ST. VINCENT IN 1902, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE. 
283 
described in Part I., p. 438. This body of ash, which is well seen from near the 
Maroon tree about half way up the mountain, presents one of the best examples of 
the rounded character of the deposit in its original state, where, as mentioned above, 
it was higher in the middle than at the edges. 
The Crater. —In 1902 we ascended to the lip of the crater twice, from the south¬ 
west and south-east sides respectively, by the old Carib track which led from Chateau 
Belair, vid Wallibu, on the leeward side to lot 14 and Georgetown on the windward 
side of the Island, but owing to the summit being in cloud on each occasion we saw 
only rare glimpses of the interior. In 1907 I was more fortunate, and during part of 
the time I was on the summit the air was perfectly clear, though the clouds came 
down before I had an opportunity of examining the new crater. The topography of 
the old crater is still correctly represented on the Admiralty chart. The crater is 
approximately circular, nearly a mile in diameter at the rim, and with a lake in its 
bottom (see Plate 15). 
The walls in the greater part of their height are nearly vertical, and consist of 
alternate layers of tuff and compact rock, all dipping outwards from the crater. The 
latter beds are chiefly lenticular in section and columnar or subcolumnar in structure, 
the columns being as usual arranged at right angles to the surfaces of cooling. 
Probably they are chiefly lava flows, but some may be intrusive sheets. It was 
impossible to get near enough to examine their surfaces of contact with adjacent beds. 
There is a very prominent dyke to the north-west of the crater and a smaller one to 
the west of it, which cut through several of the massive beds referred to, so that, as 
intrusive action has undoubtedly occurred, the results might be horizontal sheets as 
well as vertical dykes. One of the horizontal beds mentioned above, situated in the 
north-west wall of the crater, is especially massive. It must be several hundred feet 
thick and is distinctly columnar. At the foot of the almost vertical cliff is a broad 
bench or beach, specially well marked on the north and east side of the crater. The 
Rev. T. Huckerby, of Chateau Belair, who has ascended the mountain many times, 
is quite clear that it was formed by the ejecta of the small eruption of March, 1903. 
It has suffered much erosion by rain and other agents of subaerial erosion, and a talus 
is forming on it in places by falls from the cliffs above. 
The topography of the crater lake also corresponds with that marked on the 
Admiralty chart, and the sheet of water appears to be a trifle over half a mile in 
diameter. Mr. Huckerby thinks it is at a somewhat lower level than before the 
eruption, but Professor Karl Sapper’s measurements render this doubtful.* 
The water is of an uniform light green colour and does not boil or steam 
in any part. The mottled appearance in Plate 15 is due to reflections from the 
clouds. The lake is not in any way divided, and no secondary cone is visible. If any 
exists it must be below the water level. There is one spot near the foot of the crater 
wall on the south side where vapour escapes occasionally in small quantity, and 
* See p. 291. 
