1880. | ~The Island of Dominica, 771 
two hundred and fifty yards, but at the time of our visit the-dis- 
turbances about one and a-half miles distant had destroyed the ` 
lake, leaving only a boiling spring of about fifteen by twelve feet. 
Here the water issued with tremendous ebullition. It was unsafe 
to approach within a few feet of the spring after the descent to 
the former lake bottom had been made, and it thus became im- 
possible to ascertain the exact temperature. The spring was 
located near the center of the lake bed, from where its water 
flowed off through a narrow opening in the enclosing walls. 
Every step was taken on hot ground, and a cane pressed down 
into the earth would be followed by the hissing sound of escaping 
steam upon withdrawal. Fortunately we found cold water, at the 
upper end of the lake, trickling down on the face of a rock, and 
we were spared the torture of 
« Water, water everywhere 
Nor any drop to drink.” 
From examinations made we found that the lake had not been 
filled up by masses of rock or soil projected into it, but that the 
confining dam had broken away and the water had flowed off. In 
view of the fact that seismic action appears to have been very 
subordinate at the time of the “ eruption,” it seems probable that 
the lake suddenly received accessions of water and thus forced 
its way downward, carrying with it the former barrier. At best 
the depth of water, unless perhaps immediately over the hot 
Spring, which once formed an integral portion of the lake, must 
ave been inconsiderable. Its elevation is about 2400 feet above 
sea level. 
Had not personal inspection of the parrougdicgs of the lake 
been convincing that the “eruption ” did not take place there, the 
evidence afforded by mutilated plants would have been conclu- 
sive. No other word but “terrific” can express the conception 
of the mass and overwhelming force with which rocks and — 
boulders were hurled into the forest. On the southerly side— 
towards the above-mentioned crater-like depression—the bare 
broken trunks and stumps of trees, rarely over fifteen feet high, 
were literally mashed, while comparatively untouched on the- a 
reverse. About one-sixth to one-tenth of the total diameter was 
worn away by repeated concussion, and trees of tough fiber, so 
much as remained of them, were absolutely torn to shreds. No- 
where did we find indications of heat which might have been | 
Sufficiently great to fuse any of the minerals contained in the 
