Philip Neale

“ The same scene of ruin and death, such as we had just left behind us at Merak, again presented itself. Fallen trees and fallen houses were all that remained of what was once a well-built and thriving Dutch town. I had seen photographs of what Anjer had been in its original state six weeks before, but only one feature in it was at all recognizable, and that was a strongly built fort, which now lay in a ruined state. It had been too strong to be carried away bodily by the wave, but had nevertheless suffered severely. ”

“ Frequent as earthquakes and eruptions are in Java, it is seldom that so much damage and loss of life occur as on the present occasion, and although the island, from its peculiar formation, can never be quite free from such startling visitations, it is fervently to be hoped that no such terrible consequences will ever again have to be chronicled as those connected with the Krakatoa eruption. ”

“ It was on this hill overlooking the sea at Merak that we were able to form a correct idea of the height of the volcanic wave when it first broke upon the Java coast, and this is how we came to our conclusion that the wave must have been at least one hundred and twenty feet high. The ground on which we were standing was more than one hundred feet above the sea level, and on the highest part of it had been erected a large brick house, occupied by the resident engineer connected with the quarries. ”

“ Whilst this novel plan of obtaining a drink was being carried out, one of the Javanese laborers who had been at Merak on the day of its destruction gave me an interesting account of what had happened to him and his companions.
“I was working,” he said, “a long way from the sea — four or five paalen from the coast. A lot of other natives were with me in the paddee field. We were cultivating rice. We had gone to work as usual, in spite of the volcano. We did not think it would hurt us. ”

“ This caused a great block, and many of them got wedged together, and could not move. Then they struggled and fought, screaming and crying out all the time. Those below tried to make those above them move on again by biting their heels. ”