On the Eruptions of the SoufrUre and Mont Pelee. 437 



The structural modifications produced upon the hill by this eruption 

 have been astonishingly slight. We saw no fissures, no parasitic 

 craters or cones, and no lava streams. Even the craters at the summit 

 retain essentially their old configuration. All the evidence points to 

 the supposition that it was from the large or old crater that this 

 eruption for the most part proceeded. But the smaller crater has not 

 disappeared, nor has it been filled up. We did not see it, but we can 

 rely on the evidence of several observers, who knew it well before the 

 eruption, and have seen it since. The narrow ridge between it and 

 the large crater still stands, though probably somewhat lower than 

 before, and possibly is slipping down in land-slides on both sides. 



Like all the higher mountains of the Windward Islands the Soufriere 

 has usually its summit capped with cloud, especially during the rainy 

 season, and this was the case on both the days on which we made the 

 ascent. On the first occasion the mist lifted for a few minutes, and 

 enabled us to obtain a glimpse of the bottom of the crater. For- 

 tunately we had with us Mr. T. M. McDonald, of Eichmond Vale, and 

 Mr. Henry Powell, Curator of the Botanic Gardens at Kingstowri, 

 who were both well acquainted with the mountain in previous years. 

 The crater was formerly nine-tenths of a mile across and about 1100 feet 

 deep. Its inner slopes were steep and richly wooded. Its bottom was 

 occupied by a lake, wdiich is said to have been over 500 feet deep. The 

 northern wall is now a naked precipice of rock, perhaps 2000 feet high y 

 from the face of which rock-slides are frequently tumbling into the 

 abyss below, with a loud noise. We did not get a clear view of it, 

 but Professor Jaggar, of Harvard, U.S.A., who ascended shortly before 

 we did, was more fortunate, and obtained some photographs which 

 show that it consists of layers of tuff alternating with beds of lava. 

 What seems to be a thin irregular dyke forms a prominent rib-like 

 mass cutting across the bedding planes. The southern side slopes 

 downwards for several hundred feet at an angle of about 40 degrees, 

 and is covered with a thick layer of fine dark mud deeply grooved with 

 rain channels. The lower part is a precipice of bare rock. The bottom 

 of the crater is nearly flat or slightly cupped. When we saw it, it 

 contained three small lakes of water, greenish and turbid : that in the 

 south-east corner was throwing up jets of mud and steam with a hissing 

 noise. It was in very much the same condition as when seen by the 

 party which first ascended the mountain on May 31 — that including 

 Mr. T. M. McDonald and Professor Jaggar — and on a slightly later 

 date by Lieutenant Eobinson, R.E. Mr. McDonald thought that 

 there was rather less steam, and the lakes of water were somewhat 

 larger than when he saw it previously. In his opinion and that of 

 Mr. Powell the crater was only slightly larger than before the 

 eruption, but considerably deeper. The estimates of the depth 

 varied a good deal, but it seems, on the whole, to be generally agreed 

 that it is about 1600 feet. 



