Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/153

Rh this beauty may vanish. Earthquakes are most frequent.

On or about 11th September 1900 there was an alarming earthquake. Early in the morning the natives were seen collecting on the coast and entering the water, and at 8.30 occurred a strange noise, followed soon by terrific thunderous reports, and the natives threw themselves into the sea for safety. The houses shook and swayed, the trees bent as before a gale, and it continued every half-hour till next morning. The water receded fifty feet, leaving quantities of fish high and dry, and this sort of thing went on till the 27th of September. The Stettin, at anchor at Herbertshöhe, was in danger, and frequently touched ground, dragging her anchors. To the relief, however, of the people at Matupi the Mother remained quite normal, though frequently she gave forth volumes of sulphurous smoke.

Matupi is a trading station of Hermsheim and Co. (or it may be Hernsheim), a German firm having many stations and a large connection in this part of the world and throughout the South Sea Islands. The island is thickly clothed with cocoa Pon amongst which, down to the very edge of the water, are the countless little houses of the natives surrounded by their cane stockades. This, of course, should have been the site of the settlement, and not Herbertsh6he, which is so exposed, and not free from fever. The earthquakes must be risked. The official capital of German New Guinea is on the mainland of that great island, but Herbertshöhe, on New Britain, is the residence of the Governor and other officials, and so is practically the capital.

What is called the “Station” at Matupi is a group of wooden houses of the bungalow type, and various wooden and iron store sheds scattered