2 24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Pierre. No one was hurt at either Morne Eouge or Carbet. It seems 

 agreed among those living near the volcano, that these later eruptions 

 were more 'fiery' than the earlier ones, indicating that there is more 

 incandescent material ejected; thus they state that there was more 

 'fire' on June 6 than on May 20; and more slides or avalanches of in- 

 candescent material on the slopes of the mountain on July 9 than on 

 June 6. 



At about 8 o'clock on the morning of July 11, a vertical puff 

 from the volcano rose 10,000 feet into the air, showing at first superb 

 gray-brown cauliflower surfaces, and later, taking on smooth outlines, 

 with a funnel-shape and a feathery fringe. There was only a single 

 puff, and the cloud drifted away to leeward. A similar one was 

 photographed on July 16 (Fig. 1). 



It is of interest to compare with this record of observations at Fort 

 de France, the notes of the British men of science on July 9 made from 



a vessel close to the volcano:* 



From the fissure in the volcanOj clouds of pale slaty vapour rose con- 

 stantly. . . . (About 7:30 p.m.) 



In the rapidly-falling twilight we sat on deck intently watching the ac- 

 tivity of the volcanOj . . . when our attention was suddenly attracted to 

 a cloud which was not exactly like any of the steam ' cauliflowers ' we had 

 hitherto seen. It was globular, with a bulging, nodular surface; at first 

 glance not unlike an ordinary steam jet, but darker in color, being dark 

 slate approaching black. . . . Its behaviour . . . was unique. It did not 

 rise in the air, but rested there, poised on the lip of the fissure, for quite a 

 while as it seemed, and retained its shape so long that we could not suppose 

 it to be a mere steam cloud. Evidently it had been emitted with sufficient 

 violence to raise it over the lip of the crater, but it was too heavy to soar up 

 in the air like a mass of vapor, and it lay rolling and spouting on the slopes 

 of the hill. The wind had no power over it, fresh protuberances spurted out 

 from its surface, but it did not drift leeward any more than if it had been a 

 gigantic boulder. 



This cloud rolled straight down, gradually increasing in size as it came 

 nearer. The further it traveled the faster it came. It cleared the mountains 

 slope, increasing always in size, but still rounded, globular, with boiling, 

 pillowy surface, pitch black, and through it little streaks of lightning scintil- 

 lated. On reaching the north side of St. Pierre roadstead the black mass 

 discharged sparkling lightnings incessantly along its contact with the water. 

 The cloud quickly lost velocity and formed a black pall, with larger, less 

 vigorous, more globular, bulging convolutions. It lay almost like a dead mass 

 on the surface of the sea. The black cloud rose from the fissure about 7:40, 

 and for twenty or thirty minutes the sloop sailed southward with a gentle 

 breeze from the east. Then the wind fell to a dead calm. The black cloud 

 cleared, above the fissure a faint red glare was seen, which slowly increased, 

 and bright, glowing masses were seen describing parabolic paths through the 



* * Report on the eruptions of the Soufrifere, in St. Vincent, in 1902, and 

 on A Visit to Montague Pelee, in Martinique,' Part I., by Tempest Anderson 

 and John S. Flett. Phil. Trans, of the Roy 8oc. of Land., Series A, Vol. 200, 

 pp. 353-553, 1903. (See page 492 et seq.) 



