E. 0. Hoveij—Neio Cone of Mont PeU. 281 



terrible avalanches. It is not difficult, however, to distinguish- 

 the mud-flows from the dust-flows, at least when both are fresh. 



The mud-flows when dry are hard and compact, and are 

 black or nearly so ; the dust-flows are very light gray in color 

 and have a calcined appearance, and are so soft and loose that 

 one sinks in them nearly to the knees. Water, however, will 

 cement together the surface of a dust-flow, forming a crust 

 over it. Mud-flows, especially where their motion is compara- 

 tively slow, show a surface wrinkled transversely to the direc- 

 tion of the flow, while dust-flows do not present such a phe- 

 nomenon. 



Enormous masses of rock, some of them forty feet across, Ke 

 scattered about along the middle altitudes of the Seche-Blanche 

 plateau, some of which were thrown there probably by the 

 eruption of August 30, 1902, while others were ejected by the 

 earlier outbursts. These lie out of the line of and considerably 

 higher than the path of the dust-flows down the Blanche, 

 hence the suggestion that they were hurled through the air 

 during a part at least of the journey to their resting places. 

 Some of the blocks were broken into many fragments through 

 striking on other rocks, while others landed in ash and were 

 not even cracked. On the summit and eastern side of the 

 mountain, especially, " bread-crust bombs " are more numerous 

 than they were in June. 



In spite of the fresh lava forming the spine, tbe dikes in the 

 new cone, and the numberless bombs, no stream of molten lava 

 lias issued from Pele during the present series of eruptions. 

 This phenomenon is probabl_y due to the great excess of water- 

 vapor (steam) connected with the eruptions, as compared with 

 the amount of liquid lava rising in the conduit or series of 

 conduits. The excess of water vapor combined with the vis- 

 cidity of the lava has caused the outbursts to be violently 

 explosive without permitting the quiet exudation of liquid rock 

 in sufficient quantities to form streams. 



The author's subsequent studies of the Grande Soufriere of 

 Guadeloupe and the peak of Saba on the same expedition 

 lead him to the conclusion that they have passed through the 

 phases through which Mont Fele is now passing, and that they 

 belong to the same class of volcanoes. This is especially clear 

 in the case of the Grande Soufriere, the cone of which rises 

 above an old crater-rim which it has buried in the same way 

 that Mont Pele is now striving to bury its surrounding 

 crater-walls ; and great dikes intersect and spines surmount 

 the cone. Bombs closely similar in appearance to those of 

 Mont Pele occur on the Grand Soufriere of Guadeloupe 

 and on Saba. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 July 15, 1903. 



