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extremely slow. It is much more probable that it emerged 

 through fissures or small craters scattered along the base of 

 the mountain. In one cliff whence a mass of lava had been 

 recently detached, I numbered, in a diameter of six feet, 

 eight distinct layers, perfectly consolidated, but readily 

 recognised as the result of successive appositions, by the 

 compactness of the lower side of each layer, and the porosity 

 of the upper. 



" In the eruption which took place last year, the lava 

 descended close by the Rempart de Bois Blanc, and reached 

 as far as the sea-shore. This lava is of a quite different 

 character from that which incrusts the greater part of the 

 Pays brule. It appears as a huge rampart or ridge, five 

 hundred yards at least in diameter, and thirty or forty in 

 height, consisting of a vast accumulation of stony fragments, 

 firmly consolidated, but still retaining their respective forms; 

 thus proving that they had not undergone complete fusion, 

 but been merely so far liquified on the surface as to enable 

 them to slide over each other in their descent; nor is it 

 unlikely that the greater part of them had previously covered 

 the declivity of the mountain, and thence floated down in 

 the stream, which now acts as the bond of union between 

 them. 



" On casting my eyes over the Pays brule, I was irresistibly 

 struck with the idea that it must have sunk at some remote 

 period from the level of the ramparts by which it is flanked. 

 These ramparts are on the general level of the country 

 behind, and terminate in a bold elevated coast. This line 

 suddenly breaks off, and we have a tract of country, six 

 miles over, sunk more than one hundred fathoms below the 

 level of the ramparts, with a coast of only a few fathoms 

 above the level of the sea, and that apparently formed by 

 recent accretions of lava. The volcano is surrounded behind 

 by a semicircular rampart called ' I'enclos,' which connects 

 the other ramparts; thus enclosing the mountain and the 

 Pays brule within them. The inference from these appear- 

 ances is hardly avoidable, that the latter have sunk at least 

 one hundred fathoms from their former level. In confirma- 



