oes, but only steam and
fine hot dust. The volcanoes were, therefore, of the explosive type;
and from all his observations he had concluded that the absence of
lava-flows was due to the material within the crater being partly
solid, or at least highly viscous, so that it could not flow like an
ordinary lava-stream. Since his return this theory had received
striking confirmation, for it was now known that within the crater of
Mont Pelee there was no lake of molten lava, but that a solid pillar
of red-hot rock was slowly rising upwards in a great conical,
sharp-pointed hill, until it might finally overtop the old summit of
the mountain. It was nearly 1000 feet high, and slowly grew as it was
forced upwards by pressure from beneath, while every now and then
explosions of steam took place, dislodging large pieces from its
summit or its sides. Steam was set free within this mass as it cooled,
and the rock then passed into a dangerous and highly explosive
condition, such that an explosion must sooner or later take place,
which shivered a great part of the mass into fine red-hot dust."[23]

A reference to the first Lemurian map will show that in the lake lying
to the south-east of the extensive mountainous region there was an
island which consisted of little more than one great mountain. This
mountain was a very active volcano. The four mountains which lay to
the south-west of the lake were also active volcanoes, and in this
region it was that the disruption of the continent began. The seismic
cataclysms which followed the volcanic eruptions caused such
wide-spread damage that by the second map period a large portion of
the southern part of the continent had been submerged.

A marked characteristic of the land surface in early Lemurian times
was the great number of lakes and marshes, as well as the innumerable
volcanoes. Of course, all these are not shown on the map. Only some of
the great mountains which were volcanoes, and only some of the largest
lakes are there indicated.

Another volcano on the north-east coast of the continent began its
destructive work at an early date. Earthquakes completed the
disruption, and it seems probable that the sea shown in the second map
as dotted with small islands to the south-east of the present Japan,
indicates the area of seismic disturbance.

In the first map it will be seen that there were lakes in the centre
of what is now the island-continent of Australia--lakes where the land
i