Natural Disasters 10th Edition – Ebook

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Normal-Fault Earthquakes 112
Puget Sound, Washington, 1949, 1965, 2001:
Subducting Plates can Crack 112
Neotectonics and Paleoseismology 113
Earthquake Prediction 115
Long-Term Forecasts 115
Short-Term Forecasts 116
Early Warning System 117
Human-Triggered Earthquakes 117
Pumping Fluids Underground 117
Side Note: Perils of Predication: Scientists
on Trial 118
Dam Earthquakes 118
Bomb Blasts 119
Earthquake-Shaking Maps 119
Did You Feel It? 119
Shakemaps 119
California Earthquake Scenario 119
Annualized Earthquake Losses 121
Great Shakeout Events 121
Earthquakes in the United States and
Canada 121
Western North America: Plate Boundary–Zone
Earthquakes 123
Western Great Basin: Eastern California,
Western Nevada 124
The Intermountain Seismic Belt: Utah, Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana 127
Rio Grande Rift: New Mexico, Colorado,
Westernmost Texas, Mexico 129
Intraplate Earthquakes: “Stable” Central
United States 130
New Madrid, Missouri, 1811–1812 130
Reelfoot Rift: Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Illinois 132
Ancient Rifts in the Central United States 133
Intraplate Earthquakes: Eastern North
America 134
New England 134
St. Lawrence River Valley 134
Charleston, South Carolina, 1886 135
Earthquakes and Volcanism in Hawaii 137
Earthquake in 1975 138
Earthquakes in 2006 138
Summary 139; Terms to Remember 139;
Questions for Review 139; Questions for Further
Thought 140
CHAPTER 6
Volcanic Eruptions: Plate Tectonics
and Magmas 141
How We Understand Volcanic Eruptions 142
Plate-Tectonic Setting of Volcanoes 142
A Classic Disaster: Eruption of Mount
Vesuvius, 79 ce 144
Chemical Composition of Magmas 145
Viscosity, Temperature, and Water Content
of Magmas 146
In Greater Depth: Minerals and Volcanic Rocks 147
Plate-Tectonic Setting of Volcanoes Revisited 149
How a Volcano Erupts 150
Eruption Styles and the Role of Water
Content 150
Some Volcanic Materials 151
The Three Vs of Volcanology: Viscosity,
Volatiles, Volume 152
Side Note: How a Geyser Erupts 154
Shield Volcanoes: Low Viscosity, Low Volatiles,
Large Volume 155
Flood Basalts: Low Viscosity, Low Volatiles,
very Large Volume 156
In Greater Depth: Volcanic Explosivity
Index (VEI) 157
Scoria Cones: Medium Viscosity, Medium
Volatiles, Small Volume 158
Stratovolcanoes: High Viscosity, High Volatiles,
Large Volume 158
Lava Domes: High Viscosity, Low Volatiles,
Small Volume 160
Calderas: High Viscosity, High Volatiles,
Very Large Volume 161
Side Note: British Airways Flight 9 162
In Greater Depth: Hot Spots 168
A Classic Disaster: Santorini and the Lost Island
of Atlantis 169
Summary 169; Terms to Remember 170;
Questions for Review 170; Questions for Further
Thought 170
CHAPTER 7
Volcano Case Histories:
Killer Events 171
Volcanism at Spreading Centers 172
Iceland 172
Contents   vii
 Volcanism at Subduction Zones 173
Cascade Range, Pacific Coast of United States
and Canada 173
In Greater Depth: Rapid Assembly and Rise
of Magma 183
Volcanic Processess and Killer Events 183
The Historic Record of Volcano Fatalities 183
Pyroclastic Eruptions 184
A Classic Disaster: Mont Pelée,
Martinique, 1902 186
Tsunami 188
Lahars 188
Debris Avalanches 190
Side Note: Death at Ashfall, Nebraska 191
Indirect—Famine 191
Gas 192
Lava Flows 194
VEIs of Some Killer Eruptions 194
Volcano Monitoring and Warning 195
Long Valley, California, 1982 195
Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, 1991 197
Signs of Impending Eruption 197
Volcano Observatories 198
Summary 198; Terms to Remember 199;
Questions for Review 199; Questions for Further
Thought 199
CHAPTER 8
Tsunami Versus Wind-Caused
Waves 200
Japanese Tsunami, 11 March 2011 201
Tsunami Travel Through the Pacific Ocean 201
Land Subsidence 202
Side Note: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster 203
British Columbia, Washington, Oregon,
26 January 1700 203
Waves in Water 204
Wind-Caused Waves 204
Why a Wind-Blown Wave Breaks 204
Rogue Waves 205
In Greater Depth: Deep-Water Wave Velocity,
Length, Period, and Energy 206
Tsunami 206
Tsunami Versus Wind-Caused Waves 208
A Classic Disaster: The Chile Tsunami of 1868 210
Tsunami at the Shoreline 210
viii   Contents
Earthquake-Caused Tsunami 211
Indian Ocean 26 December 2004 212
Alaska, 1 April 1946: First Wave Biggest 213
Chile, 22 May 1960: Third Wave Biggest 214
Alaska, 27 March 1964: Fifth Wave Biggest 215
Volcano-Caused Tsunami 215
Krakatau, Indonesia, 26–27 August 1883 215
Landslide-Caused Tsunami 216
Volcano Collapses 216
Earthquake-Triggered Movements 217
In Bays and Lakes 219
Seiches 220
Hebgen Lake, Montana, 17 August 1959 220
Tsunami and You 221
Simeulue Island, Indonesia, 26 December 2004 221
Nicaragua, 1 September 1992 221
Humans Can Increase the Hazard 222
Tsunami Warnings 222
Summary 224; Terms to Remember 224; Questions
for Review 224; Questions for Further Thought 224
Disaster Simulation Game 225
CHAPTER 9
External Energy Fuels Weather
and Climate 226
External Sources of Energy 227
The Sun 227
Solar Radiation Received by Earth 228
Outgoing Terrestrial Radiation 229
Greenhouse Effect 229
Albedo 229
The Hydrologic Cycle 230
Water and Heat 231
In Greater Depth: Water—The Most Peculiar
Substance on Earth? 232
Convection 232
Water Vapor and Humidity 232
Latent Heat 233
Adiabatic Processes 233
Lapse Rates 233
Differential Heating of Land and Water 234
Energy Transfer in the Atmosphere 234
Energy Transfer in the World Ocean 234
Layering of the Lower Atmosphere 235
Temperature 235
Pressure 236
 Winds 236 A Classic Disaster: The Tri-State Tornado
Pressure Gradient Force 237 of 1925 269

In Greater Depth: Coriolis Effect 238

Tornado Outbreaks 269
Tornadoes and Cities 271
Rotating Air Bodies 238
How a Tornado Destroys a House 272
General Circulation of the Atmosphere 239
Low Latitudes 240 Tornado Safety 272
Safe Rooms 272
High Latitudes 240
Middle Latitudes 241 Lightning 272
How Lightning Works 273
Observed Circulation of the Atmosphere 244
Don’t Get Struck 274
General Circulation of the Oceans 245
Surface Circulation 245 Heat 275
Heat Wave in Chicago, July 1995 276
Deep-Ocean Circulation 245
City Weather 278
Summary 246; Terms to Remember 247; Questions
for Review 247; Questions for Further Thought 247 European Heat Waves, 2003 and 2010 278
Summary 278; Terms to Remember 279;
CHAPTER 10 Questions for Review 279; Questions for Further
Thought 280
Tornadoes, Lightning, Heat,
and Cold 248 CHAPTER 11
Severe Weather 249
Hurricanes 281
Winter Storms 250
Hurricanes 283
Cold 250
How a Hurricane Forms 284
Precipitation 251
How a Hurricane Works 285
Nor’Easters 251
Eyewall and Eye 286
In Greater Depth: Doppler Radar 252 Tornadoes Within Hurricanes 286
Blizzards 253
Energy Flow in a Hurricane 287
Ice Storms 253
Hurricane Energy Release 287
Lake-Effect Snow 254
Hurricane Transition to Post-Tropical
How Thunderstorms Work 255 Cyclone 287
Lifting of Air 255 Hurricane Origins 288
Air-Mass Thunderstorms 255 North Atlantic Ocean Hurricanes 289
Severe Thunderstorms 257 Cape Verde-Type Hurricanes 290
Supercells 257 Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico–Type
Thunderstorms in North America 257 Hurricanes 293
In Greater Depth: Downbursts: An Airplane’s Hurricane Forecasts 294
Enemy 258 How Hurricanes Get their Names 296
Heavy Rains and Flash Floods 258 Hurricane Trends in the Atlantic Basin 296
Hail 260 Hurricane Damages 298
Derechos 261 Storm-Surge Hazards 298
Tornadoes 262 Heavy Rains and Inland Flooding 300
Tornadoes in 2011 262 A Classic Disaster: The Galveston Hurricane
How Tornadoes Form 262 of 1900 302
Regional Scale 262 Hurricanes and the Gulf of Mexico
Supercell Thunderstorm Scale 263 Coastline 302
Vortex Scale 265 Hurricane Katrina, August 2005 302
Tornadoes in the United States and Hurricanes and the Atlantic Coastline 305
Canada 266 Hurricane Hugo, September 1989 305

Contents   ix
 The Evacuation Dilemma 305 Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols 332
Reduction of Hurricane Damages 306 Water Vapor 332
In Greater Depth: How to Build a Home Near In Greater Depth: When did Humans Begin
the Coastline 307 Adding to Greenhouse Warming? 333
Land-Use Planning 307 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 334
Global Rise in Sea Level 308 Methane (CH4) 334
Hurricanes and the Pacific Coastline 308 Nitrous Oxide (N2O) 335
Hurricane Iniki, September 1992 308 Ozone (O3) 335
Cyclones and Bangladesh 309 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 335
Summary 310; Terms to Remember 310; 20th-Century Greenhouse Gas Increases 335
Questions for Review 311; Questions for Aerosols 335
Further Thought 311; Disaster Simulation
Game 311 The 21st Century 335
Global Climate Models 336
Drought and Famine 338
CHAPTER 12
Ice Melting 339
Climate Change 312 In Greater Depth: Tipping Points 340
Early Earth Climate—An Intense Sea-Level Rise 340
Greenhouse 313
In Greater Depth: Lag Times 342
Climate History of Earth: Timescale in Millions
Ocean Changes 343
of Years 314
Signs of Change 344
In Greater Depth: Equilibrium Between Tectonics,
Rock Weathering, and Climate 315 Mitigation Options 344
Late Paleozoic Ice Age 315 Controlling CO2 Content of Atmosphere 344
Late Paleocene Torrid Age 316 Managing Incoming Solar Radiation 345
Fast-Action Strategies 345
In Greater Depth: Oxygen Isotopes and
Summary 346; Terms to Remember 347;
Temperature 318
Questions for Review 347; Questions for Further
Late Cenozoic Ice Age 318 Thought 347
Glacial Advance and Retreat: Timescale
in Thousands of Years 319 CHAPTER 13
The Last Glacial Maximum 320
Floods 348
Climate Variations: Timescale in Hundreds
How Rivers and Streams Work 349
of Years 322
Shorter-Term Climate Changes: Timescale Side Note: A Different Kind of Killer Flood 350
in Multiple Years 323 The Equilibrium Stream 350
El Niño 323 In Greater Depth: Stream Velocity Profile 352
La Niña 325 Graded-Stream Theory 352
Pacific Decadal Oscillation 326 Side Note: Feedback Mechanisms 354
Volcanism and Climate 327 The Floodplain 354
Volcanic Climate Effects 328 Flood Frequency 354
In Greater Depth: The Mayan Civilization Florence, Italy, 1333 and 1966 354
and Climate Change 329 Flood-Frequency Curves 354
The Past Thousand Years 330 In Greater Depth: Constructing Flood-Frequency
The 20th Century 331 Curves 356
Solar Energy Variation 331 Flood Styles 357
Side Note: Stradivari Violins 332 Flash Floods 357
Radiative Forcing 332 Regional Floods 361

x   Contents
 Societal Responses to Flood Hazards 367 How Well Have We Learned? 395
Dams, Reservoirs, and Natural Storage Areas 367 Side Note: The Winds of Madness 397
Levees 368 Fire Suppression 398
Sandbagging 369 Yellowstone National Park Wildfire 399
Forecasting 369 California Versus Baja California: Pay Now
Zoning and Land Use 369 or Pay Later 400
Insurance 370 The Western and Southern United States
Presidential Disaster Declarations 370 in 2000 402
Urbanization and Floods 370 Prescribed Fires 403
Hydrographs 370 Wildfires in Australia 403
Flood Frequencies 371 The Similarities of Fire and Flood 405
Channelization 371 Summary 405; Terms to Remember 406;
Questions for Review 406; Questions
The Biggest Floods 373 for Further Thought 406; Disaster Simulation
Ice-Dam Failure Floods 374 Game 406
Summary 376; Terms to Remember 377;
Questions for Review 377; Questions for Further
Thought 377; Disaster Simulation Game 377 CHAPTER 15
Mass Movements 407
The Role of Gravity in Mass Movements 408
CHAPTER 14
Creep 409
Fire 378 External Causes of Slope Failures 410
Fire 379 In Greater Depth: Energy, Force, Work, Power,
What Is Fire? 380 and Heat 411
The Need for Fire 381 Water in its External Roles 412
The Fire Triangle 381 Internal Causes of Slope Failures 412
A Classic Disaster: The Burning of Rome, 64 ce 382 Inherently Weak Materials 412
The Stages of Fire 382 Water in Its Internal Roles 413
Side Note: An Ancient View of Fire 383 In Greater Depth: Analysis of Slope Stability 415
The Spread of Fire 384 Decreases in Cohesion 415
Fuel 384 A Classic Disaster: Vaiont Landslide,
Wind 385 Italy, 1963 416
Topography 385 Adverse Geologic Structures 417
Fire Behavior 385 Triggers of Mass Movements 418
The Fuels of Fire 387 Classification of Mass Movements 418
Grasses 387 Falls 418
Shrubs 387 Yosemite National Park, California 419
Forests 388 Slides 419
Houses 389 Rotational Slides 420
Fire Weather and Winds 389 Translational Slides 422
Cold-Front Winds 389 Flows 424
Downslope Winds 390 Portuguese Bend, California, Earthflow 424
Local Winds 390 La Conchita, California, Slump and Debris Flows,
Wind and Fire in the Great Lakes 1995 and 2005 426
Region 390 Long-Runout Debris Flows 426
Wind and Fire in California 392 Snow Avalanches 431
Home Design and Fire 395 Submarine Mass Movements 433

Contents   xi
 Mitigation 434 Side Note: Dwarf Planets 459
Reshaping Topography 434 Comets 460
Strengthening Slopes 434 Rates of Meteoroid Influx 462
Draining Water 435 In Greater Depth: Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet
Controlling Erosion 436 Impacts on Jupiter 463
Subsidence 437 Cosmic Dust 464
Catastrophic Subsidence 437 Shooting Stars 464
Slow Subsidence 437 Meteorites 464
In Greater Depth: How to Create a Cave 438 The Crater-Forming Process 465
Summary 441; Terms to Remember 441; Questions Crater-Forming Impacts 467
for Review 441; Questions for Further Thought 442 Meteor Crater, Arizona 468
Impact Origin of Chesapeake Bay 469
CHAPTER 16 The End Cretaceous Impact 469
Evidence of the End Cretaceous Impact 471
Coastal Processes and Hazards 443
Site of the End Cretaceous Impact 471
Sand 444
Size and Velocity of Impactor 471
Summer Versus Winter Beaches 445
Angle of Impact 471
Waves 445
Problems for Life from the End Cretaceous
Rip Currents 445
Impact 471
Side Note: Shark-Attack Deaths 447 Biggest Events of the 20th and 21st
Wave Refraction 447 Centuries 472
Longshore Drift 447 Tunguska, Siberia, 1908 472
Tides 448 Biggest “Near Events” 474
Tidal Bores 448 Frequency of Large Impacts 474
Coastal-Control Structures 448 Lifetime Risks of Impact 475
In Greater Depth: Gravity and Tides 449 Prevention of Impacts 476
Seawalls 449 Summary 477; Terms to Remember 478;
Cliff Armoring 450 Questions for Review 478; Questions for Further
Thought 478
Groins and Jetties 451
Breakwaters 452
Massive Structures in Future 452 Epilogue: Mass Extinctions 479
The Fossil Record 479
Side Note: You Can Never Do Just One Thing 453
Mother Nature At Work 453
Mass Extinctions 480
Summary 454; Terms to Remember 454; Questions In Greater Depth: Causes of Mass Extinctions 482
for Review 454; Questions for Further Thought 454 The Current Mass Extinction 482
In Greater Depth: La Brea Tar Pits, Metropolitan
CHAPTER 17 Los Angeles 484

Impacts with Space Objects 455 Glossary G-1

Energy and Impacts 456 Credits C-1
Impact Scars 457 Index I-1
Sources of Extraterrestrial Debris 458
Asteroids 458

xii   Contents
 Preface
Why Study Natural Disasters?
Natural disasters occur every day and affect the lives of
millions of people each year. Many students have been
­ added the 2015 Nepal earthquake; rewrite earthquakes
affected by earthquakes or tornadoes or hurricanes or floods
or landslides or wildfires or other events. They are interested
in lectures that explain these processes, and lively discus-
sions commonly ensue.
During decades of teaching courses at San Diego State
University, I found that students have an innate curiosity
about “death and destruction”; they want to know why natu-
ral disasters occur. Initiation of a Natural Disasters course
led to skyrocketing enrollments that now exceed 5,000 stu-
dents per year. Some of these experiences are described in a
Journal of Geoscience Education article by Pat Abbott and
Ernie Zebrowksi [v 46 (1998), pp. 471–75].
Themes and Approach
This textbook focuses on explaining how the normal pro-
cesses of the Earth concentrate their energies and deal heavy
blows to humans and their structures. The following themes
are interwoven throughout the book:
∙ Energy sources underlying disasters
∙ Plate tectonics
∙ Climate change
∙ Earth processes operating in rock, water, and atmosphere
∙ Significance of geologic time
∙ Complexities of multiple variables operating sim­u­l­taneously
∙ Detailed and interesting case histories
New to This Edition
∙ Many of the Tables and Figures have been updated and
more than 60 new ones have been added.
∙ Chapter 1: Extensive updating of all disaster and demo-
graphic data.
∙ Chapter 2: Isostasy coverage expanded with new figure.
∙ Chapter 3: New In Greater Depth section compares seis-
mic waves of earthquakes versus nuclear bomb blast waves.
∙ Chapter 4: Expanded text on 2011 Japan earthquake;
in the Holy Land.
∙ Chapter 5: New section on earthquake early warning
system; expanded section on human-triggered earth-
quakes, fracking and the U.S. economy; added Side
Note explaining trial of Italian scientists over lack of
warning before L’Aquila earthquake.
∙ Chapter 6: Major expansion of flood basalts to include
their role in mass extinctions; major rewrite of Side
Note How a Geyser Erupts with new data from Old
Faithful, new photo and new figure.
∙ Chapter 7: Describe surprise eruption and deaths on
Mount Ontake, Japan; Add new In Greater Depth
explaining new understanding of the rapid assembly
and rise of magma bodies.
∙ Chapter 8: Expand description of 2011 Japanese tsunami.
∙ Chapter 10: New images of tornadoes, hail, lightning.
∙ Chapter 11: Expands on Hurricane Sandy and trans-
formation to a post-tropical cyclone. Adds In Greater
Depth on How to Build a Home Near the Coastline.
∙ Chapter 12: Covers IPCC Assessment Report 5.
Expanded discussion of Arctic Ocean sea ice. Added
21st-century sea-level rise, ocean acidification and
fisheries.
∙ Chapter 13: Major rewrite of Red River of the North.
Increased discussion of runoff reduction.
∙ Chapter 14: Adds information about houses as fuel.
∙ Chapter 15: Adds coverage of Oso, Washington land-
slide and debris flow. Expanded discussion of landslide
mitigation: reshaping topography; strengthening slopes;
draining water.
∙ Chapter 16: Adds deaths by shark bite. Building of mas-
sive structures to protect U.S. cities from sea-level rise
versus Maldives protected by Mother Nature.
∙ Chapter 17: Cover Chelyabinsk meteor explosion. First
landings on planets, their moons; asteroid; comet.
∙ Epilogue: Expansion of causes of mass extinctions.
Added text on Australia and New Zealand.

Acknowledgments
I am deeply appreciative of the help given by others to make
this book a reality. The photograph collection in the book
is immeasurably improved by the aerial photographs gener-
ously given by the late John S. Shelton, the greatest geolo-
gist photographer of them all. Please see John’s classic book
Geology Illustrated.
The quality of the book was significantly improved
by the insights provided by comments from the following
reviewers:
Baylor University, John Dunbar
California State Polytechnic University–Pomona,
Jon Nourse
California State University–Fullerton, Stephen I. Wareham
California State University–Los Angeles,
Hassan Rezaie Boroon
California State University, Los Angeles, Richard W. Hurst
California State University, Sacramento, Lisa Hammersley
Chandler–Gilbert Community College, John Dassinger
Colby College, James Rodger Fleming
College of Southern Idaho, Shawn P. Willsey
Dartmouth College, Leslie Sonder
Erie Community College, Buffalo State College,
Karen S. Wehn
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Edward Catanzaro
Fort Lewis College, David Gonzales
Grand Valley State University, Patrick Colgan
Illinois State University, Robert S. Nelson
Indiana University, Bingming Shen-Tu
Lindenwood University, Sandra Allen
Manchester Community College, Eszter Samodai
Minnesota State University–Mankato, Cecil S. Keen
North Hennepin Community College, John Dooley
Northeastern University, Jennifer Cole
Northeastern University, Langdon D. Clough
Penn State University–Altoona, Timothy J. Dolney
Pennsylvania State University, Kevin P. Furlong
Radford University, Jonathan Tso
Rio Hondo Junior College, Michael Forrest
Salisbury University, Brent R. Skeeter
San Diego State University, Jim Rickard
San Diego State University, Victor E. Camp
San Francisco State University, Bridget James
San Francisco State University, Mary Leech
San Francisco State University, Oswaldo Garcia
Sonoma State University, Terry Wright
Southeast Arkansas University, Steven Sumner
Southeast Missouri State University, Ernest L. Kern
St. Cloud State University, Alan Srock
xiv   Preface
abb22983_fm_i-xvi.indd xiv
Final PDF to printer
SUNY–Stony Brook, Christiane Stidham
Texas State University, Philip Suckling
The Arizona Geological Survey, Michael Conway
The Ohio State University, Michael Barton
Tulane University, Stephen A. Nelson
University at Albany, Michael G. Landin
University of British Columbia, Roland Stull
University of California–Santa Barbara, Cathy Busby
University of California Santa Cruz, Thorne Lay
University of California–Davis, John F. Dewey
University of California–Riverside, Peter Sadler
University of California–San Diego, Gabi Laske
University of Colorado–Boulder, Charles R. Stern
University of Colorado–Colorado Springs, Paul K. Grogger
University of Colorado, Alan Lester
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,
Wang-Ping Chen
University of Kansas, David Braaten
University of Kansas, Don Steeples
University of Kentucky–Lexington, Kevin Henke
University of Michigan, Youxue Zhang
University of Nebraska at Kearney, Jeremy S. Dillon
University of Nebraska–Kearney, A. Steele Becker
University of Nebraska–Kearney, Jean Eichhorst
University of Nebraska–Kearney, Stanley Dart
University of Nebraska–Kearney, Vijendra Boken
University of North Carolina–Greensboro, John Hidore
University of Oklahoma, Judson Ahern
University of Portland, Robert Butler
University of Southern California, John P. Wilson
University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse, George Hupper
Utah State University–Logan, Sue Morgan
Washington University–St. Louis, Carol Prombo
Yale University, David Bercovici
Special thanks to the following individuals who wrote and/or
reviewed learning goal-oriented content for LearnSmart.
California State University–Sacramento, Lisa Hammersley
Northern Arizona University, Sylvester Allred
Roane State Community College, Arthur C. Lee
I sincerely appreciate the talents and accomplishments of
the McGraw-Hill professionals in Dubuque who took my
­manuscript and produced it into this book. For the short-
comings that remain in the book, I alone am responsible. I
welcome all comments, pro and con, as well as suggested
revisions.
Pat Abbott
professor_pat_abbott@yahoo.com
11/03/15 07:51 PM
 ®

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Prologue:
Energy Flows
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Earth is a planet with varied flows of energy that can cause problems
for humans. After studying the Prologue you should
• know the main flows of energy on Earth.
• comprehend how internal energy creates land.
• understand how external energy destroys land.
• be familiar with the rock cycle.
isasters occur where and when Earth’s natural
processes concentrate energy and then release it,
­ as snow and rain. On short timescales, these processes
killing life and causing destruction. Our interest is especially
high when this energy deals heavy blows to humans. As
the growth of the world’s population accelerates, more and
more people find themselves living in close proximity to
Earth’s most hazardous places. The news media increasingly
present us with vivid images and stories of the great losses
of human life and destruction of property caused by natural
disasters. As the novelist Booth Tarkington remarked: “The
history of catastrophe is the history of juxtaposition.”*
To understand the natural processes that kill and maim
unwary humans, we must know about the energy sources
that fuel them. Earth is an active planet with varied flows
of energy from: (1) Earth’s interior, (2) the Sun, (3) gravity,
and (4) impacts with asteroids and comets.
Internal energy flows unceasingly from Earth’s interior
toward the surface. The interior of the Earth holds a tremen-
dous store of heat accumulated from the initial impacts that
formed our planet and from the heat released by the ongoing
decay of radioactive isotopes. Over short time spans, internal
energy is released as eruptions from ­volcanoes and as seismic
waves from earthquakes. Over longer intervals of geologic
time, the flow of internal energy has produced our ­continents,
oceans, and atmosphere. On a planetary scale, this outflow of
internal energy causes continents to drift and collide, thus con-
structing mountain ranges and elevated plateaus.
External energy is delivered by the Sun. About a quarter
of the Sun’s energy that reaches Earth evaporates and lifts
water into the atmosphere. At the same time, the constant
Internal Energy
External Energy
Earth, the Blue Marble as seen from Apollo 17 in 1972.
NASA.
Gravity
pull of gravity helps bring atmospheric moisture down
bring us hail, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and
floods. Solar energy is also stored in plant tissue to
be released later as fire. On a long timescale, the Sun
and gravity power the agents of erosion—glaciers,
streams, underground waters, winds, ocean waves and
currents—that wear away the continents and dump
their broken pieces and dissolved remains into the seas.
Solar radiation is the primary energy source because it
Impacts
evaporates and elevates water, but gravity is the imme-
diate force that drives the agents of erosion.
Gravity is an attractional force between bodies.
At equal distances, the greater the mass of a body,
the greater its gravitational force. The relatively great
mass of the Earth has powerful effects on smaller
masses such as ice and rock, causing ice to flow as
avalanches and hillsides to fail in landslides and
debris flows.
An energy source for disasters arrives when visi-
tors from outer space—asteroids and comets—impact
Earth. Impacts were abundant early in Earth’s history. In
recent times, collisions with large bodies have become
infrequent. However, asteroids and comets traveling at
velocities in excess of 30,000 mph occasionally slam into
Earth, and their deep impacts have global effects on life.
The sequence of chapters in this book is based on
energy sources, in the following order: Earth’s internal
energy, external energy supplied by the Sun, gravity,
and impacts with space objects.
Earth’s internal energy fuels volcanism, as well as providing the energy for earthquakes. Here, lava flows from the
Pu’u O’o-Kupaianaha eruption in Hawaii meet the ocean, 18 August 2010.
Michael Poland/U.S. Geological Survey.

External energy from the Sun fuels tornadoes, as well as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. Here, a powerful tornado spins
down from a supercell thunderstorm and travels along an Oklahoma road.
© 2010 Willoughby Owen/Getty Images RF.

2   Prologue: Energy Flows

The pull of gravity brings down hillsides. This earthquake-
triggered debris flow destroyed homes and killed 585 people in
Santa Tecla, El Salvador on 13 January 2001.
Ed Harp/U.S. Geological Survey.
Processes of Construction
versus Destruction
Another way to look at energy flow on Earth is by under-
standing the rock cycle and the construction and destruc-
tion of land (continents). Energy flowing up from Earth’s
interior melts rock that rises as magma and then cools and
crystallizes to form igneous rocks; they are plutonic rocks
if they solidify at depth or volcanic rocks if they cool and
harden at the surface. These newly formed rocks help cre-
ate new land. Igneous-rock formation is part of the internal
energy–fed processes of construction that create and ele-
vate landmasses.
At the same time, the much greater flow of energy from
the Sun, working with gravity, brings water that weath-
ers the igneous rocks exposed at or near the surface and
breaks them down into sediments. Physical weathering
disintegrates rocks into gravel and sand, while ­chemical
­weathering decomposes rock into clay minerals. The
sediments are eroded, transported mostly by water, and
then deposited in topographically low areas, ultimately the
High-velocity comets and asteroids can impact the
Earth and kill life worldwide. Here the Comet Lovejoy nears
Earth’s horizon behind airglow in the night sky.
Photo by NASA astronaut Dan Burbank from the International Space
Station on 22 December 2001.
ocean. These external, energy-fed processes of d­ estruction
work to erode the lands and dump the debris into the oceans.
These land-building and land-destroying processes
result from Earth’s energy flows that create, transform,
and destroy rocks as part of the rock cycle. Think about the
incredible amount of work done by the prodigious flows
of energy operating over the great age of Earth. There is
a long-term conflict raging between the internal-energy-
powered processes of construction, which create and
elevate landmasses, and the external-energy-powered pro-
cesses of destruction, which erode the continents and dump
the continental debris into the ocean basins. Visualize this:
If the interior of Earth cooled and the flow of internal
energy stopped, mountain building and uplift also would
stop; then the ongoing solar-powered agents of e­rosion
Processes of Construction versus Destruction    3
 Solar
energy

Weathering and Erosion

Transportation
Deposition

Cool at SEDIMENTS
surface =
Volcanic
IGNEOUS Uplift Burial compaction
ROCKS and cementation

Cool at SEDIMENTARY
depth = ROCKS
Me
Plutonic tam Up
orp lift
IGNEOUS hism Heat and pressure =
ROCKS metamorphism

METAMORPHIC
ROCKS
Rise of
MAGMA Heat from radioactive-
element decay

The rock cycle. Follow the cycle clockwise beginning in the lower left. Magma cools and solidifies to form igneous rocks.
Rocks exposed at Earth’s surface break down and decompose into sediments (e.g., gravel, sand, clay), which are transported,
deposited, and hardened into sedimentary rock. With increasing burial depth, temperature and pressure increase, causing
changes (or metamorphosis) of rocks into metamorphic rocks.

would reduce the continents to sea level in just 45 million

years. There would be no more continents, only an ocean-
Terms to Remember
covered planet. asteroid 1 igneous rock 3
Think about the timescales involved in eliminating atmosphere 1 lightning 1
chemical weathering 3 magma 3
the continents. At first reading, 45 million years of ero-
clay minerals 3 physical weathering 3
sion may seem like an awfully long time, but the Earth
comet 1 plutonic rocks 3
is more than 4.5 billion years old. The great age of Earth continent 1 processes of construction 3
indicates that erosion is powerful enough to have leveled debris flow 1 processes of destruction 3
the continents about 100 times. This shows the power of earthquake 1 radioactive isotope 1
the internal processes of construction to keep elevating old erosion 1 sand 3
continents and adding new landmasses. And woe to human glacier 1 sediment 3
and other life-forms that get too close to these processes gravel 3 seismic wave 1
of construction and destruction, for this is where natural gravity 1 tornado 1
disasters occur. hail 1 volcanic rocks 3
hurricane 1 volcano 1

4   Prologue: Energy Flows

 CHAPTER 1

Population
Natural Disasters
and the Human Population
“Mankind was destined to live on the edge of perpetual
disaster. We are mankind because we survive.”
—JAMES A. MICHENER, 1978, CHESAPEAKE., RANDOM HOUSE

LEARNING OUTCOMES
The human population is growing rapidly. Natural disasters are
causing great numbers of deaths and economic losses. After
studying this chapter you should

• recognize the differences between a natural hazard, a

natural disaster and a great natural disaster.
• be familiar with the processes that cause the deadliest
natural disasters.
• understand the relationship between frequency and
magnitude of natural disasters.
• know the size of the human population.
• understand the significance of exponential growth.
• recognize the demographic transition of human
populations.
• be able to explain the concept of carrying capacity.

OUTLINE
• Great Natural Disasters
• Human Fatalities and Economic Losses in Natural
Disasters
• Natural Hazards
• Overview of Human Population
• Future World Population
• Carrying Capacity

The world population of humans continues to increase

exponentially. Photo of shopping area in New Delhi, India.
© Dr. Parvinder Sethi
I n 2013, there were 150 natural disasters that claimed
20 or more human lives. They were primarily caused by
earthquakes, hurricanes (= cyclones = typhoons),
TABLE 1.1
The 16 Deadliest Natural Disasters in 2013
floods, winter storms and heat waves; they killed more
than 20,000 people. The 16 deadliest events are listed in Fatalities Date Event Country
table 1.1. As horrible as the 2013 death total is, it is mark- 7,345 11 Aug Typhoon Philippines
edly less than in 2010, when about 286,000 people were Haiyan
killed in two events alone (Haiti earthquake: 230,000; 5,748 14 Jun Floods India
­Russian heat wave: 56,000). All these disasters were the
760 6 Aug Heat wave United Kingdom
result of natural processes operating at high energy levels
for brief times in restricted areas. 531 1 Apr Heat wave India
399 24 Sep Earthquake Pakistan
388 1 Jan Cold wave India, Bangladesh

Great Natural Disasters 275 24 Aug Cold wave Peru

246 17 Jan Floods Mozambique,
The Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the Haiti Zimbabwe
earthquake in 2010 and the Myanmar cyclone and China
earthquake in 2008 combined to kill almost 500,000 peo- 234 1 Aug Floods Pakistan
ple. They are examples of great natural disasters: these 230 15 Oct Earthquake Philippines
events so overwhelm regions that international assistance is 218 15 Sep Floods Cambodia,
needed to rescue and care for people, clean up the destruc- Vietnam
tion, and begin the process of reconstruction. Great natural
217 20 Apr Earthquake China
disasters commonly kill thousands of people, leave hun-
dreds of thousands homeless, and overwhelm the regional 200 5 Jul Floods China
economy. 174 9 Jul Floods India
Today, in earthquake-active areas of the world, several 169 13 Sep Hurricane Mexico
hundred million people live in buildings that will collapse Manuel
during a strong earthquake. An earthquake killing more than
  162 8 Nov Cyclone Somalia
100,000 people could happen any day in Teheran, Iran; in
Istanbul, Turkey; or in other large cities. Today, people by   17,296 Total deaths
the millions are moving to the ocean shores, where they can Source: Data from Swiss Reinsurance Company (2014).
be hit by tsunami, hurricanes, and floods. We need to learn
how to build disaster-resistant communities to lessen the
human fatalities and economic losses resulting from natural
disasters.
are concentrated, disasters can kill many more people during
each high-energy event.
Human Fatalities and
Economic Losses in Natural THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN
NATURAL-DISASTER DEATH TOTALS
Disasters As the global population of humans increases, the number
The 40 deadliest disasters in the 44-year period from 1970 of deaths by natural disasters is expected to rise, but the
to 2013 are shown in table 1.2. The most frequent mega- relationship has complexities. Analyses by Gregory van
killers were earthquakes (25) and hurricanes (8). Notice that der Vink and students at Princeton University show that
27 of the 40 worst natural disasters occurred in a belt run- between 1964 and 1968, about 1 person in 10,000 was killed
ning from China and Bangladesh through India and Iran to by a natural disaster. Between 2000 and 2004, even though
Turkey. Nine happened in the Americas but none were in the the population of humans doubled, the death rate by natu-
United States or Canada. ral disaster dropped to about 1 person in 100,000. Yet, great
What is the correlation between human population den- natural disasters still result in horrific death totals in some
sity and the number of natural-disaster deaths? The data countries. What relationships, in addition to population
of table 1.2 paint a clear picture: densely populated Asia size, explain the locations of great natural disasters? Van
dominates the list of fatalities. The Asian experience offers der Vink and students compared natural-disaster deaths to
a sobering view of what may befall the global population the levels of democracy and economic development within
of humans if we continue our rapid growth. Where humans 133 nations with populations greater than 1 million that

6    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population

 TABLE 1.2
The 40 Deadliest Natural Disasters, 1970–2013
Fatalities Date/Start Event Country
300,000 14 Nov 1970 Hurricane (Bhola) Bangladesh
255,000 28 Jul 1976 Earthquake (Tangshan) China
245,000 26 Dec 2004 Earthquake and tsunami Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand
230,000 12 Jan 2010 Earthquake Haiti
140,000 2 May 2008 Hurricane Nargis Myanmar
140,000 29 Apr 1991 Hurricane Gorky Bangladesh
88,000 8 Oct 2005 Earthquake Pakistan
87,500 12 May 2008 Earthquake China
66,000 31 May 1970 Earthquake and debris flow (Nevados Huascaran) Peru
55,630 15 Jun 2010 Heat wave and fire Russia
50,000 21 Jun 1990 Earthquake (Gilan) Iran
35,000 Aug 2003 Heat wave Europe
27,000 26 Dec 2003 Earthquake (Bam) Iran
25,000 7 Dec 1988 Earthquake Armenia
25,000 16 Sep 1978 Earthquake (Tabas) Iran
23,000 13 Nov 1985 Volcanic eruption and mudflows (Nevado del Ruiz) Colombia
22,000 4 Feb 1976 Earthquake Guatemala
20,103 26 Jan 2001 Earthquake (Gujarat) India
19,184 11 Mar 2011 Earthquake and tsunami Japan
19,118 17 Aug 1999 Earthquake (Izmit) Turkey
18,000 15 Dec 1999 Flooding and debris flows Venezuela
15,000 19 Sep 1985 Earthquake (Mexico City) Mexico
15,000 1 Sep 1978 Floods (monsoon rains in north) India
15,000 29 Oct 1999 Hurricane (Orissa) India
11,000 22 Oct 1998 Hurricane Mitch Honduras
11,000 25 May 1985 Hurricane Bangladesh
10,800 31 Oct 1971 Floods India
10,000 20 Nov 1977 Hurricane (Andhra Pradesh) India
9,500 30 Sep 1993 Earthquake (Marashtra state) India
8,000 16 Aug 1976 Earthquake (Mindanao) Philippines
7,345 8 Nov 2013 Hurricane Haiyan Philippines
6,425 17 Jan 1995 Earthquake (Kobe) Japan
6,304 5 Nov 1991 Typhoons Thelma and Uring Philippines
5,778 21 May 2006 Earthquake Indonesia
5,748 14 Jun 2013 Floods India
5,422 30 Jun 1976 Earthquake (West Irian) Indonesia
5,374 10 Apr 1972 Earthquake (Fars) Iran
5,300 28 Dec 1974 Earthquake Pakistan
5,112 15 Nov 2001 Floods and debris flows Brazil
  5,000 23 Dec 1972 Earthquake (Managua) Nicaragua
2,053,643 Total deaths
Source: Data from Swiss Reinsurance Company (2014).

Human Fatalities and Economic Losses in Natural Disasters    7

experienced five or more natural disasters between 1964 and
2004. Democracy is assessed by the World Bank’s Democ-
racy Index, and economic development by gross domestic
product (GDP).
The Princeton researchers state that more than 80% of
deaths by natural disasters between 1964 and 2004 took
place in 15 nations, including China, Bangladesh, and
Indonesia. For these 15 countries, 87% are below the
median democracy index and 73% are below the median
GDP. The correlation between high GDP and low death
totals shows exceptions in Iran and Venezuela, two oil-
rich nations with significant GDP but low democracy
indices. These exceptions suggest a greater importance
for democracy than GDP: the stronger the democracy
index, the lower the death totals from natural disasters.
The mega-killer natural disasters of recent years fit this
trend also: Pakistan earthquake in 2005 (88,000 dead),
Myanmar cyclone in 2008 (140,000 dead), China earth-
quake in 2008 (87,500 dead), and Haiti earthquake in 2010
(230,000 dead).
In a thought-provoking paragraph in their conclusion,
van der Vink and students state: “Deaths from natural disas-
ters can no longer be dismissed as random acts of nature.
They are a direct and inevitable consequence of high-risk
land use and the failures of government to adapt or respond
to such known risks.”
HUMAN RESPONSES TO DISASTER
Decades of social science research help us understand how
most human beings react to natural disasters, and the news
is good. Our behavior in ordinary times changes follow-
ing disasters. In day-to-day life, most people are primarily
concerned with their own needs and those of their imme-
diate families; other relationships tend to be more super-
ficial. After a natural disaster, many people change from
inward-directed concerns to outward-directed actions.
After an initial response of shock and disbelief, our emo-
tions of sympathy and empathy tend to dominate. Per-
sonal priorities may be set aside and humanitarian and
­community-oriented actions take over. People reach out to
others; they give aid and comfort to strangers; they make
great efforts to provide help. Following a natural disaster,
people become better connected and cohesive; they expe-
rience a heightened and compelling desire to add to the
common good.
ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM
NATURAL DISASTERS
The deaths and injuries caused by natural disasters grab our
attention and squeeze our emotions, but in addition, there
are economic losses. The destruction and disabling of build-
ings, bridges, roads, power-generation plants, and transmis-
sion systems for electricity, natural gas, and water, plus all
the other built works of our societies, add up to a huge dollar
8    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population
cost. But the economic losses are greater than just dam-
aged structures; industries and businesses are knocked out
of operation, causing losses in productivity and wages for
employees left without places to work.
In 2013 there were 308 natural and human-caused disas-
ters with losses greater than US$95 million. The total eco-
nomic losses were around US$140 billion. This is well below
the inflation-adjusted 10-year average of US$190 billion.
Insured Portion of Economic Losses
The 40 greatest disasters between 1970 and 2013 from
the insurance company perspective of dollar losses are
listed in table 1.3. Notice that 39 of the 40 most expen-
sive disasters were due to natural processes. The list of
most expensive events is dominated by weather events
(32 of 40), whereas earthquakes contributed seven. Com-
pare the events on the 40 deadliest disasters list (see
table 1.2) with table 1.3.
The locations of the worst dollar-loss disasters for the
insurance industry (table 1.3) are different from the worst
locations for fatalities (see table 1.2). The highest insurance
dollar losses occurred in the United States (24 of 40), Europe
(7), and Japan (5). Wealthy countries are better insured and
their people live in safer buildings.
The extent of economic and insured losses may take years
to become known. For example, the insured losses from the
January 1994 Northridge earthquake were listed at $2.8 billion
in February 1994, but they grew to $10.4 billion in January
1995 and increased to $15.3 billion in April 1998.
Natural Hazards
Many sites on Earth have not had a natural disaster in recent
time, but are hazardous nonetheless. Natural hazards may
be assessed as the probability of a dangerous event occur-
ring. For example, people migrate and build next to rivers
that are likely to flood, on the shoreline of the sea awaiting
a powerful storm, and on the slopes of volcanoes that will
eventually erupt. Decades, or even centuries, may pass with
no great disasters, but the hazard remains.
Sites with natural hazards must be studied and under-
stood. Their risks must be evaluated. Then we can try to
prevent natural hazards from causing natural disasters.
Remember: Natural hazards are inevitable, but natural
disasters are not.
In the process of mitigation, we make plans and take
actions to eliminate or reduce the threat of future death and
destruction when natural hazards suddenly become great
threats. The mitigating actions taken to protect us may be
engineering, physical, social, or political.
Another need for mitigation occurs after great disasters,
because people around the world tend to reoccupy the same
site after a disastrous event is done. Earthquakes knock cit-
ies down, and then the survivors may use the same bricks
 TABLE 1.3
The 40 Costliest Insurance Disasters, 1970–2013
Losses in Millions
of 2013 US$ Fatalities Date/Start Event Country
80,373 1,836 29 Aug 2005 Hurricane Katrina USA
37,665 19,184 11 Mar 2011 Earthquake and tsunami Japan
36,890 237 24 Oct 2012 Hurricane Sandy USA
27,594 43 24 Aug 1992 Hurricane Andrew USA
25,664 2,982 11 Sep 2001 Terrorist attack USA
22,857 61 17 Jan 1994 Earthquake (Northridge) USA
22,751 136 6 Sep 2008 Hurricane Ike USA
17,218 181 2 Sep 2004 Hurricane Ivan USA
16,519 815 27 Jul 2011 Floods (monsoon) Thailand
16,142 181 22 Feb 2011 Earthquake New Zealand
15,570 35 16 Oct 2005 Hurricane Wilma USA
12,510 34 20 Sep 2005 Hurricane Rita USA
11,594 123 15 Jul 2012 Drought (corn belt) USA
10,313 24 11 Aug 2004 Hurricane Charley USA
10,031 51 27 Sep 1991 Typhoon Mireille Japan
8,924 71 15 Sep 1989 Hurricane Hugo USA
8,876 562 27 Feb 2010 Earthquake Chile
8,648 95 25 Jan 1990 Winter Storm Daria Europe
8,426 110 25 Dec 1999 Winter Storm Lothar Europe
7,856 354 22 Apr 2011 Tornadoes (Alabama) USA
7,587 155 20 May 2011 Tornadoes (Missouri) USA
7,112 54 18 Jan 2007 Winter Storm Kyrill Europe
6,602 22 15 Oct 1987 Storm Europe
6,593 38 26 Aug 2004 Hurricane Frances USA
6,400 63 17 Oct 1989 Earthquake (Loma Prieta) USA
6,274 55 22 Aug 2011 Hurricane Irene USA
5,909 64 26 Feb 1990 Winter Storm Vivian Europe
5,869 26 22 Sep 1999 Typhoon Bart Japan
5,548 — 4 Sep 2010 Earthquake New Zealand
5,240 600 20 Sep 1998 Hurricane Georges USA, Caribbean
4,925 41 5 Jun 2001 Tropical Storm Allison USA
4,872 3,034 13 Sep 2004 Hurricane Jeanne USA, Haiti
4,593 45 6 Sep 2004 Typhoon Songda Japan
4,250 135 26 Aug 2008 Hurricane Gustav USA
4,216 45 2 May 2003 Tornadoes USA
4,134 25 27 July 2013 Floods Europe
4,100 70 10 Sep 1999 Hurricane Floyd USA, Bahamas
3,979 59 4 Oct 1995 Hurricane Opal USA
3,926 6,425 17 Jan 1995 Earthquake (Kobe) Japan
3,406 25 24 Jan 2009 Winter Storm Klaus France, Spain
$512 Billion 38,096 Total deaths
Source: Data after Swiss Reinsurance Company (2014).

Natural Hazards   9
and stones to rebuild on the same site. Floods and hur-
ricanes inundate towns, but people return to refurbish and
again inhabit the same buildings. Volcanic eruptions pour
huge volumes of magma and rock debris onto the land,
burying cities and killing thousands of people, yet survi-
vors and new arrivals build new towns and cities on top of
their buried ancestors. Why do people return to a devastated
site and rebuild? What are their thoughts and plans for the
future? For a case history of a natural hazard, let’s visit
Popocatépetl in Mexico.
POPOCATÉPETL VOLCANO, MEXICO
Popocatépetl is a 5,452 m (17,883 ft) high volcano that
lies between the huge populations of Mexico City (largest
city in Mexico) and Puebla (fourth largest city in Mexico)
(figure 1.1). The volcano has had numerous small erup-
tions over thousands of years; thus its Nahuatl name,
Popocatépetl, or Popo as it is affectionately called, means
smoking mountain. But sometimes Popo blasts forth with
huge eruptions that destroy cities and alter the course of
Figure 1.1. Popocatepetl in minor eruption. The cathedral
was built by the Spanish on top of the great pyramid at Cholula,
an important religious site in a large city that was mostly buried
by an eruption around 822 CE.
© Florian Kopp/imagebroker/Corbis RF.
10    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population
civilizations. Around the year 822 CE (common era), Popo’s
large eruptions buried significant cities. Even its smaller
eruptions have affected the course of human affairs. In
1519, Popo was in an eruptive sequence as Hernán Cortéz
and about 500 Spanish conquistadors marched westward
toward Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital city. The supersti-
tious Aztec priest-king Montezuma interpreted the erup-
tions as omens, and they affected his thinking on how to
deal with the invasion.
Popocatépetl has helped change the path of history, but
what is the situation now? Today, about 100,000 people live
at the base of the volcano; they have been attracted by the
rich volcanic soil, lots of sunshine, and fairly reliable rains.
Millions more people live in the danger zone extending
40 km (25 mi) away. The Nahuatl people consider Popo to
be divine—a living, breathing being. In their ancient reli-
gion, God, rain, and volcano are intertwined. Most do not
fear the volcano; rather, they believe that God decides events
and that with faith, things will work out. Thus, good oppor-
tunities for farming, coupled with faith and fatalism, bring
people back.
Volcanic activity on Popo resumed on 21 December
1994 with eruptions of ash and gases. The sequence of
intermittent eruptions continues today. How do we evalu-
ate this hazard? Is this just one of the common multiyear
sequences of small eruptions that gave the volcano its
name? Or are these little eruptions the forewarnings of a
giant killing eruption that will soon blast forth? We can-
not answer these questions for sure. How would you handle
the situation? Would you order the evacuation of 100,000
people to protect them, and in so doing, have them aban-
don their homes, sell their livestock, and leave their inde-
pendent way of life for an unknown length of time that
could be several years? Or would you explain the conse-
quences of an unlikely but possible large eruption and let
them decide whether to stay or go? If they decide to stay
and then die during a huge volcanic blast, would this be
your fault?
It is relatively easy to identify natural hazards, but as the
Popocatépetl case history shows, it is not easy to decide how
to answer the questions presented by this volcanic hazard.
We are faced with the same types of questions again and
again, for earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes,
floods, and fire.
MAGNITUDE, FREQUENCY,
AND RETURN PERIOD
Earth is not a quiet and stable body. Our planet is dynamic,
with major flows of energy. Every day, Earth experiences
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, storms, floods,
fires, meteorite impacts, and extinctions. These energy-
fueled events are common, but their magnitudes vary mark-
edly over space and time.
 Natural hazards and disasters are not spaced evenly about estimates the return times for these killer events. On a yearly
Earth. Some areas experience gigantic earthquakes and basis, most low-fatality events are due to floods and torna-
some areas are hit by powerful hurricanes; some are hit by does, and their return times are brief, less than one year.
both, while other areas receive neither. High-fatality events are dominantly hurricanes and earth-
During a period of several years or even several decades, quakes, and their return times for mega-killer events are
a given area may experience no natural disasters. But given much shorter than for floods and tornadoes.
enough time, powerful, high-energy events will occur in Knowing the magnitude, frequency, and return period for
every area. It is the concentrated pulses of energy that con- a given event in a given area provides useful information,
cern us here, for they are the cause of natural disasters—but but it does not answer all our questions. There are still the
how frequent are the big ones? In general, there is an inverse cost-benefit ratios of economics to consider. For example,
correlation between the frequency and the magnitude of a given an area with a natural hazard that puts forth a danger-
process. The frequent occurrences are low in magnitude, ous pulse of energy with a return period of about 600 years,
involving little energy in each event. As the magnitude of an how much money should you spend constructing a building
event increases, its frequency of occurrence decreases. For that will be used about 50 years before being torn down and
all hazards, small-scale activity is common, but big events replaced? Will your building be affected by a once-in-600-
are rarer. For example, clouds and rain are common, hur- year disastrous event during its 50 years? Should you spend
ricanes are uncommon; streams overflow frequently, large the added money necessary to guarantee that your building
floods are infrequent. will withstand the rare destructive event? Or do economic
Another way of understanding how frequently the truly considerations suggest that your building be constructed to
large events occur is to match a given magnitude event the same standards as similar buildings in nearby nonhaz-
with its return period, or recurrence interval, which is the ardous areas?
number of years between same-sized events. In general, the
larger and more energetic the event, the longer the return
period. ROLE OF POPULATION GROWTH
A U.S. Geological Survey mathematical analysis of The world experiences significant numbers of great natural
­natural-disaster fatalities in the United States assesses the disasters and increasing economic losses from these events.
likeliness of killer events. Table 1.4 shows the probabilities The losses of life and dollars are occurring at the same time
of 10- and 1,000-fatality events for earthquakes, hurricanes, the global population of humans is increasing (figure 1.2).
floods, and tornadoes for 1-, 10-, and 20-year intervals, and Population growth places increasing numbers of people
in hazardous settings. They live and farm on the slopes of
active volcanoes, build homes and industries in the lowlands
of river floodplains, and move to hurricane-prone coast-
TABLE 1.4 lines. How have the numbers of people grown so large? The
present situation can best be appreciated by examining the
Probability Estimates for 10- and 1,000-Death
record of population history.
Natural Disasters in the United States
Likeliness of a 10-Fatality Event
Return
During During During Time
1 Year 10 Years 20 Years (in years)
Earthquake 11% 67% 89% 9
Hurricane 39 99 >99 2
Flood 86 >99 >99 0.5
Tornado 96 >99 >99 0.3
Likeliness of a 1,000-Fatality Event
During During During Return Time
1 Year 10 Years 20 Years (in years)
Earthquake 1% 14% 26% 67
Hurricane 6 46 71 16
Flood 0.4 4 8 250
Figure 1.2 The number of people on Earth continues to grow
Tornado 0.6 6 11 167 rapidly.
Source: US Geological Survey Fact Sheet (unnumbered). Photo courtesy of Pat Abbott.

Natural Hazards   11
Overview of Human
Population
The most difficult part of human history to assess is the
beginning, because there are no historic documents and
the fossil record is scanty. In 2003, modern human fossils
discovered in Ethiopia were dated as 160,000 years old.
Our species appears to have began in Africa about 200,000
years ago. The rate of population growth and the number of
people alive early in human history were so small that they
cannot be plotted accurately on the scale of figure 1.3. The
growth from a few thousand people 160,000 years ago to
more than 7.34 billion people in the year mid-2015 did not
occur in a steadily increasing, linear fashion. The growth
rate is exponential.
THE POWER OF AN EXPONENT
ON GROWTH
The most stunning aspect of figure 1.3 is the peculiar shape
of the human population curve; it is nearly flat for most of
human time and then abruptly becomes nearly vertical. The
marked upswing in the curve shows the result of ­exponential
growth of the human population. Possibly the least appreci-
ated concept of present times is what a growth-rate expo-
nent does to the size of a population over time. Exponential
growth moves continuously in ever-increasing increments;
it leads to shockingly large numbers in surprisingly short
6
Number of humans (in billions)
160,000
Figure 1.3 Human population growth since its start about 160,000 years ago.
12    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population
times. Probably our most familiar example of exponential
growth occurs when interest is paid on money.
It can be difficult to visualize the results of exponential
growth when it is expressed only as a percentage over time,
such as the very small growth rate of the human population
in 160,000 years or as 7% interest on your money for
50 years. It is easier to think of exponential growth in terms
of doubling time—the number of years required for a popu-
lation to double in size given an annual percentage growth
rate. A simple formula, commonly called the rule of 70,
allows approximation of doubling times:
70
Doubling time (in years) =
% growth rate/year
Learning to visualize annual percentage growth rates
in doubling times is useful whether you are growing your
money in investments or spending it by paying interest on
debts (especially at the high rates found with credit-card
debt). Table 1.5 shows how interest rates affect how quickly
your money will grow.
THE PAST 10,000 YEARS
OF HUMAN HISTORY
The long, nearly flat portion of the population curve in
figure 1.3 certainly masks a number of small-scale trends,
both upward and downward. The fossil record is not rich
120,000 80,000 40,000 10,000 Today
Years before present

TABLE 1.5
Doubling Times at Some Common
Percentage Rates
Growth Rate Doubling
(% per year) Time (years)
0.02 3,500
0.5 140
1 70
1.2 58
2 35
5 14
7 10
10 7 childbirth and infancy.
17 4 The 18th century saw death rates drop dramatically, but
enough to plot a detailed record, but surely at times when
weather was pleasant and food from plants and animals
was abundant, the human population must have risen
(figure 1.4). Conversely, when weather was harsh, food was
scarce, and diseases were rampant, the human population
must have fallen.
The nearly flat population growth curve began to rise
about 8,000 years ago, when agriculture became established
and numerous species of animals were domesticated. The
world population is estimated to have been about 8 ­million
people by 10,000 years ago. After the development of agri-
culture and the taming of animals removed much of the
hardship from human existence, the population growth rate
is likely to have increased to 0.036% per year, yielding a net
gain of 360 people per million per year. This increased rate
of population growth probably caused the human population
to reach 200 million people by 2,000 years ago.
As humans continued to improve their ability to modify
the environment with better shelter and more reliable food
and water supplies, the world population grew at faster rates.
Harsh weather Good weather
Scarce food Abundant food
Disease
Population
Time
Figure 1.4 Good weather and plentiful food cause upsurges
in population; bad weather, disease, and scarce food cause
downswings in population.
From about 1 CE to 1750, world population grew to about
800 million. Growth occurred at an average rate of 0.056%
per year, meaning that another 560 people were added per
million per year.
Throughout the history of the human race, high rates of
birth were required to offset high rates of infant mortality
and thus maintain a viable-sized human population. The
18th century saw many of the intellectual advances that set
the stage for the present phase of cultural change. At long
last, the causes of many diseases were being recognized.
The health necessities of clean water, sanitation, and nutri-
tion led to the principles of public health being established.
Advances in the medical world, including immunization,
greatly improved the odds for the survival of individual
humans through their reproductive years. No longer were
many mothers and great numbers of children dying during
birth rates remained high and population doubling times
dropped dramatically; thus population size soared. About
1804, the human population reached 1 billion; by 1922,
it had grown to 2 billion; in 1959, it reached 3 billion; by
1974, it was 4 billion; by early 1987, it was 5 billion; in
1999, it reached 6 billion; it passed 7 billion in October
2011 (figure 1.6). Notice the continuing decline in the num-
ber of years it takes for a net gain of another 1 billion people
on Earth.
The 20th-century growth of the human population is
unprecedented and breathtaking. The number of humans
doubled twice—from about 1.5 billion to 3 billion and again
to more than 6 billion. The increased population used 16
times more energy, increased industrial output 40 times,
used 7 times more water, caught 35 times more fish, and
expanded the cattle population to 1.4 billion. The effect of
exponential growth is racing ahead. In his book Wealth of
Nations, published in 1776, Adam Smith said, “Men, like all
other animals, naturally multiply in proportion to the means
of their subsistence.”
THE HUMAN POPULATION TODAY
At present, the world population is growing at about 1.2%
per year for a doubling time of 58 years (table 1.6). The
1.2% gain is a net figure derived by measuring the birth
rate ­(fertility rate) and subtracting the death rate (mortality
rate). Even after subtracting all the human lives lost each
year to accidents, diseases, wars, and epidemics such as
AIDS, the human population still grows by more than 80
million people per year. Each year, the world population
increases by about the total population of Germany.
The net growth of the human population can be grasped
by viewing it on short timescales (figure 1.7). There is a net
addition of 2.6 people every second, a rate comparable to a
full jetliner landing a load of new people every minute. The
monthly net growth of people is greater than the population
of Massachusetts.
Overview of Human Population    13
Side Note
Interest Paid on Money: An Example of Exponential Growth
Compare the growth of money in different situations (figure 1.5). 32,000
If $1,000 is stashed away and another $100 is added to it each 30,000
year, a linear growth process is in operation. Many of the processes
around us can be described as linear, such as the growth of our
hair or fingernails. 25,000
If, in contrast, another $1,000 is stashed away but this time
earns interest at 7% per year and the interest is allowed to accu-
mulate, then an exponential growth-rate condition exists. Not only
20,000
does the $1,000 earn interest, but the interest from prior years
remains to earn its own interest in compound fashion.

Dollars
Notice that an exponential growth curve has a pronounced Deposit $1,000,
upswing, or J shape. A comparison of the linear and exponential 15,000
one time,
curves in figure 1.5 shows that they are fairly similar in their early at 7% interest
years, but as time goes on, they become remarkably different. The
personal lesson here is to invest money now. Smaller amounts of 10,000
money invested during one’s youth will become far more impor- 00;
it $1,0 r
tant than larger amounts of money invested later in life. Individuals Depos 0 each yea
5,000 d $ 1 0
who are disciplined enough to delay some gratification and invest a d
money while they are young will be wealthy in their later years.
Albert Einstein described compound interest, the exponential Hide $1,000 in basement
1,000
growth of money, as one of the most powerful forces in the world.
0 10 20 30 40 50
Here is a riddle that illustrates the incredible rate of exponen-
Years
tial growth; it shows the significance of doubling times in the later
stages of a system. Suppose you own a pond and add a beautiful Figure 1.5 Amounts of money versus time. Compound interest
water lily plant that doubles in size each day. If the lily is allowed (exponential growth) produces truly remarkable sums if given enough
to grow unchecked, it will cover the pond in 30 days and choke time.
out all other life-forms. During the first several days, the lily plant
seems small, so you decide not to worry about cutting it back until
it covers half the pond. On what day will that be?

10 2050
2037
9
2024
8

2011
7 13
years
Population (billions)

1999
6 13
years
1987 13
5
years
12
1974
4 years
12
1959 years
3
13
1922 years
2 15
years
1804 37 years
1
118 years
0
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
Year

Figure 1.6 Growth of the world population of humans. Notice how the time to add another billion people has decreased to date but is projected
to start increasing in the future.
Source: US Census Bureau.

14    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population

 TABLE 1.6
World Population Data, Mid-2015
Population Birth Rate Death Rate Yearly Doubling Time Projected Population
(millions) (per 1,000) (per 1,000) Growth % (in years) in 2050 (millions)
World 7,337 20 8 1.2 58 9,804
More-developed 1,254 11 10 0.1 700 1,310
countries
Less-developed 6,082 22 7 1.4 50 8,495
countries
Least-developed 938 34 9 2.4 29 1,887
countries*
Africa 1,171 36 10 2.5 28 2,473
Asia 4,397 18 7 1.1 64 5,324
Europe 742 11 11 0 — 728
Northern America 357 12 8 0.5 140 445
Latin America 630 18 6 1.3 54 776
Oceania 40 18 7 1.1 64 59
†
Subset of less-developed countries
Source: World Population Data Sheet (2015).

In 2015: World
population is growing: Per minute
165 people

Per second
2.8 people A Boeing 737 airplane Per day
237,209 people

Two extra-large sports stadiums

Projected over the Per month

next 5 years: 7.22 million people
440 million people

Per year
86.6 million people

Massachusetts
6.69 million people

United States and Mexico Germany

438 million people 81 million people

Figure 1.7 Growth of world population over differing lengths of time.

Source: Modified from US Census Bureau.

Overview of Human Population    15

Future World Population
Today, most of the more-developed countries have gone
through demographic transitions; they have gone from
high death rates and high birth rates to low death rates and
low birth rates. But many less-developed countries have low
to moderate death rates and high birth rates; will they go
through demographic transitions? In demographic transi-
tion theory, both mortality and fertility decline from high to
low levels because of economic and social development. Yet
even without significant economic development, Popula-
tion Reference Bureau estimates of the rates of world popu-
lation growth are dropping: from 1.8% in 1990, to 1.6% in
1997, to 1.4% in 2000, and to 1.2% in 2015. What is caus-
ing this decrease in fertility? It appears to be due largely
to urbanization and increased opportunities for women. At
the beginning of the 20th century, less than 5% of people
in less-developed countries lived in cities, but by the year
2015, about half of the people were living in urban areas
(table 1.7). This is a change from farmer parents wanting
many children to work in the fields and create surplus food,
to city parents wanting fewer children to feed, clothe, and
educate. Urban women have greater access to education,
health care, higher incomes, and family-planning materials.
When presented with choices, many women choose to have
fewer children and to bear them later. Both of these choices
lower the rate of population growth.
In the last 50 years of the 20th century, population grew
from about 2.5 billion to over 6 billion, an increase of
3.5 billion people. Even with the recent decreases in fertility
rates, the population explosion is not over. A growth rate of
1.2% per year will cause the world population of humans
to approach 10 billion by the year 2050 (see table 1.6), an
increase of another 3.5 billion people within 50 years. Popu-
lation growth is not evenly distributed around the world. In
general, wealthy countries have low or even negative rates
of population growth. Many poor nations have high rates of
population growth (figure 1.8).
An important factor in estimating future growth is the
age distribution of the population (table 1.7). Nearly 30% of
the population today is less than 15 years old, meaning their
prime years for childbearing lie ahead. The century from
1950 to 2050 will see the world population grow from 2.5
billion to about 10 billion people.
The number of births per woman has a dramatic effect
on human population growth. Starting in the year 2000 with
a world population in excess of 6 billion people, look at
three scenarios for population size in the year 2150 based on
births per woman: (1) if women average 1.6 children, world
population drops to 3.6 billion; (2) if women average 2 chil-
dren, population grows to 10.8 billion; (3) if women average
2.6 children, population grows to 27 billion. The difference
between a world population of 3.6 billion or 27 billion rests
on a difference of only one child per woman.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION
The demographic transition model is based on the popula-
tion experiences of economically wealthy countries in the
past few centuries. Up through the 17th century, a woman

TABLE 1.7
Data Influencing Future Population, Mid-2015
Percent of Average Number Percent Percent of
Population of Age of Children Born Urban (cities Married Women Using
  <15     65+ per Woman >2,000 people) Modern Contraception
World 26 8 2.5 53 56
More-developed 16 17 1.7 77 59
countries
Less-developed 28 6 2.6 48 55
countries
Least-developed 40 4 4.3 29 32
countries
Africa 41 4 4.7 40 29
Asia 25 8 2.2 47 60
Europe 16 17 1.4 73 62
Northern America 19 15 1.8 81 73
Latin America 27 7 2.1 80 67
Oceania 24 12 2.5 70 58
Source: World Population Data Sheet (2015).

16    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population

 2050 10
Near billion
East
China India Rest Sub-

North America
of Saharan
Asia Africa

frica
North A
Latin America
Eastern Europe

Europe
2002 6.22
billion

Western
Japan
1950 2.56 billion people

Figure 1.8 World population by region: 1950, 2002, 2050.

Source: US Census Bureau.

had to bear several children to have a few survive to adult- Demographic transition
hood and replace the prior generation. Births had to be
numerous to compensate for the high rates of infant mor-
High

Very early Early Late After

tality. Beginning in the 18th century, discoveries in public
health, medicine, and immunization caused the death rate Bir
th
to drop dramatically. During this time, birth rates stayed ra
t
high, so overall population grew rapidly. As time passed and

e
people realized that most of their children would survive to De
adulthood, birth rates dropped and population stabilized at a
a
th
new and higher level.
ra
te
The demographic transition takes place in phases:
Low

1. Before the transition: high death rates are offset by high

birth rates to maintain a population.
2. During the transition: low death rates coupled with con- Niger (50:11) Ghana (34:9) India (22:7) China (12:7)
tinuing high birth rates cause population to soar Angola (46:14) Egypt (32:6) Colombia (19:6) Japan (8:10)
Uganda (43:9) Guatemala (31:5) Malaysia (17:5) Germany (8:11)
3. After the transition: low death rates combine with low
birth rates to achieve a stable population at a signifi-
Figure 1.9 Demographic transition. In mid-2014, the shifts in
cantly higher level. birth rates and death rates vary markedly between countries.
Birth and death rates are both expressed in number of people
Today the transition is taking place at different rates
per 1,000 each year. For example, Uganda has 43 births and
in different countries (figure 1.9). Most of the population 9 deaths per 1,000 people each year (43:9).
growth is occurring in the poorest areas of the poorest Data from Population Reference Bureau.
countries. Some of the wealthiest countries now have more
deaths than births each year.
deadliest earthquakes, such as the 250,000 people killed by
the Tangshan, China, event in 1976. The mega-killer earth-
URBANIZATION AND EARTHQUAKE quakes of the past 500 years occurred in China, Indonesia,
FATALITIES Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Japan, and Haiti—and they
During the past 500 years, global earthquakes killed about may occur there again.
5 million people. Average numbers of deaths were about An analysis of the past 500 years by Roger Bilham shows
1 million per century, or 100,000 per decade. These simple that, with an average population of about 1.5 billion people,
averages are misleading because they hide the effects of the there was one earthquake that killed nearly a million people.

Future World Population    17

Side Note
A Classic Disaster: Influenza
(FLU) Pandemic of 1918
In July 1914, a major war, eventually known as World War I, broke
out in Europe. The countries and empires involved contained more
than half the people in the world. When the war ceased in Novem-
ber 1918, almost 7 million soldiers had been killed in battle, along
with about 1 million civilians.
As bad as 8 million war deaths sounds, a far more deadly
natural disaster began during that time: the influenza pandemic
of 1918–1919. The flu pandemic killed about 50 million people;
this was 3% of the world’s population. Estimates of total deaths
range up to 100 million people. The influenza migrated around
the world in waves. In the United Kingdom, the first wave arrived
in the spring of 1918. In the fall of 1918, a longer-lasting, deadlier
wave of flu swept the world, followed in 1919 by yet a third wave.
Most flu victims were healthy young adults rather than the more
typical elderly or juvenile victims of influenza (figure 1.10).
World War I did not cause the flu, but the global movements
of millions of troops, weakened by stress and battle, increased the Figure 1.10 A typical scene during the 1918 flu pandemic. The
spread and deadly effects of the virus. Another 3 million soldiers Oakland Municipal Auditorium was used as a temporary hospital,
died, not from World War I battles, but from influenza. In 1918, allowing volunteer nurses to tend to the sick.
children skipped rope to this rhyme: Photo by Edward A. “Doc” Rogers. From The Joseph R. Knowland Collection at
the Oakland History Room, Courtesy Oakland Public Library
I had a little bird
Its name was Enza
I opened the window
And in-flu-enza.

But with population becoming five times larger at 7.5 b­ illion
people about the year 2016, million-death earthquakes
may occur five times as frequently, or about one per cen-
tury. Most of the human population growth, by birth and by
migration, is occurring in cities in less-developed countries.
Many of these people are living in poorly constructed build-
ings in mega-cities. Million-death earthquakes are possible
in a growing number of mega-cities.
DISEASE PANDEMICS
Throughout recorded history, deadly diseases have
swept throughout the world, killing millions of people
in ­pandemics. For example, the bacterium Yersinia pes-
tis, transmitted to humans by fleas, caused the bubonic
plague—the Black Death that killed about 75 million people
in Europe in the 14th century.
Viruses have also caused pandemics via smallpox,
HIV, polio, influenza, and other diseases. For example, in
1918–1919, the influenza virus A (H1N1) spread around the
world, killing about 50 million people. With the human pop-
ulation now exceeding 7 billion people, with more than 50%
of people now living in cities, and with the rapid movement
of people worldwide via jet airplanes, the potential exists for
a new pandemic disease.
Viruses
Viruses are life in the simplest form. They are genetic mate-
rial (DNA or RNA) coated by fat and protein. A virus might
have only 4 genes, whereas a bacterium might have 4,000
genes, and a human 24,000 genes. Viruses cannot reproduce
by themselves; they must invade a host cell and cause the
host to reproduce the virus.
Viruses infect many forms of life, including animals,
plants, and even bacteria. The same viruses commonly
exist in humans, pigs, and birds, and move easily between
them. There are an estimated 1 billion pigs and 20 billion
chickens in the world. Because humans commonly live and
interact with birds and pigs, the transfer of viruses between
them is especially likely. Other transfers of viruses to
humans include HIV/AIDS from chimpanzees and Ebola
from bats. When two different viruses enter a single cell,
their genes can form new combinations, creating a new
type of virus. On the surface of a virus are molecules
shaped into unique configurations that might match a liv-
ing cell and allow entry, much like a unique key will open
a specific lock.
Influenza A Viruses Influenza A viruses cause recur-
rent epidemics and pandemics, as in 1918–1919. Type A
viruses examined on the basis of their haemagglutinin (HA)

18    Chapter 1   Natural Disasters and the Human Population

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN