perfect liquidity of the lavas, thus allowing them to flow long distances. In Vesuvius the lavas are so viscid that jets cannot rise freely over the surface; the vapors are therefore kept confined as bubbles until a collection of them burst, and fragments are sometimes thrown to a height of thousands of feet. The more important eruptions of Hawaii, after 1840, were in 1843, 1849 and 1852. All of these were vast in extent, but were not accompanied by earthquakes, thus contrasting with the explosive eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna.

Jorullo, a volcano of Mexico, has presented the most remarkable phenomenon in the memory of man, it having been wholly thrown up from a fertile plain to a height of 4265 feet above the sea, on September 28th and 29th, 1759.

Cotopaxi, near Quito, Ecuador, stands 18,875 feet ("19,660," Dana) above the sea. The upper 4,400 feet except a section around its very summit, is covered with snow. Its first recorded eruption occurred about the time of Pizarro's invasion of South America. In 1698 an eruption destroyed the city of Tacunga. In 1738 the "flames" (heated, or luminous, vapors) rose 3000 feet above the crater; and in 1743 the hot matter burst forth from several apertures near the summit, followed by profuse torrents of water, which flooded and desolated the whole plain below. Again in May, 1744, new passages were opened, and in April, 1768, the dust and ashes were so dense that the inhabitants were compelled to use lanterns almost the whole day. In 1803 another eruption occured, after a complete state of quiescence during 20 years. In January of that year the snow began to melt and the next day was all gone. At the port of Guayaquil, 130 miles distant, Humbolt heard, day and night, the roaring and explosions of this volcano, like continued explosions of artillery.

In the south polar region are two active volcanoes, on Victoria land: Mt. Erebus, 12,400 feet, and Mt. Terror, 10,900 feet above the sea. As this land is uninhabited, no recorded harm is done by eruptions, and the same may be said of Mt. Bridgeman, on one of the South Shetland islands. Deception Island, near the latter group, is volcanic, and consists of alternate layers of volcanic ashes and ice, with a deep lake five miles in circumference, and hot springs, 140 deg. F.

At the other extremes is Hecla, in Iceland, 5,110 feet high. Since A. D. 900, 43 of its eruptions are on record, of which five have been nearly simultaneous with those of Vesuvius, four with Etna, and one with those of both. One eruption commenced September 2nd, 1845, and lasted until April 6th, 1846; on the 23rd

of November the torrent of lava, two miles from the crater, was one mile in width and from 40 to 50 feet in depth. An eruption in 1783 continued for two years and destroyed 20 villages and 9,000 inhabitants. Imagine a river of molten rock, 90 miles long 7 to 12 broad, and 100 feet deep, and you have some idea of the amount of matter poured out at this time.

In 1815 a violent eruption took place on the Island of Umbawa, near Java. The lava flowed over the land and entered the sea. Whirlwinds swept over the island, tearing up trees and bearing off men, horses and cattle. Of 12,000 inhabitants only 26 survived the awful catastrophe. In 1883 an eruption from Krakatoa threw volcanic ashes 50,000 feet into the air, and it is supposed the fine ashes travelled around the globe, causing the red sunsets so noticeable at that time.

Volcanic eruptions occurred on the island of Martinique, Lesser Antilles, beginning May 6th, 1902, with tremendous explosions May 7th and 8th, which shattered the top of the volcano, Mt. Pelee, destroying the city of St. Pierre and about 30,000 people, shipping in the harbor, and devastating the entire north end of the island, and probably making it uninhabitable for years to come. Of all the people left in the city during the eruption, but one escaped, a negro confined in an underground dungeon for murder. This eruption saved his life, as there was no record of his crime left. The ejections continued for several days, with terrific explosions, which were called earthquakes by some, but they were probably only the usual accompaniments of volcanic action, but not true earthquakes. This eruption was followed a day or two later, by a similar outbreak from La Souffriere, a volcano on St. Vincent Island nearby. The eruption on St. Vincent was fully as destructive as at St Pierre, but the loss of life was much less, being only sparsely inhabited compared to St. Pierre. Mt. Pelee is 4,450 feet high, and there are six volcanoes of smaller size on Martinique, which are supposed to be extinct. Empress Josephine was born at St Pierre in 1763. Mt. Souffriere, on St. Vincent, is 3,090 feet high. A tremendous eruption occurred from this volcano in 1812, when volcanic ashes were carried to Barbadoes, 60 or 70 miles.

But volcanoes are not confined to the land. In 1783 volcano broke forth in the sea off the coast of Iceland, covering the water with pumice to a distance of 150 miles. At this place an island was formed which the Danish government called Nyoe; but it disappeared in less than a year, leaving a reef of rocks beneath the surface.

In 1811 an island, called Sabrina, was formed by a volcanic eruption, near the Azores, whose cone was 300 feet above the water; this was soon leveled down by the action of the sea. In 1831 a volcanic island arose off the south coast of Sicily, where a few years before was 600 feet of water; but this also disappeared in a few months.

Many cases might be cited of islands caused by volcanic action under the sea, many of which have been inhabited for centuries; and extinct volcanoes, or remains of them, are common the world over; some of them now represented by volcanic necks, others by thermal springs-and new ones may break out at any time, like Jorullo of Mexico.-The Mineral Collector.

MONSOON GARDENING.

In every part of India, without exception, the monsoon is looked forward to with an anxiety that must seem curious to people dwelling in temperate climes. All nature becomes "thirsty" after the three months of dry weather-1. e., from about 15 th March to 15th June, when the "hot wind," a veritable "Sirocco" blows almost continuously, licking up every drop of moisture from the surface soil, scorching up vegetation, and rendering lite generally unbearable. Man, beast and plant feel its effects equally. Is it any wonder, then, that the life-giving rain is viewed with such feelings? After the first heavy downpour all nature seems to spring into life and rejoice, and the gardener realizes that it will be a busy time for him. He immediately sets about arrangements for propagating, layering, putting down cuttings, grafting inarching, "gooteeing," sowing seed, the preparation of beds and borders, and a hundred other operations of gardening are soon in full swing. The grass begins to grow with marvellous rapidity, and weeds appear in their thousands. On every side there are evidences of rank growth, and it takes the gardener all his time to keep it in check. The air is filled with the insect world, and caterpillars,grubs and worms are soon doing as much damage to plants as their short life will admit of. The atmosphere is humid, and when the wind lulls, and the sun comes out in all its fierceness, one feels like being in a Turkish bath.

The garden at this time is rich in its floral treasures. Ornamental foliaged plants are at their best. Many of our most beautiful trees and tree-shrubs are now in full beauty of bloom.

Here is the lovely Magnolia fuscata with its strongly perfumed purple flowers; there at the bend of a walk, a great clump of Dombeya acutangula, with its sweet-smelling cup-like flowers; over the plant-house is Jateorhiza calumba, with its small yellow flowers. Turn any side, and we see nothing but exuberant vegetation. Our annuals include the beautiful varieties of Balsam, Zinnia, Celosia, Amaranthus, etc., and beds and borders are a blaze of color, intensified by the hundreds of varieties of Cannas. On the Himalayas the hillsides are covered with an infinite variety of ferns intermixed with Foxglove, Columbine and Impatiens, and even Dahlias which have "escaped." Gardening during the Monsoon is a very fascinating pursuit.-Indian Planting and Gardening

Notes and Gleanings.

The Largest Described Snake.-Speke, in his narrative of the journey to the source of the Nile, describes the largest snake that has ever been seen by man. "I shuddered," he says, "as I looked upon the effect of his tremendous dying strength. For yards around where he lay, grass, bushes and saplings, in fact everything except full grown trees, were cut clean off, as if they had been trimmed with an immense scythe. The monster, when measured, was fifty-one feet two and a half inches in extreme length, while around the thickest portions of its body the girth was nearly three feet.

Mines of Mammoth Bones.-At some time in the distant past a remarkable state of affairs existed in what are now the bleak arctic regions of Siberia. At the time of which we speak the climate must have been comparatively mild, for thousands and hundreds of thousands of huge animals, mostly of the elephant type, roamed up and down the valleys of what are now frozen polar rivers. In the midst of their innocent happiness a sudden and awtul change came. Some philosophers say that the earth "fell out of balance" and titled thousands of miles to the

north. Whatever the cause, fierce winter almost instantly swept over the land of the mastodon and the mammoth and overwhelmed the great beasts in huge snowdrifts, from which they could not extricate themselves. In the course of time these huge banks of snow were transtormed into great mountains of ice, and today specimens of the great hairy mammoth may be found that are as fresh as when they were frozen in, thousands of years ago. In some places along the Lena river the bluffs are perfect mines of mammoth's bones.

The Natural Bridge of Virginia, is 215 feet in height, 100 feet in width, with a span of 90 feet. Cedar Creek, the stream over which it stretches its arch, is clear as crystal. No photograph or painting can impress the mind with its immensity of grandeur, or geometrical proportions, or the rich coloring, or the picturesque surroundings. One must feast his eyes upon the mighty arch to realize its vastness. Under the arch are the outlines of an American Eagle, formed by moss and lichens. On one side is where George Washington, when a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, 150 years ago, carved his name in the rock. The ravages of time and exposure to the elements have nearly obliterated the name, but some of the letters are quite distinct. In the years gone by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and many prominent statesmen before railroads were built, spent days of inconvenient travel to look upon this, one of the wonders of the world.

Gulliver's Astronomy.-Prophecy is a foreknowledge of events to come, so the following cannot strictly be called a prophecy, but to say the least is a singular foreknowledge of a discovery that did not come for many years after. A most remarkable account of the position of certain planets occurs in "Gulliver's Travels." This book, written somewhere about 1726 contains the following words: "They spend the greater part of their lives in observing the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses far excelling ours in goodness. They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars, whereof the innermost is distant from the center of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters and the outermost five. The former revolves in the space of 10 hours, and the latter in 21 1-2, so that the squares of their periodical times are very near in the same proportion with the cubes of their distance from the center of Mars." One hundred and fifty years before it was known that Mars had a satellite, when the theory that it