Volcanoes. $45 



eruptions proceed, for it has not been active since the island 

 has been inhabited. Lateral eruptions have not been un- 

 frequent, and particularly from the mountain Chahorra. In 

 the year 1706, an eruption destroyed the harbour of Gara- 

 chico, which was the finest harbour in the island ; and at 

 that time the lava was observed to travel at a rate of nearly 

 three miles an hour. The last eruption from the crater of 

 Chahorra was in 1798, when it threw out lava and scoriae 

 for the space of six months. 



In the Island of Palma there is a conical mountain, the 

 crater of which is 5000 ft. deep ; it was in a state of eruption 

 in 1677. 



Lanzerote has also been the site of most terrific volcanic 

 action, its last eruption continuing from the 1st of September, 

 1730, to the 16th of April, 1736. Von Buch has given an inter- 

 esting description of the phenomena which attended and fol- 

 lowed this violent effort, and also a description of the vent 

 itself. The crater is walled in by precipitous rocks ; and, in 

 the interior, two other craters are observed. A space of three 

 square miles on the west is covered by a mass of black lava : 

 but the crater was not the only source from which this vast 

 mass of lava was emitted. " How much was I astonished," 

 he says, " when, on reaching the summit, I perceived an 

 entire series of cones, all nearly as lofty as the Montagna de 

 Fuego, placed so directly in a line, that the nearest covered 

 the farthest one in such a manner that their summits alone 

 were seen peeping from behind." 



. The Island of Ferro has a volcano, which was active, in 

 1692, for a continued period of six weeks. 



The only island among the Cape de Verde group that has 

 an active volcano is that of Fogo, or Fuego ; but, as little is 

 known concerning it, we may turn our attention to the Azores ; 

 all of which are of volcanic formation, and some contain 

 active volcanoes. 



M. Bory de St. Vincent has given a drawing of Mount 

 Dolomieu, in the Isle of Bourbon. (Jig. 45.) This cone is 

 one of those in the phase of permanent activity. It has no 

 regular crater ; but occasionally opens small apertures as 

 required, and fills them again during the continuance of the 

 eruption. The table-formed appearance of the top of this 

 mountain furnishes us with a good example of the manner in 

 which lava may, in the first instance, have issued from fissures 

 in the plain surface of the earth before the mountain mass 

 itself was elevated. 



St. Michael's Island, which is the largest of this group, has 

 several times suffered from volcanic action. The last eruption 



