The Daily Astorian

—The extraordinary intelligence has been received in England of the disappearance of two islands—the Barker islands—and their inhabitants. Captain Fisher, a Tasmanian capitalist, purchased from the West Australian government the right to remove guano from two islands on the coast, described on the chart and known as the Barker islands, and situated in latitude 14° south, longitude 125 east. He dispatched three vessels in April, with laborers and appliances for shipping the guano, but when they arrived where the islands were known to be there was nothing to be seen but water. The islands had disappeared entirely, how and when is a mystery. It was generally supposed that Australia lay out of the line of active volcanic agency, so that the phenomenon is all the more remarkable.