the east coast of America where the flourishing city of 

 Charleston will soon present but a heap of ruins, are 

 palpable signs of the bursting forth of the confined 

 subterranean heat wherever it finds a crater, a volcanoj 

 a vent or outlet of any form or size in the crust of the 

 earth : such vents or outlets lying in the volcanic belt 

 round the globe, mentioned above. May we not infer 

 from this sudden eruption of Tarawera which had been 

 during an immeasurable length of time dormant or 

 extinct, that the next generation if not the present will 

 witness similar instances of volcanic explosions in those 

 countries where dormant or extinct volcanoes exist.— 

 Should we be able to trace a branch of Volcanic Belt 

 running along about the East Coast of Africa, from the 

 snowcapped crater of Kilima-Njaro across the Mozam- 

 bique Channel, the volcanic Islands of Comoro to Ma- 

 dagascar ( where traces of volcanic agency are found) 

 and through our Sister-Island Reunion to our 

 dormant or extinct /' Trou aux Cerfs", may we not 

 expect te see, at some distant date no doubt, pro- 

 bably in the course of the next century, our volcanic 

 crater belching forth lava and smoke spreading deso- 

 lation and terror in the picturesque growing town of 

 Cm-epipe ! 



In presence of these awful outbursts of the impri- 

 soned forces of the EartVs bosom which when let loose 

 in the superincumbent air leave behind them some bene- 

 ficial changes in the nature of the soil hereafter, are we 

 not wont 



