VII. An Account «/" The Sulphur,'' or «« Soiiffriere' of the Island 

 of Montserrat. 



By Nicholas Nugent, M.D. 

 Honorary Mernber of the Geological Soeieft/. 



On my voyage last year (October 1810) from Antigua to England 

 the packet touched at Montserrat, and my curiosity having been 

 excited by the accounts I received of a place in the island called 

 " The Sulphur," and which, from the descriptions of several persons, 

 I conceived might be the crater of an inconsiderable volcano, I 

 determined to avail myself of the stay of the packet to visit that 

 place. 



The island of Montserrat, so called by the Spaniards from a fancied 

 resemblance to the celebrated mountain of Catalonia, is every where 

 extremely rugged and mountainous, and the only roads, except in one 

 direction, are narrow bridle paths winding through the recesses of 

 the mountains ; there is hardly a possibility of using wheeled car- 

 riages, and the produce of the estates is brought to the place of ship- 

 ment on the backs of mules. Accompanied by a friend, I accord- 

 ingly set out on horseback from the town of Plymouth, which is 

 situated at the foot of the mountains on the sea shore. We pro- 

 ceeded by a circuitous and steep route about six miles, gradually 

 ascending the mountain, which consisted entirely of an uniform 

 porphyritic rock, broken every where into fragments and large blocks, 



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