Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 19 May 1904, Page 7

Traveller.

A BOILING LAKE. . jSSjjtt? VERY interesting account of the wjMttl Boiling Lake of Dominica, a jfJHK British island in the Leeward Group, West Indies, is given in a little work by Mc F. Sterna-Fadelle, a resident in tbe island, and author of In the Ruina of St. Pierre, &s. The writer says:—• The mopt noteworthy fact, and one bearing witness to the chaotic ruggednsss and inaccessibility of the region in question, is that in an island of less than 300. square miles, colonised by the Spaniarda since the seventeenth century, cultivated continuously by the French to the middle of the eighteenth century, and progressively exploited by the French and English ever Binca, Nature secreted in her inmost wilds, far from the ken of the industrious colonist and the adventurous hunter, a striking and wonderful object of curiosity, a spectaole whioh now invests Dominica with a unique attraction among her sister islands, bringing travellers hitherward from distant lands, and which | has been deemed worthy of a place among the wonders, of the world. Thirty years ago no man suspected the presencs of the Boiling Lake, now so well Known to the tourists.' *'" " Mr Edmund Watt, of Dominica, nearly lost nia "life in 18718 by wandering among the sulphur-orusfced boulders of the Grande Soufriere, a volcanic region in the interior (from which, in-Jiauary, 1880, showers of tine white ash descended). In 1875 a party was formed to explore the region j it consisted of he H.. A, A. Nicholls.a medical resident, Dr Fraeland and Mi Gardyne, of England, and Mr Watt. . Dr. Nieholla's deacription of the Boiling Lake, then perhaps seen for the first time, is quoted by Mr Sterns-FAdelle as follows: ' Sorambling over the masses of sulphur, - we attained the summit, and from thence beheld a most marvellous sight., Wa seemed to be upon the brink of an awful abyss, from whence were vomited up volumes of hot steam and suffocating vapors. Loud rumbling noises.and a peculiar babbling sound ' saluted our nostrils. Altogether, the sight was so strange, so unexpected, so wonderful, that many minutes elapsed before we were able to speak to each other. Stranger still, in the oentre was a mound of water, so to speak, several feet high, which.did not remain stationary, but moved round * a ft circle of limited extent. The margin of the lake was indented in little bays, and miniature headlands jutted out here and there; along the shore was a. beautiful line of a brilliant yellow color, doe to the deposit of sulphur from the waters. The agitation of the water caused little waves to roll up, as It were, upon the beach, and from the position of the yellow line it was evident that at certain periods the lake was fuller than at others. It was only for a few seconds at a time that we could get a glimpse of the central mound, for as soon as the steam was blown aside its place was immediately supplied by other vapor. A small stream of water trickled into the lake at a little distance from the spot where we fiisfe stood and beheld the wonderful phenomenon. The outlet was; at tne other end, and we were unable at the time to explore it. We, however,. distinctly saw a large gap in the cliffs which everywhere else surrounded the lake.' The lake, which is 2100 feet above the level of the sea, is eilipitioal in form, and when full of water is about 200 feet in length by 100 feet in mean breadth. A plummet dropped 10 feet from the margin Of the water found no bottom at a" depth of 193 feat. Two small rivulets of cold water trickle into the Bailing Lake, the overflow of which (when it is quite full) forms a hot cascade down a deep gorge. The water is not always in ebullition; but at times lies dormant, shimmering in the sunlight; at other times it seethes and hisse?, gyrating with snorting detonations, rising and falling in rotatory commotion, and lashing its stony limits with scalding spray. The Boiling Lake is the. focus of volcanic action in the Grande Soufriere, a region about five square miles in extent, and represents one of the last ■ traces of a slowly-expiring volcano.

CIVILISATION IN SIAM. The latest item in the story of Siam's civilisation is the purchase by the Siamese Minister in Parte, for use at home, of a brand new guillotine The incident recalls the cynical story of the shipwrecked mariner who comforted himself with the reflection that he had reached civilisation when he landed on an island upon the shore of whioh he saw a couple of corpses swinging from gallows. The substitution of the guillotine for the old-, time method of executions in Siam may be regarded, perhaps, as another little compliment to France. All sorts of international amenities are observed in the westernising of the country. Thus, Belgian lawyers hare had the reforming of the manner of administering j astiee j an eminent Japanese jurist -Las in hand the remodelling of the legal code of the land; an Englishman is the head of the police force; an American directs ail electrical and sanitary engineering; while yet another Briton, Mr Bivet-Camao, 1b the King's financial adviser. ■ ■••-' The Bo jsi family of Siam is a numerous one. If you wißh to make a note of its., members in your birthday book, difficulties will arise. It is no simple matter . to enter up a Siamese Boyalty. Welsh, names must pale their ineffectual fires by comparison. The King himself, Chula* longkorn I. (Somdetch. Phra P&ramindr Maha), occupies but a modest Bpaee upon the page. He has twenty-three other names, but they,appear only: in State documents. Then there is hie Boyal brother. "He is primarily Somdetch f Ghowfa Bhanurahgsi Swasgwonse, bat there remains his title, Krom Pra Bhanupandhwongse Woradej. These two gentlemen accounted for, the task of entering' up in earnest may bs begun. There are twenty half-brothers of the King, all liberally endowed with names and attest and a multitude of sisters.