se over our globe, and leave their traces on every
self-recording barometer that our earth possesses. Thirty-six hours
were occupied in the journey of the great undulation from Krakatoa to
its antipodes. Perhaps even more striking was the extent of our
earth's surface over which the noise of the great explosion spread. At
Batavia, ninety-four miles away, the concussions were simply
deafening; at Macassar, in Celebes, two steamers were sent out to
investigate the explosions which were heard, little thinking that they
came from Krakatoa, nine hundred and sixty-nine miles away. Alarming
sounds were heard over the island of Timor, one thousand three hundred
and fifty-one miles away from Krakatoa. Diego Garcia in the Chogos
islands is two thousand two hundred and sixty-seven miles from
Krakatoa, but the thunders traversed even this distance, and were
attributed to some ship in distress, for which a search was made. Most
astounding of all, there is undoubted evidence that the sound of the
mighty explosion was propagated across nearly the entire Indian ocean,
and was heard in the island of Rodriguez, almost three thousand miles
away. The immense distance over which this sound journeyed will be
appreciated by the fact, that the noise did not reach Rodriguez until
four hours after it had left Krakatoa. In fact, it would seem that if
Vesuvius were to explode with the same vehemence as Krakatoa did, the
thunders of the explosion might penetrate so far as to be heard in
London.

There is another and more beautiful manifestation of the world-wide
significance of the Krakatoa outbreak. The vast column of smoke and
ashes ascended twenty miles high in the air, and commenced a series of
voyages around the equatorial regions of the earth. In three days it
crossed the Indian ocean, and was traversing equatorial Africa; then
came an Atlantic voyage; and then it coursed over central America,
before a Pacific voyage brought it back to its point of departure
after thirteen days; then the dust started again, and was traced
around another similar circuit, while it was even tracked for a
considerable time in placing the third girdle round the earth. Strange
blue suns and green moons and other mysterious phenomena marked the
progress of this vast volcanic cloud. At last the cloud began to lose
its density, the dust spread more widely over the tropics, became
diffused through the temperate regions, and then the whole earth was
able to participate