375 ^ 
DES. T. ANDEESON AND J. S. FLEET ON THE EEUPTIONS OF THE 
The geological history of the island of St. Vincent, as recorded in the rocks 
exposed to view within its boundaries, may be summarised as follows;—• 
The whole island consists of volcanic rocks and the products of their disintegration. 
The only active volcano is the Soufriere, and all the accumulations may be con¬ 
sidered as belonging to recent geological times. 
The epoch of maximum volcanic activity was a period of elevation during which 
the island was certainly more extensive than at present. The eruptions were 
sub-aerial. This was followed by depression to, at any rate, 700 feet below the present 
level, and during this subsidence, or the subsequent elevation, a series of rock terraces 
was cut by the action of the waves. 
The elevation which followed was carried to a stage at which the land stood at 
least 150 feet higher than at present. 
Since then there has been a second depression of 150 feet. In all probability 
this has been the last chapter in the island’s history, as the absence of uphfted 
coral makes it unlikely that there has been any recent elevation. 
The Soufriere; its Configuration and Structure. 
In external configuration the Soufriere is a very typical example of a volcanic cone. 
Nearly 8 miles across at its base, it rises to a height of 4000 feet, so that the 
average slope of its sides is about 15°. Its summit is occupied by a large crater, 
nearly a mile across, and this gives it a rounded or flat-topped apjoearance, as seen 
from Chateaubelair, which is on its south-west side. To the north of the crater there 
rises a semi-circular ridge, separated from the crater wall by a deep valley, which it 
overlooks in a series of precipitous cliffs of bare rock, nearly 1000 feet high, fringed 
with taluses of debris. This ridg-e forms the extreme summit of the mountain, beino; 
4050 feet in height, while the lip of the crater is only 3000 to nearly 3500 feet high. 
It surrounds the crater on the north and north-east sides, forming an amphitheatre, the 
inner side of which is nearly vertical, while externally it slopes down to the sea with 
the conical form of an eroded volcano. This ridge bears exactly the same relationship 
to the present crater as Somma does to Vesuvius,* and has undoubtedly originated in 
the same way by some great exj)losion, which has blown away the summit of the hill, 
and left a gigantic depression nearly 2 miles in diameter. 
From Georgetown and the base of the mountain on the windward side the conical 
shape is less obvious than from Chateaubelair, though, so far as our experience went, 
it was not often that a clear view of the summit could be obtained from this quarter, 
as the upper regions were nearly always veiled in cloud. From the sea to the north 
of the island the appearance of the mountain is that of a round-backed deeply 
furrowed pile, in which there is nothing to suggest strongly the volcanic origin of the 
H. Eeusch, ‘Nature,’ vol. 66, p. 132, June 5, 1902, 
