§48. 



CRATER OF PUT DE COME. 269 



mountains, (PI. II. Jig. n.) about seventy in number, vary- 

 ing in altitude from 500 to 1,000 feet from above their 

 bases, and forming an irregular range nearly twenty miles 

 in length, and two in breadth. The highest point of this 

 rano-e is the Puy* de Dome, which is 4,000 feet above the 

 level of the sea (PI. II. Jig. n), and is composed entirely of 

 volcanic matter ; it possesses a regular crater, 300 feet 

 deep, and nearly 1,000 feet in circumference. Many of 

 these cones retain the form of well-defined craters, and 

 their lava currents may be traced as readily as those of 

 Vesuvius. The Puy de Pariou is a most perfect example : 

 it is a cone covered with fine turf, both on the ascent and 

 within the crater ; the latter is a mile in circumference, 

 and very deep, sloping downwards at an angle of 30°. 

 From the lower part of the cone a current of lava, which 

 is still rugged and black, has issued ; and the plain is 

 covered with scoriae and volcanic cinders, which are ex- 

 posed to the depth of twenty feet, in the ravines made by 

 the winter torrents. 



48. Crater of Puy de Come. — One of the most re- 

 markable cones is the Puy de Come, which rises from the 

 plain to the height of 900 feet ; its sides are covered with 

 trees, and its summits present two distinct craters, one of 

 which is 250 feet in depth. A stream of lava may be seen 

 to have issued out from the base of the mountain, which at 

 a short distance, from having been obstructed by a mass of 

 granite, has separated into two branches ; these can be 

 traced along the granitic platforms, and down the side of a 

 hill into an adjacent valley, w^here they have dispossessed a 

 river of its bed, and constrained it to work out a fresh 

 channel between the lava and the granite of the opposite 

 bank. Another cone rises to the height of 1,000 feet 

 above the plain, having a crater nearly 600 feet in vertical 



* Puy is the name given in this province to an insulated conical 

 hill. 



