428 THE GEOLOGY OF THE NEW HEBRIDES, 



to the south, buk still part of the same volcanic zone, are the 

 volcanoes of Hunter I. and Matthew I., the former of which 

 was reported to be in active eruption at the time of our visit; to 

 the northward in the Santa Cruz group is the active volcano of 

 Tinakula. 



Ambrym. — The Island of Ambrym represents the truncated 

 cone of an ancient volcano of gigantic dimensions; now, however, 

 exhibiting only a tithe of its former energy. Distributed around 

 its flanks are numerous parasitic cones, most of which are 

 extinct, though several are known to have been active within 

 recent years (for topographical features refer to Parti., Seel). 



The most violent of recorded outbursts from this volcano took 

 place in October, 1894, and has been excellently described by 

 Capt. Purey-Cust, at that time Commander of the survey ship 

 H.M.S. ' Dart,' then stationed at Ambrym. With the first 

 shock of the outburst, ash, steam, and smoke from the burning 

 timber which had thickly clothed the slopes almost to the top, 

 rose up in dense cerebriform masses of clouds over Mt. Benbow 

 to a height of 15,000 ft.; streams of lava poured out of fissures in 

 the ground at several points along the slopes of the old cone and 

 rushed down into the sea. Capt. Purey-Cust, anxious to obtain 

 a nearer view, steamed the ' Dart ' to within J-mile of where one 

 of these flows was making, and describing the sight witnessed, 

 says : — " Presently the head of the stream appeared — a red hot, 

 rapidly moving mass of molten lava, some thirty yards wide, with 

 lumps of clinker tossing about on its surface. In another 

 moment it entered the sea, and then a most wonderful sight was 

 seen, such as none of us as then saw it will probably ever see 

 again as long as we live; a dense pillar of steam rapidly rose 

 straight up to a height afterwards measured by a sextant and 

 found to be 4600 ft. There was no explosion as the lava touched 

 the water, but a few seconds later enormous bubbles of water 

 commenced to rise up to 100 ft. or more, like the explosions of 

 heavy submarine mines, and then burst violently outwards in 

 radiating tongues of water and black masses of, presumably, 

 lava." 



