Note 18 — Chapter IV · ST. HELENA

In the Nautical Magazine for 1835, p. 642, and for 1838, p. 361, and in the “Comptes Rendus,” April 1838, accounts are given of a series of volcanic phenomena—earthquakes—troubled water—floating scoriæ and columns of smoke—which have been observed at intervals since the middle of the last century, in a space of open sea between longitudes 20° and 22° west, about half a degree south of the equator. These facts seem to show, that an island or an archipelago is in process of formation in the middle of the Atlantic: a line joining St. Helena and Ascension, prolonged, intersects this slowly nascent focus of volcanic action.