AMONG VOLCANOES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1601, 19 November 1912, Page 8

AMONG VOLCANOES.

MILES OF FIRE. WEIKD SCENE ON NIUAFOOU. An account of the volcanic eruption at Niuafoou, one of the outlying islands of the kingdom of Tonga, has been received in Sydney from one of the white residents of the island. There are only two Europeans on this remote place, which -has a native population of about 1200. "At about half-past 0 o'clock on the morning of October 7," the letter runs, "an eruption occurred a few hundred yards out to sea, and just as the sun crept over the horizon we could see a huge column of 6moko and steam rising to a tremendous height. Then we heard shouts of 'Vela! vela!' (meaning fire). The natives had. seen it, and were running about in great excitement. Within five minutes after the outbreak everyone on the island had heard tho warning cries. Not ten minutes had elapsed before another volcano broke out inland, followed, in quick succession by several others, aad at nine o'clock this evening there wore at least 30 volcanoes active, some within a few yards of each other, while others were several chains apart, extending to a distance of five miles. It is a magnificent sight to see till these volcanoes throwing out molten lava, some of which is ejected to a height of several hundred feet. The sound of it all is similar to that of quick-firing field guns. "I. was within a hundred yards of one volcano when suddenly another broke out about 30 yards 'away, and I had to run for my life. As it was, I received a small burn on my arm. Besides theso volcanoes there are thousands of jets of various sizes, and theso form a splendid spectacle; and cover somo four or five 6quar'e miles. "The last volcanic disturbance in Niuafoou took place 26 years ago, tho outbreak occurring on September 2C, so to celebrate this the natives, on September 1G of each year, hold a 'kaibunu, and have a feast, •which everyone on the island attends. They also hold church service in the open ■airj and dance and sing all night. The previous outbreak to the above happened 62 years ago,; and in exactly the samo area as the present one. At that time there was a village there, and when the outbreak ocourred, on a. Sunday evening, several people lost their lives, and the village was buried in lava." Niuafoou is an island about 10 miles across, famed for the enormous size of its coconuts, and as being the, only habitat of the malau, a bird remarkable for laying an egg out of all proportion to its body. In tho middle of the island is a beautiful lake, about .three miles across formed in a huge crater. On one side the shore slopes gradually till it becomes almost level with the surface of tho lake, and palm trees grow right down to the water's edge, forming a marked contrast to the precipitous 'cliffs, towering almost perpendicularly to some 500 or COO feet, on the other side. .