VULCANISM 



165 



sunsets appeared from day to day, it was estimated that some of 

 the dust completed a circuit of the earth in about 15 days. The 

 sound of the explosion was heard in southern Australia, 2,200 miles 



away. 



The cause of this awful explosion was probably the same as 



Forsaken 



Lang I. 



Lang I. 



50 



Fig. 166. Fig. 167. 



Fig. 166. Krakatoa Island and surroundings before the eruption of 1883. 



Fig. 167. Krakatoa Island and surroundings after the eruption of 1883. 



The numbers indicate the depth of the water in fathoms in both figures. 



that of the milder eruptions of Stromboli, that is, the sudden escape 

 or explosion of superheated steam. 



Mont Pelee and the Soufriere. The volcano of Mont Pelee is 

 situated on the island of Martinique, one of the Lesser Antilles, at 

 the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea. Its cone descends by 

 steep slopes to the sea on all sides but the south, where it is bor- 

 dered by a plain on which, before the eruption of 1902, stood the 

 city of St. Pierre, with a population of about 26,000. The crater 

 of Pelee was half a mile in diameter, and its floor 2,000 feet below 

 the highest part of the crater rim. This rim was broken at the 

 south-west by a deep gash, or valley. 



Before 1902, Pelee had had two periods of moderate activity 

 within historic times, one in 1762 and the other in 1851, but neither 

 was destructive to life. From 1851 to 1902 the volcano slumbered. 

 In April, 1902, activity was renewed by (1) the discharge of steam, 

 vapors, and ashes, some of which were thrown 1,300 feet above the 

 top of the mountain, and (2) by the opening of three vents in the 

 basin of the old crater. By April 25th, the poisonous, sulphurous 

 vapors issuing from the mountain had become so abundant that 



