562 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
there a gleam of fire in the matter thrown up. The sea 
was most violently agitated in a great circular basin half a 
mile in diameter ; and after a time there was a slight sulphurous 
tinge in the ocean for miles away. Heaps of dead fish were 
washed ashore on Tau and Olosenga, and among them deep sea 
monsters, six and twelve feet long, which the natives never saw 
before, and for which they have no name. The sulphurous 
vapours, heat, smoke, and ashes soon made the settlement in 
Olosenga unbearable, and the natives fled to a place on the south 
side of the island. A slight tremulous motion continued to be 
felt on the land, but no fissures opened, nor did any hot springs 
make their appearance. The ordinary springs of fresh water 
were unaffected. After three days the activity of the volcano 
began to abate, and two months afterwards there were only three 
or four eruptions in the course of a day, and the height to which 
the matter was thrown up was reduced to 30 or 40 feet above the 
level of the sea.” The action ceased on 29th November, but burst 
out again the following January like a great spring of water, 
accompanied by seismic tremors on the islands. This continued 
till March, when it ceased altogether. The captain of H.M.S. 
Falcon was directed to survey that part of the ocean. Nothing 
was apparent to the sight, but, on soundings being taken, a 
cone was discovered at 91 fathoms, and the surrounding 
soundings gave 120 fathoms and upwards. 
In the New Hebrides Group there are still some active 
volcanoes. A notable one exists on the island of Tanna. It is 
described by Captain Cook, who witnessed it in August, 1774. 
Formerly the eruptions were very powerful, and would vomit 
forth great stones and masses of scoriz with loud reports. It 
has lately become more quiet, and the discharges are much 
subdued, though continually giving forth columns of smoke and 
eruptive matter, and emitting a bright light, which may be 
seen for a considerable distance, and lava flows down its side. 
In the neighbourhood of this volcano there is a sulphur lake, 
which once supplied large quantities of crude sulphur to shippers. 
Around the active crater are found several extinct craters and 
hot sulphurous springs, very strongly impregnated. These latter 
are used medicinally by the natives, and sometimes for an evil 
purpose by the women. Volcanic dust and sulphur are borne in 
the air for several miles. Obsidian is found near the volcano, and 
also a stone resembling the nephrite of New Zealand. The soil 
of Tanna is remarkably rich and fertile, black alluvial, and mixed 
with decomposed trap. On the island of Ambrym there were till 
lately two volcanoes, the larger of which is 3500 feet high. It 
has recently become inactive, while the eruption of the smaller, 
on the opposite side of the island, has increased in power. The 
small island of Tangoa, north of Faté, possesses a crater partially 
extinct. It now emits only hot mud and steam. In some places 
