A correspondent recently had an interview…
source date: 1891
availability: public-domain

interest. Arrivals from these places are few, but are immediately seized upon for the latest news from what has apparently developed into a country of surprises and extraordinary sur- prises. A correspondent recently had an interview with Miguel and Shampore, two sturdy Cocopah Indians, who arrived from the lower country Sunday. Their statement corroborates the one made by Gardner. Both Indians live in Lower California near the Colorado river, and say that early Thursday morning they expected something very unusual to occur, as the hundreds volcanoes, some thirty miles distant, had suddenly become very active and turbulent, throwing up immense quantities of lava and a black smoke like vapor. The pe- culiarity of the eruption, not only in the force, but the change from mud volcanoes, was some- thing that appalled the entire Cocopah tribe. The volcanoes continued to increase the violence of the upheaval until the noise when at a dis- tance of thirty miles was simply deafening. The air became oppressively heavy, and breathing was difficult. Many of the infant Cocopah Indians were asphyxiated. Suddenly a crash of thunder and flashing lightning clear- ed the atmosphere and the poor Indians were hopeful that all danger had passed when the water of the river became agitated and great clouds of mist arose hundreds of feet.