A NEW ISLAND.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 87, 6 January 1908, Page 8

A NEW ISLAND.

■■ « Almost at the samo. time that., t-ho San Francisco earthquakes took plaije a'new island was upheaved in tho Paciiic some hundreds of miles to the ; north-west, and became ono of .tho group, of the Bogoslofs, all three of which are of similar submarine origin. The new member. of. tho group was sighted by tho rovenue cutter Perry very shortly after the upheaval, and the principal peak of tho island, which.could almost be seen growing before tho eyes of the crew, was named "Perry's Peak." A better equipped expedition to examining and photographing tho new island was sent out, aiuMias lately returned. The photographs show tho island as consisting of two peaks with a saddle-back botween thorn, partially enveloped in drifting clouds of steam. In general the island was found to be a barren stretch of land exknding approximately two miles in a southeasterly/ and north-westerly direction, with a maximum width of three-quarters of a mile. At the foot- of tho second'peak, which was called M'Culloch, a. steaming lake was found about 1200 feet long by 100 feet wide, but of no groat depth, and probably drying up. An attempt was matlo to scale M'Ciilloch Peak, but owing to the clanger of avalanches and of asphyxiation by poisonous gases tho plan was given up. The character of tho ground is very broken, consisting of jumbled, irregular masses of disintegrated rock —basalt,, feldspar, scoria, tufa, pumice, obsidian, trachyte and other igneous rocks —and volcanic mud, all more or less discoloured with a deposit of sulphur. The obsidian noticeable in the sand on the beach .is in a finely divided . form. Steam is present nearly everywhere in dense olouds, and sulphur vapours arc sufficiently dense tii be unpleasant. On ono of tho neighbouring islands", long since quiescent, a seal rookery has established it--elf»