"It is an error to suppose that there exists in the bottom of Mount Pelée a hole from which lava and gases have come out. At present there is a tremendous cork of andesite, which is called the 'Dome,' and which must have as its dimensions a diameter half a mile across at its base and a height of about 1200 feet. On all sides of the dome there are fumaroles (small cone-like craters), some of which throw out a reddish smoke, others of which discharge white smoke, and others are still surrounded with a carpet of sulphur several yards in depth." After the great eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 it was found by measurement that a considerable portion of the adjacent sea bottom had sunk down many fathoms. It is impossible to believe that this sinking had been caused by the mere shaking of the earthquakes accompanying that eruption. We must, therefore, suppose that after the dreadful explosions which destroyed St. Pierre and devastated Martinique a subsidence near the roots of the mountain (which is just by the sea) took place. What we should judge to have happened is that by some means an explosion took place below the sea bottom; that parts of the molten rock, moved by the forces of the explosion, were moved towards the mountain (Mount Pelée), which thereupon broke into eruption, acting as an outlet for the imprisoned rocks. When these molten rocks were thus removed a great cavity was formed in the bed of the sea, which accordingly caved in. A similar explanation would account for the raising of the Chilian coast-line after the great earthquakes of 1835, of which we have already spoken. The coast and, indeed, the whole country back to the Andes was slightly raised. This could only be explained by the pushing in or forcing in of a corresponding bulk of lava under the land; and this lava could come from nowhere except from under the bed of the great trough in the adjacent sea. After an explosion (which is caused by the sea penetrating through to the molten rocks) the trough, where the "accident" first took place, would naturally deepen. [Illustration: _Stereo Copyright, Underwood & U._ _London and New York_ The Dead City of St. Pierre, Martinique The town of St. Pierre was perhaps the most beautiful in the West Indies. The volcano of Mont Pelée, which is seen in the background, and which is five miles away, suddenly belched out deadly gases, dust, steam, and boiling mud, which overwhelmed the town and completely destroyed it. The houses were reduced to ruins, and the people were killed by the wave of hot gases sweeping down from the volcano.]