SOUFRIERE, AXD ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELFE, IN 1902. 
445 
The crater was completely filled with a cloud of smoke or steam. After some minutes this cleared 
away, and the bottom and sides of the crater were distinctly visible. The clearing and filling of the crater 
with steam was repeated at intervals of about ten minutes. The bottom of the crater contained three 
small lakes, two of which were of very yellow looking mud, with a low wall of mud and boulders 
separating them. They were quite quiescent. To the right was a very large mound of earth and stones, 
which divided them from the third. This third pool was the cause of the steam alluded to above, for by 
walking some distance to the west along the edge of the crater, it was seen to be bubbling up with 
excessive fury, and throwing up liquid mud amidst the steam. I estimated these pools to be 1800 feet 
below the lip of the crater.” 
When we saw it, matters were in very much the same condition as on the 6th June. 
Three irregular lakes of greenish, turbid opalescent water occupied the floor of the 
crater. The two on the west side were not boiling; only a narrow isthmus separated 
them. In the south-east corner was another lake, the whole of which could not be 
seen from where we stood. It was boiling vigorously with a hissing noise, and 
throwing up jets of mud and steam. The steam rose in curling wreaths along the 
high south-eastern wall. Water was flowing gently from one of the other lakes into 
this one. Tlie floor of the crater was bare and stony, and on its northern side lay a 
huge pile of broken lock, which had evidently fallen from the vertical cliff behind it 
This mound separated the lake which was boiling from the other two. 
Of the dimensions and depth of the crater it was very difficult to form an opinion; 
the mists trailing over the hill prevented us from obtaining a clear view, and we had 
only a brief glimpse of the base of the opposite wall. Its summit we did not see. 
Formerly the southern lip was about 1100 feet above the surface of the lake, and it 
is now generally agreed that the cavity is deeper than before by several hundred 
feet. Some good judges consider it to be 2000 feet, others will not admit that it is 
more than 1400. Probably from 1600 to 1800 feet would be a fair average of the 
estimates formed. The cliff, which on the north side overlooks the lakes of water, 
must be over 2000 feet high.* 
The south-western wall, on which we stood, sloped downwards at its upper part 
for 23erhaps half its whole height. The angle of declivity varied from 40° to 44°, and 
a layer of wet black ash, deeply furrowed with grooves eroded by tlie rains, covered 
the surface. The lower part of this wall was steeper, probal^ly vertical; we could 
not see it from where we were. We tried to work round the lip of the crater to the 
windward side, but in the thick wet mud, in which we sank to the knees, walking 
was very difficult, and as a storm of wind and rain sprung up, we had to give up the 
attempt. 
Professor Jaggar’s photographs show that the north-eastern wall is vertical, a 
precipice of bare rock. From it great landslides and falls of rock frequently tumble 
on the floor of the crater with a loud noise.t They have been seen by more than one 
* Further modifications have since taken place, owing to the eruptions of September and October, 
1902. 
t E. 0. Hovev, “ Martinique and St. Vincent: a Preliminary Report upon the Eruptions of May 
1902,” ‘Bull. Amer. Museum Nat. Hist.,’ vol. 16, p. 337, 1902. 
