Volcanic Disturbances in West Indies 231 



M-aoouba P+ 



Sketch Map of Martinique 



THE VOLCANOES OF GUADELOUPE 



The western Island of Guadeloupe 

 has four lofty igneous cones — Grosse- 

 Montagne (2,370 feet) in the northwest, 

 whence radiate various ridges nearly at 

 the same elevation ; the Deux Mamelles 

 (2,540), with La Soufriere (4,900) far- 

 ther south, and toward the southern 

 extremity the Caraibe (2,300), with 

 Houelmont (1,800). These various 

 masses merge in an irregular sinuous 

 range, whose watershed has been inces- 

 santly modified by the erosive action of 

 the tropical rains. 



Solfataric igneous energy is still active 

 in Guadeloupe at one or two points, such 

 as Bouillante, at the foot of the Mamelles 

 on the Caribbean Sea, where little cra- 

 ters in the sands emit hot vapors and 

 warm waters bubble up in the sea ; even 

 in the sea gas bubbles rising from the 

 marine bed are often seen bursting on 

 the surface. The supreme crest of La 



Soufriere stands in the center of a 

 plain which was probably a crater 

 and which still discharges sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen. A circle of crests 

 incloses the Petite Plaine, a de- 

 pression which also represents an 

 old crater. Gas continues to es- 

 cape from a deep fissure in the 

 center, which contains the sul- 

 phur deposits whence the moun- 

 tain takes its name. Numerous 

 thermal springs flow from the outer 

 slopes. 



The Islands of Les Saintes, a 

 group of rocky headlands south of 

 Guadeloupe, represent the scene of 

 another prehistoric explosion in 

 the Caribbean chain. These islets 

 are the fragmentary remains of two 

 volcanoes which were disposed in 

 the same direction as those of 

 Guadeloupe and Dominica. Of the 

 seven separate rocks some are frac- 

 tured craters, others are lapilli 

 heaps resting on a submarine vol- 

 cano, the highest point being Le 

 Chameau (1,040 feet), in Terre-de- 

 Haut, on the east side of the group. In 

 the Les Saintes, according to personally 

 communicated information from U. S. 

 Consul Louis M. Ayme, there are large 

 bluffs of alum, which are the product, 

 no doubt, of sulphurous vapors, SO.,, 

 acting on alumina. 



THE BOILING LAKE OF DOMINICA 



Mont Diablotin, the culminating point 

 of Dominica, rivals the Grand Soufriere 

 of Guadeloupe in altitude, and accord- 

 ing to Bulkeley, who gives it a height 

 of 5,340 feet, it is the most elevated 

 summit of the whole range of the Lesser 

 Antilles. The Grand Soufriere near its 

 summit is one of the largest of all the 

 quiescent craters of the Caribs. Several 

 smaller and more accessible soufrieres 

 are scattered throughout this highly 

 volcanic island. A cloud always hovers 

 above the Grand Soufriere. 



Diablotin stands at the northern ex- 



