The Tumbler Which Formed The Lamp Had Been Thrown Out Of
The Saucer In Which It Had Stood.
The shock appeared to be nearly
vertical, rapid, vibratory, and jerking.
It was sufficient, I
have no doubt, to have thrown down brick, chimneys, walls, and
church towers; but as the houses here are all low, and strongly
framed of timber, it is impossible for them to be much injured,
except by a shock that would utterly destroy a European city. The
people told me it was ten years since they had had a stronger
shock than this, at which time many houses were thrown down and
some people killed.
At intervals of ten minutes to half an hour, slight shocks and
tremors were felt, sometimes strong enough to send us all out
again. There was a strange mixture of the terrible and the
ludicrous in our situation. We might at any moment have a much
stronger shock, which would bring down the house over us, or -
what I feared more - cause a landslip, and send us down into the
deep ravine on the very edge of which the village is built; yet I
could not help laughing each time we ran out at a slight shock,
and then in a few moments ran in again. The sublime and the
ridiculous were here literally but a step apart. On the one hand,
the most terrible and destructive of natural phenomena was in
action around us - the rocks, the mountains, the solid earth were
trembling and convulsed, and we were utterly impotent to guard
against the danger that might at any moment overwhelm us. On the
other hand was the spectacle of a number of men, women, and
children running in and out of their houses, on what each time
proved a very unnecessary alarm, as each shock ceased just as it
became strong enough to frighten us. It seemed really very much
like "playing at earthquakes," and made many of the people join
me in a hearty laugh, even while reminding each other that it
really might be no laughing matter.
At length the evening got very cold, and I became very sleepy,
and determined to turn in; leaving orders to my boys, who slept
nearer the door, to wake me in case the house was in danger of
falling. But I miscalculated my apathy, for I could not sleep
much. The shocks continued at intervals of half an hour or an
hour all night, just strong enough to wake me thoroughly each
time and keep me on the alert, ready to jump up in case of danger.
I was therefore very glad when morning came. Most of the
inhabitants had not been to bed at all, and some had stayed out
of doors all night. For the next two days and nights shocks still
continued at short intervals, and several times a day for a week,
showing that there was some very extensive disturbance beneath
our portion of the earth's crust. How vast the forces at work
really are can only be properly appreciated when, after feeling
their effects, we look abroad over the wide expanse of hill and
valley, plain and mountain, and thus realize in a slight degree
the immense mass of matter heaved and shaken. The sensation
produced by an earthquake is never to be forgotten. We feel
ourselves in the grasp of a power to which the wildest fury of
the winds and waves are as nothing; yet the effect is more a
thrill of awe than the terror which the more boisterous war of
the elements produces. There is a mystery and an uncertainty as
to the amount of danger we incur, which gives greater play to the
imagination, and to the influences of hope and fear. These
remarks apply only to a moderate earthquake. A severe one is the
most destructive and the most horrible catastrophe to which human
beings can be exposed.
A few days after the earthquake I took a walk to Tondano, a large
village of about 7,000 inhabitants, situated at the lower end of
the lake of the same name. I dined with the Controlleur, Mr.
Bensneider, who had been my guide to Tomohon. He had a fine large
house, in which he often received visitors; and his garden was
the best for flowers which I had seen in the tropics, although
there was no great variety. It was he who introduced the rose
hedges which give such a charming appearance to the villages; and
to him is chiefly due the general neatness and good order that
everywhere prevail. I consulted him about a fresh locality, as I
found Rurúkan too much in the clouds, dreadfully damp and gloomy,
and with a general stagnation of bird and insect life. He
recommended me a village some distance beyond the lake, near
which was a large forest, where he thought I should find plenty
of birds. As he was going himself in a few days, I decided to
accompany him.
After dinner I asked him for a guide to the celebrated waterfall
on the outlet stream of the lake. It is situated about a mile and
half below the village, where a slight rising ground closes in
the basin, and evidently once formed, the shore of the lake. Here
the river enters a gorge, very narrow and tortuous, along which it
rushes furiously for a short distance and then plunges into a
great chasm, forming the head of a large valley. Just above the
fall the channel is not more than ten feet wide, and here a few
planks are thrown across, whence, half hid by luxuriant
vegetation, the mad waters may be seen rushing beneath, and a few
feet farther plunge into the abyss. Both sight and sound are
grand and impressive. It was here that, four years before my
visit, the Governor-General of the Netherland Indies committed
suicide, by leaping into the torrent. This at least is the
general opinion, as he suffered from a painful disease which was
supposed to have made him weary of his life.
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