A NEW VOLCANO. 179 



A NEW VOLCANO. 



The Secretary of the Treasury has received from Captain M. A. Healy, of 

 the United States revenue cutter Corwin, under date of Ounalaska, May 28th, 

 two interesting reports by officers of the Corwin describing a visit to the recently 

 upheaved volcano in Behring Sea at the northern end of Bogoslofif Island, in lati- 

 tude 53° 55' 18" N.; longitude 168° 00' 21" W. 



This volcano, which is in a state of constant and intense activity, was up- 

 heaved from the sea in the sumrner of 1882, but was not seen by any civilized 

 eye until September 27, 1883, when it was discovered by Captain Anderson, of 

 the schooner Matthew Turner, A few days later it was also seen b)^ Captain 

 Hague, of the steamer Dora, but no landing upon it was made previous to that 

 by the officers of the Corwin last spring. 



Dr. Yemans describes it as a dull gray, irregular, cone-shaped hill, about 500 

 feet in height, from the sides and summit of which great volumes of vapor were 

 arising. At a height of about two-thirds the distance from the base to the apex ' 

 of the cone, there issued a very regular series of large steam jets, which extended 

 in a horizontal direction completely across the northwestern face of the hill. 

 Around these steam jets were seen upon nearer approach deposits of sulphur of 

 various hues, which at a distance had looked like patches of vegetation. A 

 landing was effected without difficulty upon a narrow sand spit connecting the 

 new volcano with the old island of Bogosloff, and Dr. Yemans and Lieut. Cant- 

 well undertook the ascent of the smoking cone. It was covered by a layer of ashes 

 formed into a crust by the action of rain, which was not strong enough to sustain 

 a man's weight, and at every step the climbers' feet crushed through it, and they 

 sank knee-deep into a soft, almost impalpable dust which arose in clouds and 

 nearly suffocated them. 



As the summit was neared the heat of the ashes became almost unbearable. 

 A thermometer buried in them half way up the ascent marked 196°, and in a 

 crevice of the ramparts of the crater "the mercury rapidly expanded and filled 

 the tube, when the bulb burst, and shortly afterward the solder used in attaching 

 the suspension ring to the instrument was fused." The temperature was estimated 

 at 500° F. On all sides of the cone were perforations through which the steam 

 escaped with more or less energy, and in some cases at regular intervals like the 

 exhaust of a steam engine. The interior of the crater could not be seen on ac- 

 count of the clouds of smoke and vapor which filled it. 



" A curious fact to be noted," Lieut Cantwell says, "in regard to this vol- 

 cano is the entire absence, apparently, of lava and cinder. Nowhere could I 

 find the slightest evidence of either of these characteristics of other volcanos 

 hitherto examined in the Aleutian Islands." Volcanic dust or ash, however, 

 is thrown out in considerable quantities and carried by the wind to places as dis- 

 tant as Ounalaska. After carefully measuring the volcano and photographing it 

 from various points of view the exploring party returned without accident to the 

 ship. Captain Healy reports his intention to visit the new volcano again on his 

 return from St. Michaels and the Arctic. 



