Birth of an Island

Homeward bound to Los Angeles, the S.S. Bright Star was leaving the northern reach of the Philippines when the watch saw dense white clouds of smoke bursting out of the bosom of the Pacific. The Bright Star's skipper reported to Manila that an underwater volcano seemed to be erupting in the vicinity of Didicas Rocks, uninhabited islets some 70 miles off the coast of Luzon.

A U.S. Air Force plane took off from Clark Field last week with a group of newsmen. From a distance, the flyers could spot a towering column of smoke and steam that cut through the haze like a high-piled thunderhead. Closer in, they dropped down to observe green acres of ocean that were boiling and rolling. In the center of that vast caldron, breaking 250 feet above the surface, the crater of a new volcano could be seen belching clouds of gas and great black boulders.

The same area has given birth in the past to another volcano, which only disappeared after a time beneath eroding waves. The new eruption has brought no immediate danger, but civil and military officials along the north coast of Luzon are preparing their towns for the tidal wave that may follow its appearance.

"Take away the water," said a government vulcanologist, "and there's no difference between this volcano and land volcanoes. It is in the process of building up a cone. Most likely it has been in that process for centuries." Superstitious natives think otherwise. Some say the Didicas Rocks are the steeples of an old Spanish church, submerged long ago by God to punish some wicked Spanish friars. The smoking crater, they insist, is a hole in the church dome, a chimney for incense being burned by the long-dead friars as an act of repentance.

. . .

About 70 miles to the south, on the tiny island of Camiguin in the Mindanao Sea, a violent earthquake warned natives that towering Hibok-Hibok might be preparing for another eruption. Last December its molten lava and deadly gases killed hundreds of Camiguenos (TIME, Dec. 17). Now, after the earthquake, a reddish glow in the sky above the volcano is an almost sure sign that the lava has again boiled close to the rim of the crater.

Despite the danger, Camiguenos who have returned home are unwilling to leave. President Quirino, they say, promised them land on Mindanao if they migrated after the last eruption. They found nothing but broken promises. It may take another disaster to uproot them again.

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