mO The Island of Dominica. © [November, 
beyond Laudat, we were obliged to relinquish our riding animals 
and proceed on foot. Wet and slippery the newly cut path fol- 
lowed the sharp crest of a narrow ridge until it reached an abso- 
lute elevation of 3200 feet. From here the view was overpower- 
ing. Before us lay miles of mountain slopes, utterly denuded of 
vegetation. Dull gray was the color of the entire surface, and 
the broken stumps of once gigantic trees spoke eloquently of the 
terrific force which had laid in desolate waste what but two months 
before had been a dense primeval forest. Behind us was the 
beautiful valley of the Roseau, the wooded mountains skirting it 
and withal an expression of serene repose. To our right steam 
was fitfully issuing from a crater-like depression, to the left rose a 
majestic column of white steam from Boiling lake. 
We descended a very steep slope and found the “erupted” 
material to consist of broken and disintegrated fragments of 
trachyte thoroughly impregnated with pyrite. In other words, 
we had before us fresh rocks which were analogous to those we 
found decomposed at the Soufreur and identical with the “ash” 
which had fallen at Roseau. By far the greater portion of the 
mass was reduced in size so as to pass through a twenty-mesh 
© sieve. Boulders weighing several hundred pounds were not 
wanting, however. Arrived at the rivulet at the end of thé 
mountain slope, we found the water to be warm. With the lim- 
-ited amount of time at our command, it was impossible for us to 
visit the right-hand depression, so we turned our steps towards 
the lake. The former was the scene of greatest activity, and the 
place from which the dislodged rock material had issued: Re- 
cent disturbances had rendered access so precarious, however, 
that it would have been necessary to spend more time than we : 
could afford in effecting an entrance to the bottom of the “crater.” 
An inky black creek was crossed shortly, and but a few yards 
beyond it one of milky whiteness running parallel. Both were 
warm, about 60° C. Probably the presence of iron sulphides 
accounts for the color of the former, while the latter, judging 
_ from its taste, contained mainly alkalies. Asa noticeable fact, 
~ we observed that these colors were not merely due to the effect 
of underlying rocks, but that the water was really so colored. 
_ Over rocks, through water, knee deep in yielding mud we scram- 
bled along, until we finally stood at the edge of an oval basin 
- ; surrounded by almost vertical walls, where the Boiling lake had 
=< been. Formerly it must have extended about three hundred by 
4 
