THE ERUPTION OF PELEE. 



227 



face shimmered like silk and the colors changed to brown and gray, and 

 even white on the edges of the folds, and these changes spread through 

 the whole face of the cloud. The base became darker, and the paler 

 summits soared obliquely upwards and forwards; this was believed 

 due to sinking dust and separated steam. 



The steam cloud, with a velocity of twent}^ miles an hour, came 

 overhead, gray and tongue-shaped, with a blunt rounded apex, and con- 

 volutions still forming. The lightnings, reduced in number and fre- 

 quency, threaded the dark mass in every direction. "A low rumbling 

 noise was given out as the cloud worked its way across the clear, starry 

 sky. ' ' It spread across the vault, producing darkness ; when it reached 

 the zenith, pebbles fell about the size of a chestnut, cold, and these 



>>".i^V- 



>v^ 



Fig. 2 (6). Second Stage. The Dust Veil. 



became a rattling hail diminishing to the size of peas. Fine gray ash 

 followed in little moist and adherent globules, noiselessly sinking 

 through the air and sticking to everything on which they landed. They 

 were not warm, and there was a slight smell of sulphurous acid. After 

 a few minutes the ash took the form of a gritty dry powder. The 

 layer which fell on deck had a total thickness of one sixteenth of an 

 inch. 



The southerly wind rose to a fresh breeze and the naturalists took 

 their sloop into Fort de France harbor safely. They noticed a thunder- 

 storm to the northeast, as heretofore described. 



