MARTINIQUE EXPEDITION 39 



yards from our tents were fumaroles that were just right for use in cook- 

 ing and we employed one for the purpose. Our camp was a " dry " one, 

 since we were four or five miles from the nearest source of fresh water. 



The western and southwestern sides of the mountain present a scene 

 of utter desolation. The sloping plain formed by the debris-filled gorge 

 of the Riviere Blanche is thickly strewn with bowlders and angular rock- 

 fragments of all sizes, with here and there a little patch of sand ; but not a 

 sign of life, not even a blade of grass or so much as an ant, is visible 

 anywhere. The surrounding hillsides were scored so often and so 

 deeply by terrific blasts from the crater that they too are barren of 

 vegetation. As one goes awav, however, from this zone of greatest 

 activity, moss, grass and other vegetation gradually appear in protected 

 and otherwise favorable spots, while upon the other sides of the moun- 

 tain where the scoring did not take place the slopes are green to the very 

 summit, and large vegetation is rapidly making its way back into the 

 devastated area. 



Five days was enough for my work on the southwest side of the 

 mountain, and then we moved camp to the basin of the Lac des Palmistes, 

 the old summit plateau of ]Mt. Pele, about 4,000 feet above the sea. 

 Here, in the midst of clouds and buffeted by the heavy trade winds, we 

 set up our tents for another stay of five days, with the idea of being able 

 to improve every moment while the summit might be free from clouds, 

 for the top of jMt. Pele is densely veiled more than nine-tenths of the time. 

 The recent eruption of the volcano was remarkable partly through the 

 formation in the old crater of a vast new cone of solid rock (not debris) 

 surmounted by a wonderful needle, or spine. The new feature was 

 formed by lava which welled up through the vent, but which was in 

 such a viscous condition that it solidified as it came and therefore rose 

 into the air instead of running down hill. ]\Iinor explosions blew away 

 the southwest and northwest quarters of the top of this cone leaving the 

 great spine as a residue. At its maximum development in May, 1903, 

 the point of this spine was 5304 feet alcove the level of the sea. 



The mass, however, was brittle and was rifted in every direction 

 through strains due to contraction. It could not maintain its position 

 and therefore fell to pieces. One may see the great fragments, fifty 

 to sixty feet across, now lying at the base of the new cone in the spiral 

 valley between it and the wall of the old crater. Nearly 900 feet of 

 "the mountain top thus fell away, and the present summit is 4,444 feet 



