source,
reached Tamatave in Madagascar five months later, and no doubt much of
it long continued to float round the world.

SERIES OF ATMOSPHERIC WAVES

Another result of the eruption was the series of atmospheric waves,
caused by the disturbance in the atmosphere, which affected the
barometer over the entire world. The velocity with which these waves
traveled has been variously estimated at from 912.09 feet to 1066.29
feet per second. This speed is, of course, very much inferior to that at
which sound travels through the air. Yet, in three distinct cases, the
noise of the Krakatoa explosions was plainly heard at a distance of at
least 2,200 miles, and in one instance--that recorded from Rodriguez--of
nearly 3,000. The sound travelled to Ceylon, Burmah, Manila, New Guinea
and Western Australia, places, however, within a radius of about 2,000
miles; out Diego Garcia lies outside that area, and Rodriguez a thousand
miles beyond it. Six days subsequent to the explosion, after the
atmospheric waves had traveled four times round the globe, the barometer
was still affected by them.

Another result, similar in kind, was the extraordinary dissemination of
the great ocean wave, which in a like manner seems to have encircled the
earth, since high waves, without evident cause, appeared not only in
the Pacific, but at many places on the Atlantic coast within a few days
after the event. They were observed alike in England and at New York.
The writer happened to be at Atlantic City, on the New Jersey coast,
at this time. It was a period of calm, the winds being at rest, but,
unheralded, there came in an ocean wave of such height as to sweep away
the ocean-front boardwalk and do much other damage. He ascribed this
strange wave at the time to the Krakatoa explosion, and is of the same
opinion still.

In addition to the account given of this extraordinary volcanic event,
it seems desirable to give Sir Robert S. Ball's description of it in his
recent work, "The Earth's Beginnings." While repeating to some
extent what we have already said, it is worthy, from its freshness of
description and general readability, of a place here.

SIR ROBERT S. BALL'S DESCRIPTION

"Until the year 1883 few had ever heard of Krakatoa. It was unknown
to fame, as are hundreds of other gems of glorious vegetation set
in tropical waters. It was not inhabited, but the natives from the
surrounding shores of Sumatra and Java used occasionally to draw