Ishore, was remarkable. On raising
the tubes a perfect roar as of a waterfall was heard. By shouting at
the top of his voice, the clerk at one end could make the clerk at the
other end hear, but he could not render a word intelligible. At
Perak--770 miles off--the sounds were thought to be distant salvos of
artillery, and Commander Hon. F. Vereker, R.N., of H.M.S. _Magpie_, when
1227 miles distant (in lat. 5 deg. 52' N. long. 118 deg. 22' E.), states that
the detonations of Krakatoa were distinctly heard by those on board his
ship, and by the inhabitants of the coast as far as Banguey Island, on
August 27th. He adds that they resembled distant heavy cannonading. In a
letter from St. Lucia Bay--1116 miles distant--it was stated that the
eruption was plainly heard all over Borneo. A government steamer was
sent out from the Island of Timor--1351 miles off--to ascertain the
cause of the disturbance! In South Australia also, at places 2250 miles
away, explosions were heard on the 26th and 27th which "awakened"
people, and were thought worthy of being recorded and reported. From
Tavoy, in Burmah--1478 miles away--the report came--"All day on August
27th unusual sounds were heard, resembling the boom of guns. Thinking
there might be a wreck or a ship in distress, the Tavoy Superintendent
sent out the police launch, but they 'could see nothing.'" And so on,
far and near, similar records were made, the most distant spot where the
sounds were reported to have been heard being Rodriguez, in the
Pacific, nearly 3000 miles distant!

One peculiar feature of the records is that some ships in the immediate
neighbourhood of Krakatoa did not experience the shock in proportionate
severity. Probably this was owing to their being so near that a great
part of the concussion and sound flew over them--somewhat in the same
way that the pieces of a bomb-shell fly over men who, being too near to
escape by running, escape by flinging themselves flat on the ground.

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 deg. 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. Here it was turned
right-about-face and again despatched on its long journey. In this way