1890.] NATUKAL SCIENCES OF rHILADEI.PHIA. 291 



parasites of the forest below ; the biisli soon gives way to rough 

 ferns and grasses, and here and there a black charred tree stem, 

 shows us that we are Hearing a sidphurous atmosphere. The path 

 is now much steeper and more difficult to ascend as the earth and 

 rock is covered with loose stones and scoria. 



At last we come to an artificial cave shaded with ferns and creep- 

 ing mimosa-like vines. A short distance above this we are on the 

 brink of the crater, about 8700 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Southward, stretching from our feet, is a carpet of bright green, 

 which blends, a few hundred feet below, into the dark green of the 

 forest. Opposite the mountain on which we stand, rises a vast green 

 wall, a mountain 2500 feet high. This mountain slopes on either 

 side to the sea coast of the island and forms the southern boundary 

 of the transiusular valley of the Wallabou. Far below us we can 

 see Chateau Belair, a mere speck on the curve of the blue bay and 

 rolling away to the south, the foot hills melt into the deep Carib- 

 l»ean Sea. 



Turning to the north, the crater and its lake open before us, PI. 

 I V, fig. 2. A blue sheet of water, set in a circular frame five hundred 

 feet deep and a mile in diameter. On the steep sides, where the 

 SoufTriere bird whistles his ventriloquial notes, grow tall weeds and 

 rank grasses ; whiffs of sulphurous vapor come to us from the surface 

 of the lake and wreaths of cottony mist form and vanish before our 

 eyes. 



Passing along the eastern rim of the Old Crater, which gradually 

 rises in elevation, we come to a spot where a view of the New Crater 

 may be obtained. There is no appearance of an ash cone so marked 

 in the Vesuvian volcano ; the ash and scoria have been washed 

 away by the torrential rains of the rainy seasons. Along the path 

 leading to the rim, and on the rim itself, boulders of lava and col- 

 lections of pumice stone may be observed, but loose ash is nowhere 

 to be discovered. Some may have i-emained but it has disintegrat- 

 ed and formed a soil which now supports rank weeds, scattering 

 bushes and a coarse grass. 



The ^e\Y Crater was formed during the memorable eruption ot 

 1812, where the eruptive force, instead of relieving itself by the old 

 channel, broke for itself a new one, on the northern slope of the Old 

 Crater. A wall separates these two openings — the northern face of 

 which is a perpendicular rock. Its upper edge is like a knife 

 edge and impossible to travel over ; it slopes directly south into 

 the Old Crater, north it drops a sheer 700 feet into the new one, 



