GEOLOGY. 279 



duoed me to suspect in the bottom of the Atlantic. This supposed 

 submarine mountain range extends in the direction of Cape St. Roque 

 from the Capes of the Delaware and Chesapeake. 



" I have also received an interesting letter from Capt. Waters, of the 

 ship Vespasian, describing a remarkable 'tide-rip,' seen by him Oct. 

 16, latitude & SO/ N., longitude 30 W. The day was beautifully 

 clear, with the wind southwardly, and light. He was sitting in his 

 cabin, and heard a loud, roaring noise, ' not unlike that of a large wa- 

 ter-fall.' He hastened on deck, and could see nothing; but, mount- 

 ing up on the house, he saw with his spy-glass, at the ' distance of 

 three miles, the surface of the water raised some three or four feet 

 above that nearer,' and approaching at the rate of three or four miles 

 the hour. ' When close to the vessel, it had a fine appearance ; the 

 waves were raised at least four feet above the level of that nearer, and 

 falling over some, like the water over a dam, and breaking against the 

 vessel's side with such force as to heave water upon our decks. We 

 were in the strength of it from ten to fifteen minutes, and it passed on 

 to the N. E. I could distinctly mark its course for twenty minutes 

 after it had passed. The surface, after it had passed, resembled that 

 on Fishing Rip, in a rough sea, and, as the surrounding water was 

 smooth, it struck me as a most beautiful sight. We saw at a distance 

 two others during the day, but not so large as this. I have before seen 

 tide-rips, so called, but none ever to compare to this, either in size 

 or beauty.' 



" In the various abstract logs returned to this office by mariners who 

 use the ' wind and current charts,' frequent mention is made of ' tide- 

 rips ' in this region. But this evidently could not have been a. ' tide- 

 rip' caused by a current, for the ship experienced no current, and had 

 it been a ' tide-rip,' as the agitation of the water by currents at sea 

 is called, it would have lasted longer. The position of this ves- 

 sel was northward and eastward of the supposed range of submarine 

 mountains. This ' tide-rip ' came from the southward and westward, 

 the direction in which they were, and passed off to the N. E. , that is, 

 perpendicular to the line of their axis. Might not this extraordinary 

 ' tide-rip ' have been caused by the throes of a submarine volcano ? 

 I ask the question for the purpose of calling the attention of mariners 

 more particularly to the ' tide-rips ' so often seen in the equatorial 

 regions." 



ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS. 



THE Tempo of Naples states that a fine eruption of Vesuvius com- 

 menced on Feb. 7, and lasted five or six days. The lava found its 

 way down the mountain on the side away from Naples, dividing into 

 three branches. The cone which had been gradually elevated by pre- 

 vious eruptions disappeared entirely. The Eiforma states that, al- 

 though the lava flowed in the direction where there were the fewest 

 houses, it yet destroyed fifty-four houses, a villa, and a church. It is 

 calculated that it moved over the plain at the foot of the mountain at 

 the rate of 360 Neapolitan feet per hour. A correspondent of the New 



