The Island of Rodriguez in the Pacific Ocean, not that far from Zanzibar, has mainly managed to stay out of the notice of history, if history is the record of slaughter and disease. But thanks to extraordinary events far, far away it managed to impinge itself on human history on at least one occasion.

On August 27 of 1883, James Wallis, chief of police on RodriguezIsland, not far from Zanzibar, wrote: "Several times during the night (26-27) reports were heard coming from the eastward, like the distant roar of heavy guns. These reports continued at intervals of between three and four hours, until 3 p.m. on August 27, and the last two were heard in the directions of Oyster Bay and Port Mathurie." What Wallis was hearing were the distant eruptions of the Volcano Krakatoa, 2,968 miles away. T…