THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



great eruption was near at hand. Their fears were fully realized 

 on March 22, when an outburst of first magnitude occurred. 



When Professor and Mme. Lacroix, Lieutenant Deville, Mr. 

 Huckerby and the writer partly circled the rim of the crater on 

 March 3 and the last two completed the circuit on ilarcli 10 

 they witnessed se^•eral outbursts from near the center of the lake 

 of boiling mud in the bottom of the crater. These outVjursts 

 began with an uprush of black mud mingled with white steam 

 rising like a fountain many yards above the surface of the lake, 

 but falling back directly. Then through the black and white 

 mass rose with a roar the bro\\'n and gray dust-laden column of 

 steam with the beautiful and familiar cauliflower convolutions. 

 These eruption columns rose far above the summit of the moun- 

 tain on the earlier date and the mud, falhng from them liberally 

 sprinkled the observing party with gray. Many stones could be 

 seen rising like rockets through the mud and dust of the column 

 within the crater, leaving behind them long trails of white steam. 

 The stones all fell back within the crater on tliese days, but 

 scores of freshly ejected ones were to be found on the rim and 

 the outer slopes of the great cone. When on the rim, May 31, 

 1902, the writer observed mud eruptions issuing from tlie south- 

 eastern quarter of the lake then existing in the bottom of the 

 crater, which were just like the first stage of the outbursts here 

 described. 



The eruption of 181 2 formed a new and smaller crater to the 

 northeast of the great cauldron. The eruptions of the present 

 series have not opened this conduit again, but ha\-e confined 

 themselves entirely to the great crater which was the \-ent for 

 the 1718 and earlier eruptions. The outburst of October 16, 

 1902, threw an immense quantity of heavy ash into the 1812 

 crater, reducing its depth from 500 feet to 260 feet below the 

 highest point of the surrounding rim. The knife-edge ridge 

 known as the "saddle" which existed lietween the two craters 

 before May 7, 1902, has disappeared. Probably it slid down 

 into tlie great crater after being undermined; and tlie material 

 was then thrown out during some of the eruptions. Fumaroles 

 have appeared in tlie rock wall bounding tlic 181 2 crater on the 



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