J i l l
I I I l l
I I
F O R M A T
I O N OF
I S L E S .
- 11 E M A R. K S o n - t h e
proofs of it. Thefe Leem to have been a kind o f volcano coming
out of the bottom of the fea. We-vifited files that, had ffilT volcanos
; others, that had only elevation, and marks o f being formed
in remote ages by a-volcano.;, and daftly, we found flies, that had
no remains o f a-volcano, but even ftrong and undoubted veftiges o f
having, been violently changed, and partly overturned by an earthquake,
fubterancous fire, and a-volcano. T opooa-; A m-b r r ym .,
T a n n a , and P ico, are o f jhe firft clafs. M a a t e a , O -T a -
h e it e e , H u ah i in f ., O -R a ie d e a , O -T a h aw , Boi. a -B o l a ,
M our.u a , W a it a i iu , or St. Chriftina, and the reft o f the M a r -
•q u e sa s, with feveral of the N ew -H e b r id e s , and Fa y a l , belong
to the fecond-; and I cannot help referring E a -s t e r - I s e a n b ,
; S t .. H e l e n a , and A s c e n s i o n to the laft.
I will not from hence infill, that all the flies now enumerated,
-were originally produced by earthquakes and volcanos, but I may
venture to affert this of-feveral, from their external appearance.,
-and ..of others I am certain., that they exifted above water, before
'they had a volcano, and were entirely changed., and partly fubverted
:by fubterraneous £re.
A s c e n s i o n , in the Atlantic Ocean, an ifie which we faw laft,
after all" the-others., furnilhed me with feme very curious.and pertinent
remarks on’the fubjedt. We anchored -in Crofs-Bay, and faw
the higheft hill o f the ille at about five miles diilance from. the
£ Ihore';
m m
■ ihore; it confills o f a-gritty lime-tophus, mixed with marie and f o r m a -
Land. Some parts o f this Hone being decayed by length of time, ISL-ES_
'form, together with a little mould, the furface, which is covered
with purflane, and Tome grades, The -nature of this hill is, in
..every refpeft, different from the reft o f the ille, efpecially about
'Crofs-Bay. For, as Loon as we had reached the elevated plain, fi-
.tuated between the bay and the hill, which is a-breaft of the bay,
we found it about two miles in diameter, covered with, black, gritty
flag-alhes, and.in feme places with a dulky yellow ochre. At fixty
or eighty yards-diftance, the plain is all over incumbered with little
ihummocks, about'ten or twenty feet high, formed of very rugged
.flags-and porous cinders,; in ftiort, of lava. All this -plain is in-
clofed by leveral hills, o f a.conic form, and,of a reddilh-brown or
rally-coloured call, ..confifting entirely o f final! allies, and .gritty
. diffolved flags .; feme of which are black, and others o f an ochreous
.nature, and of a yellow-or red colour. On one fide of the plain is
.an elevated ridge of rocks o f the moll craggy appearance, lying in
.very irregular maffes,- and terminating in the moll curious manner,
in points and lharp prominencies. Part o f this ridge we could
-trace towards the Lea, where the flags, i f poffible, aflumed Hill
.more horrid lhapes, inteiLefted by deep gullies, forming a tremendous,
inacceflible Ihore. The flags or lava ring like bells; and, if
a. piece o f it be broken and thrown down the lides of thefe lleep
.craggy maffes, it produces a lharp clanging found. At the very
X . firft