Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: April 30, 2025
You don't know what part of the island he may be in just now; and you might as well look for a needle in a bundle of hay as look for him there. He is probably at the other end of Krakatoa four or five miles off on the South side of Rakata, where the hermit's cave is supposed to be, for no one seems to be quite sure as to its whereabouts.
Lying as it did so close to the sea-level, the Krakatoa volcano, having blown away all its cones, and vents, and safety-valves from Perboewatan southward, except the peak of Rakata let the sea rush in upon its infernal fires. This result, ordinary people think, produced a gush of steam which caused the grand terminal explosions.
It was found that Krakatoa and all the adjoining islands were covered with a fine white dust, like snow, and that the trees on the northern part of the former island and Varlaten had been to a great extent deprived of their leaves and branches by falling pumice, while those on Lang Island and Polish Hat, as well as those on the Peak of Rakata, had to a great extent escaped no doubt owing to the prevailing direction of the wind.
Lightning too was playing among the rolling black masses of smoke, and the roaring explosions every now and then seemed to shake the very heavens. Casting off the tow-rope, they turned the bow of their canoe to the island. As a stiffish breeze was blowing, they set the sails, close-reefed, and steered for the southern shore at that part which lay under the shadow of Rakata.
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.
The wind, of which there was very little, blew it all away from the position occupied by the three observers. "What if the wind were to change and blow it all this way?" asked Nigel, with very pardonable feelings of discomfort. "We could return to the cavern," said the hermit. "But what if Rakata itself should become active?"
Descending to the boat they rowed round to the face of the great cliff which had been so suddenly laid bare when the Peak of Rakata was cleft from its summit to its foundations in the sea. It was a wonderful sight a magnificent section, affording a marvellous view of the internal mechanism of a volcano.
A short walk, however, along the track, which was more than ankle-deep in dust, brought them under the sheltering sides of Rakata, up which they soon scrambled to the mouth of their cave. Here all was found as they had left it, save that the entrance was knee-deep in pumice-dust.
He dwells in a corner of the Rakata Cottage, but is addicted to spending much of his spare time in the Krakatoa one. He is as strong and powerful as ever, but limps slightly on his right leg his "game" leg, as he styles it. He is, of course, an immense favourite with the young people not less than with the old.
There she inspires an ancient mariner with poetical sentiments not your up-in-the-clouds, reef-point-pattering nonsense, observe; but the real genuine article, superior to "that other fellow's," you know when not actively engaged with the baby. The first cottage is named Rakata, in honour of our hermit, who is one of its inhabitants.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking