St. Vincent^ and Mt. Pelee^ Martinique. 337 



lation so graphically described bj George Kennan,* but the 

 " Falaise crater " mentioned bj him and by Professor Heilprinf 

 and indicated on Hill's map;}: can hardly be a true crater. We 

 saw the same accumulations of volcanic ash in the 2:oro^e at an 

 elevation of 1800 to 2000 feet above the sea (aneroid reading) 

 that Heilprin and Kennan mention as forming a crater from 

 which mud-flows were hurled down the gorge to the sea, and 

 we saw steam issuing from them, but to us who had studied the 

 phenomena on St. Vincent it seemed perfectly evident that 

 the outbursts in the gorge of the Falaise were comparatively 

 feeble examples of secondary or superficial eruptions of the 

 same character as those which took place on such a grand scale 

 from the ash-beds of the Wallibou and Rabaka Dry Rivers. 

 This was the history of events in the Falaise and probably at 

 Basse Pointe, Macouba, Grande Riviere and other places ; and 

 it was the history of some, but not all, of the mud-flows in the 

 Precheur, the Mare, the Blanche, the Seche and the Des 

 Peres Rivers. Since the eruptions began there have been 

 great floods in the Roxelane River, but it seems doubtful 

 whether or not this stream has carried any true mud-flows 

 down its gorge. 



The actual crater is apparently somewhat oval in shape, 

 with its longer axis stretching northeast and southwest. The 

 highest point of the rim is on the northeast side and is what is 

 left of the peak known as Morne Lacroix. By taking the 

 average between the readings of our two barometers, we deter- 

 mined its altitude to be 4200 feet above the sea.§ It consists 

 of ancient andesitic lava. Almost directly opposite this is the 

 lowest point of the crater, where the great gash formed by the 

 gorge of the Riviere Blanche occurs. The bed of andesite 

 forming what may be considered the rim of the crater on the 

 southeast side of the gash is 3350 feet above the tide, while the 

 real bottom of the gorge where it issues from the crater is five 

 or six hundred feet less in altitude. From this lava bed the 

 rim rises rapidly (30° to 35°) to about 3750 feet above tide (see 

 fig. 13), and then more gradually along the southern edge until 

 3950 feet is reached on the eastern edge. The northwest side 

 of the southwestern gash is formed by a pinnacle of ancient 

 lava which appears to be about 4000 feet above the sea, but 

 may be higher. From this point the rim drops somewhat 

 toward the north, but gradually rises again toward the east 



* The Outlook, vol. Ixxi, pp. 773, 774, 26 July, 1902. 



f MeClure's Magazine, vol. xix, p. 363. August, 1902. 



ij: National Geographic Magazine, vol. xiii, p. 260, July, 1902. 



§ The French engineers located at Martinique are reported to have deter- 

 mined (by triangulation ?) that Morne Lacroix had lost 150 feet during the 

 eruption, making its present altitude 4273 feet above tide. 



