ii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



important in the progress of geology. It is well known that 

 islands have emerged from the sea ;* but we have no record (ex- 

 cepting the tradition of the Atlantiea Insula) of the immersion 

 of any large portion of land by the effects of volcanoes and 

 earthquakes. 



In viewing the hills on the east and west sides of James's 

 Town from the anchorage, particularly the north end of Ladder 

 Hill, we observe numerous strata rising from the base to the 

 summit (600 feet above the level of the sea) which bear evident 

 marks that the whole of this huge mass, extending several hun- 

 dred yards to the westward, has been formed by a long series of 

 floating lava. 



The extreme ends of the strata on the coast, are placed hori- 

 zontally : but upon examining the sides of the hills, the lava 

 seems to have descended, at a depression of about 20 degrees, 

 and apparently from a crater somewhere about the site of the 

 waterfall, t 



Of this crater no positive vestige remains : yet there are some 

 appearances which might lead to a supposition that the present 

 waterfall may have been its southern edge, or extremity — that it 

 was bounded on the north-west by High Knoll, and that sub- 

 sequently to the formation of that mountain and Ladder Hill, 

 sof^e tremendous explosion opened a chasm, extending from the 

 sea to the waterfall, and at the same moment, by tearing away, 



* In the year 1707 three or four islands were, by some violent convulsion, produced in 

 the most southerly part of the Archipelago. The largest of these is called Santorini, and 

 is as large as St. Helena, being ten leagues in circumference : but in rther respects it 

 seems totally different, being a rock of pumice stone, covered with only nine or twelve 

 inches of earth. 



t An exact representation of the waterfall is given in Plate II. The summit is 1250 

 feet above the level of the sea. The stream descends uninterruptedly, 260 feet. 



