NATURAL HISTORY. 79 



Ct M. de I'lsle has informed the Academy of several 

 tc particulars, which were communicated to him in a 

 ' letter, from M. de Montagnac, consul at Lisbon, 

 " concerning the new island among the Azores. On 

 "the 18th of September 1721, M. de Montagnac's 

 " vessel was moored off the Fortress of St Michael, 

 " and he procured from the Pilot of the port the fol- 

 " lowing intelligence: 



" On the 7th, of December, 1720, at night, a great 

 "earthquake happenedin Tercera andSt Michael, which 

 " are distant about 28 leagues from one another, and a 

 '' new island emerged from the sea. It was, at the same 

 " time, observed that the island Peak, thirty leagues 

 " distant, which ejected flames, was extinguished. But 

 " a continual thick smoke proceeded from the new is- 

 " land, which was distinctly perceived by M. de Mon- 

 " tagnac, as long as he stopped in that part. The pilot 

 " assured him, that he had sailed round the island, and 

 " approached it as near as he could with safety. He 

 " sounded on the south side of it with a rope of 60 

 " fathoms, but found no bottom. On the west side, 

 ' ' the water appeared to be mixed with white, blue, and 

 " green ; and at the distance of two miles, it seemed 

 " to be shallow and boiling. On the north-west, the 

 " side from which the smoke issued, he found, at 15 

 " fathoms, a bottom of coarse sand. He threw a stone 

 " into the sea, and at the place where it fell, he observed the 

 " water boil and mount into the air with great velocity. 

 " The bottom was so hot as to melt a piece of suet 

 " that had been fastened to the end of the plumb line. 

 " The pilot also observed smoke to issue from a small 

 " lake, in the midst of a sandy plain. 



" We have since learned from M. Adrien, the French 

 " consul at St Michael, dated, March 1 722, that the 



