THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



built up by the renewed activity of the volcancj, l)ut as yet it 

 was not a pronounced feature of the landscape. Since that time 

 the great cone has been built up, the spine of which lifts its head 

 nearly 5150 feet above the sea, according to the triangulation 

 of the French geological commission. The former altitude of 

 Pelee as given on the charts was 4428 feet. The new cone is a 

 composite affair made up of solid lava and fragmental material, 

 the latter consisting of scoria- from the \-ents or the fissures 

 forming the outlet of the volcanic energies and debris from the 

 solid lavas. The solid lava, which is rifted in every direction, 

 forms the great spine and the ril)s or buttresses which project 

 from the mass of the new cone. 



At the present time the principal craters of Montserrat and 

 Nevis appear to be in almost exactly the same condition, save 

 for the absence of the crater lake, as that of Pelee before the 

 present series of eruptions began. The crater of Pelee was 

 breached on the southwest by a tremendous cleft opening directly 

 into the gorge of the Riviere Blanche, and when the vents to the 

 west of L'Etang Sec burst forth with all their strength on May 8, 

 1902, this cleft and the surrounding walls on the remaining sides 

 of the crater gave direction to the volcanic blasts which over- 

 whelmed St. Pierre. From that time to the present, the course of 

 the Riviere Blanche has been the line most frequently pursued 

 by the dust-laden clouds of steam rolling from the volcano's 

 mouth, until now the old gorge is nearly filled w^ith the new 

 debris. The course of the old gorge is well marked by the belt 

 of white ash extending from the crater to the sea. The sur- 

 face of the ash is littered with blocks of all sizes up to enor- 

 mous masses thirty feet across. 



Examination of the material filling the gorge of the Blanche 

 confirms the idea held last summer, that the volcanic dust, 

 sand and graN-el which form by far the largest proportion of the 

 beds in the gorge, issued from the cone or center of eruption in 

 a dry condition. The live steam permeating the mass caused 

 the whole to act like a fluid, and rush do\vn the gorge in a tor- 

 rent which carried with it the blocks of new and old lava. 

 The solid particles were incandescent, and the steam rose in 



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