of the Island of Montserrat. t83 



Amidst the loose stones and fraijinents of decomposed 

 rock are many fissures and crevices, whence very strong 

 sulphureous exhalations arise, and which are diffused to a 

 considerable distance: ihese exhalations are s.) powertul as 

 to impede re-:piration, and near any of the fissures are quite 

 intolerable and suffocatinc;. The buttons of uiy coat, and 

 some silver and kevs in niv pockets, were instantaneously 

 discoloured. An intense degree of heat is at the saitie time 

 evolved, which, added to the apprehension of the ground 

 crumbling and <iiving way, renders it diflicult and painful 

 to walk ntar any of these fissures. The water of a rivulet 

 which fl uvs down the sides of the mountain and passes over 

 this place, is njade to boil with vioKiiee. and becomes loaded 

 with sat[)hureous imprtonaiions. Other branches of the 

 Fame rivulet which do not pass immediately near these fis- 

 sures, remain cooi and hmpid : and thus vuu mav with one 

 hand touch one rill which is at the hoilnia; pr)int, and with 

 the other hand touch aniiiher nil which is of the usual tem- 

 )ierature of water in that climate. The exhalatitjns of sul- 

 phur do not at all tmies proceed fr im the same fissures, 

 but new ones appear to he daiK formed, others becoming, 

 as it were, extinct. On the margins of these fissures, and 

 indeed almost user the whole place, are to be seen most 

 beautiful crysfahizalions of sulphur, in many spots quite as 

 fine and perfect as those from V^esuvius, or indeed as any 

 other specimens \ have eve met with. The whole mass of 

 decomposed rock in the vicinitv is, in like manner, quite 

 penetrated by sulphur. The specimens which I collected of 

 the crystallized sulphur, as well as of the decomposed and 

 undecomposed porphyry, were left inadvertently on board 

 the packet at Falmouth, which prevents my having the 

 pleasure of exhibiting them to the Society. 1 did um per- 

 ceive at this place any trace of pyrites or any other metallic 

 substance, except indeed two or three small iraiiments of 

 clay iYon-slone at a little distance, b/st did not discover even 

 this substance any where hi sifu. It is very probable that 

 the bed of the glen or ravine mioht throw some light on 

 the internal structure of the place; but it was too deep, and 

 Its banks infiniVely too precipitous, for me to venture down 

 to it. I understood that there was a similar exhalation and 

 deposition of sulphur on the side of a mountain not iriore 

 than a mile distant in a straight line; and a subterranean 

 communication is supposed to exist between the two places. 



Almost every island in the western Archipelago, parti- 

 cularly those which have the highest land, has in like 

 nianner its " Sulphiir," or, as the French better express it, 



its 



