have
been required to generate the light, since it illuminated the entire
country for fifty miles or so, and we were able to read without
trouble the fine print of the abbot's rubric. This Flying Ring moved
on an even keel at the tremendous velocity of about two hundred
miles an hour. We wondered what would happen if it turned turtle,
for in that case the weight of the superstructure would have
rendered it impossible for the machine to right itself. In fact,
none of us had ever imagined any such air monster before. Beside it
a Zeppelin seemed like a wooden toy.

The Ring passed over the mountains toward Cabes and within a short
time a volcanic eruption occurred that destroyed a section of the
Atlas Range. [Mr. Quinn here describes with considerable detail the
destruction of the mountains.] The next morning I found Biskra
crowded with Arabs, who reported that the ocean had poured through
the passage made by the eruption and was flooding the entire desert
as far south as the oasis of Wargla, and that it had come within
twelve miles of the walls of our own city. I at once hired a donkey
and made a personal investigation, with the result that I can report
as a fact that the entire desert east and south of Biskra is
inundated to a depth of from seven to ten feet and that the water
gives no sign of going down. The loss of life seems to have been
negligible, owing to the fact that the height of the water is not
great and that many unexpected islands have provided safety for the
caravans that were _in transitu_. These are now marooned and waiting
for assistance, which I am informed will be sent from Cabes in the
form of flat-bottomed boats fitted with motor auxiliaries.

Respectfully submitted,

D. W. QUINN, Jr.,
Acting U. S. Consul.

The Italian cruiser _Fiala_, which had been carried one hundred and
eighty miles into the desert on the night of the eruption, grounded
safely on the plateau of Tasili, but the volcanic tidal wave on which
she had been swept along, having done its work, receded, leaving too
little water for the _Fiala's_ draft of thirty-seven feet. Four launches
sent out in different directions to the south and east reported no sign
of land, but immense quantities of floating vegetable matter, yellow
dust, and the bodies of jackals, camels, zebras, and lions. The fift