Volcanoes And People
Picture from Outland by Berkeley Breathed
At the start it was to please and appease the gods.
1) An azrec priest, armed with a knife, the handle of gold and platinum, slaughters captives on the peak of a rumbling mountain.
2) A young girl, colorfully dressed, bright flowers in her hair, is led by a village chief up a smoking mountain. At the top, trembling, she steps over the edge and for the moment the god is satisfied.
In other parts of the world:
1) It was to explain what was believed to be smoke and fire, and to give some understanding to the awful noise. So was born Vulcan, his forges, and his chief helpers-cyclops.
2) In Indonesia it was the great snake Hontobago. When he moved his body the earth shook, fire flew from the mountains, and even the gods were afraid.
3) Later on it was the early christians who blamed volcanoes on the devil. They turned Vulcan into a demon, and his angry voice, coming from the smoking mountain, was trying to drown out the moans and screams of torment of all the lost souls.
4) In the middle ages it was largely believed that the Icelandic volcano Hekla was the gateway to hell, and the hissing chunks thrown out of it were the souls of the damned.
5) There were those, however, who viewed volcanoes in a different way. Mark Twain was fond of saying "the smell of sulfur is strong, but not unpleasant for a sinner."
Then it was to try and explain the mountain:
1) One example is the Native American story of the two Indian chiefs, Wyeast and Klickitat, the beautiful maiden they both loved, Loo-Wit, and the formation of Mounts Hood, Adams, and St. Helens.
Finally it was to try and understand how and why a volcano works:
1) Plato and the rivers of fire.
2) Benjamin Franklin and the egg shell crust.
3) Alfred Wegner, Harry Hess and creeping continents and sliding ocean floors.
4) And today's volcanologists. Up on the mountain risking their lives, trying to understand how the volcano works and when it may erupt again.
Why are humans drawn to volcanoes?
1) Their beauty and power- human curiosity- coming to see, feel, and know.
2) Then there is their dirt- the soil around volcanoes is some of the richest in the world.
3) Volcanoes are also natural energizers- they give us heat and electricity in the form of geothermal power.
4) Then there is the land- volcanoes create new land. From the many islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to the old shield areas of Canada and the U.S they increase the land surface.
5) Volcanoes are places where many of the economically important elements and minerals of the earth are transported and concentrated to provide us with a farmer's market of mineral resources. Resources that allow us to have the civilization we have.
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