places "the sea looked like water boiling heavily in a pot," and that "the boats which were afloat were swinging in all directions."
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