es mingled with vapour were projected
into the air with a velocity greater than that of a ball discharged from
the largest Armstrong gun, these materials were carried by the prevalent
trade-winds in a westerly direction, and some of them fell on the deck
of ships sailing in the Indian Ocean as far as long. 80 deg. E., as in the
case of the _British Empire_--on which the particles fell on the 29th of
August, at a distance of 1,600 miles from Krakatoa. But far beyond this
limit, the finer particles of dust (or rather minute crystals of felspar
and other minerals), mingled with vapour of water, were carried by the
higher currents of the air as far as the Seychelles and Africa,--not
only the East coast, but also the West, as Cape Coast Castle on the Gold
Coast; to Paramaribo, Trinidad, Panama, the Sandwich Isles, Ceylon and
British India, at all of which places during the month of September the
sun assumed tints of blue or green, as did also the moon just before and
after the appearance of the stars;[10] and from the latter end of
September and for several months, the sky was remarkable for its
magnificent coloration; passing from crimson through purple to yellow,
and melting away in azure tints which were visible in Europe and the
British Isles; while a large corona was observed round both the sun and
moon. These beautiful sky effects were objects of general observation
throughout the latter part of the year 1883 and commencement of the
following year.

The explanation of these phenomena may be briefly stated. The fine
particles, consisting for the most part of translucent crystals, or
fragments of crystals, formed a canopy high up in the atmosphere, being
gradually spread over both sides of the equator till it formed a broad
belt, through which the rays of the sun and moon were refracted. Towards
dawn and sunset they were refracted and reflected from the facets of the
crystal, and thus underwent decomposition into the prismatic colours; as
do the rays of the sun when refracted and reflected from the particles
of moisture in a rain-cloud. The subject is one which cannot be fully
dealt with here, and is rather outside the scope of this work.

(_h._) _Origin of the Eruption._--The ultimate cause of volcanic
eruptions is treated in a subsequent chapter, nor is that of Krakatoa
essentially different from others. It was remarkable, however, both for
the magnitude of the forces evoked and the stupendous scale of the
resulting p