MORE EARTHQUAKES AT TONGA. SEVERE SHOCKS AT HAAPAI. TOFOA VOLCANO ACTIVE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 421, 20 November 1889, Page 3

MORE EARTHQUAKES AT TONGA. SEVERE SHOCKS AT HAAPAI . TOFOA VOLCANO ACTIVE.

A short time ago news was received of sharp shocks of earthquake afc Tongatabou and Vavau, in the Tonga ov Friendly Group, and the Island steamer Wainui, on her arrival here last, brought news of a heavy shock at Apia, Samoa. - # { The Wainui arrived again last evening from her usual trip to Samoa and Tonga, and brings information of what 6eeni3 to have been rather severe dnd prolonged earth tremors at the isiarid of Ilaapai, in the northern portion of the Tongan A resident of the little town of Neiafu, the port ot Haapai, writes as follows to a friend in Auckland, under date October 28 : — " Wo are getting a good shaking up just now We have had five hard shocks of earthquake last week, and one of them made some of us say our prayers pretty earnestly. .. '._.., __. " Early on Sunday morning (October 27), at about a quarter to one o'c'ock severe shocks again occurred and the whole town was suddenly in a state of uproar, tho natives making a terrific din by calling out to each other all over the place, very much frightened. ..,.,' uv i 11 Tho peculiar noisoof the rumbling and the oscillation of the ground and building was enough to make anyone feel queer. The shocks wore unusually prolonged, for the oarth continued shaking and trembling under one's feet for about an hour, durini' which time three more than ordinarily sharp quakes succooded each other. Some bay they felfc five distinct,

long-sustained tremors, and others only three. Atany Vate it was fully an hour before the shocks ceased and we were able to go back to bed again, feeling that we had had quite enough of shaking up for one night." ' The letter does not state whether any serious damage was done in the place. Volcanic and subterranean disturbances in and around, the Tonga Group just now seem to be becoming more than usually active. Besides the news ol the earthquakes in Haapai, the Wainui brings information stating that the little volcanic island Tofoa, one of the seven small ialets -which compose the Haapai archipelago,' is in a state of active operation at present, the crater vomiting forth lava and tire and <steam constautly. The volcano is not far from Noiafu, on the principal Haapai Island. The Wainui on her way to Nukualofa from Vavau on the 6th inst., passed quite close to i Tofoa about nine o'clock 'at night. The spectacle was a fine one, und aftordod the pa°sengers an opportunity of witnessing a " burning mountain " in full blast, • ■ The island's contral cone, the crater, rises to a height of 2,800 feet. The islet itself is only five miles in diameter. Ie was a fertile, thickly-wooded place, with abundance of fresh water. When first discovered by Capbain Cook a bundled years ago, it was an active volcano. One curious feature in connection with the eruption of Tofoa is the fact that on the la^t occasion when it was very active, some ten or twelve years ago, Raoul Crater on Sunday Island, in tho Kermadec group, was al&o in a state of great activity.