VULCAN'S FURY

Eerie stories of 15 volcanic eruptions (of the geological variety), with much of the source material drawn from eyewitness and contemporary accounts and appearing in English for the first time, from geographer Scarth (Univ. of Dundee, Scotland; Savage Earth, not reviewed). As best as can be discovered, wondered Scarth, what really happened during the eruption of some better-known volcanoes? What did people see and what did they do? Who survived and who died, and why? He combed as much primary material as he could unearth to fashion these chronicles and also chose events that were spread through time and space and illustrate the multiformity of volcanic types. Writing with enthusiasm and vigor, Scarth covers the notorious cataclysms’such as Vesuvius in 79 a.d., Etna in 1669, Krakatau in 1883, Pelee in 1902, and Mt. Saint Helens in 1980—though perhaps sparking greater marvel are the more obscure eruptions. These include Iceland’s Oraefajokuv (1727), where a priest described how the molten rock set an icecap aboil: “As I stood before the altar, I was conscious of a gentle concussion under my feet.” There were the blue fogs and blood-red sun and “curious hairy lava fragments that shone bluish-black and looked like seal-hair” that attended the blowing of Laki in 1783; and Paricutin (1943), the volcano that grew out of a field in upland Mexico—and grew and spewed and belched forth lava for nine years—that took the name of the village it ate. Then there was ghastly Lake Nyoi: from its waters, an earthquake (it is conjectured) jarred free a square kilometer of pure carbon dioxide. It was heavier than air and invisible and asphyxiated 1,742 people in 1986. Pockets of the poison lurked in depressions, making lethal mischief, for days. Scarth displays considerable yarn-spinning talent in these scary narratives, and to know that they come unadorned with tall talk makes them that much more hellish. (70 b&w, 30 color illustrations, not seen)