314 ERUPTION OF THE SOUFRIERE IN ST. VINCENT. 



On the windward side of the island an uninterrupted view of the 

 progress of the eruption could not be obtained, owing- to the veil of 

 cloud which obscured the summit. By midda}- on Wednesday even 

 the most skeptical were convinced that the Soufriere was in eruption, 

 and that the noises heard continuously were not due to a thunder- 

 storm. Before midday there had been very heavy rain showers, and 

 it was noticed that the raindrops carried down line particles of ash. 

 Work ceased on. the plantations, and those laborers who still remained 

 endeavored to escape to Georgetown or shut themselves up in their 

 houses. Bv 2 o'clock fine ashes, with occasional larger stones, were 

 falling steadily, but, as yet, little damage had been done, and no one 

 had been injured. Then came the climax of the eruption, and those 

 who were in the open air saw a dense black cloud rolling with terrific 

 velocity down the mountain. They took refuge in their houses and 

 in the plantation works, where they crowded together in such num- 

 bers that in one small room 87 were killed. The cloud was seen to 

 roll down upon the sea, and was described to us as flashing with light- 

 ning, especiall}^ when it touched the water. All state that it was 

 intensely hot, smelt strongly of sulphur, and was sufl'ocating. They 

 felt as if something was compressing their throats, and as if there 

 was no air to breathe. There was no fire in the ordinary sense of 

 the word, only the air was itself intensely hot and was charged with 

 hot dust. The sufl'ocating cloud only lasted a few minutes. Those 

 who survived this ordeal mostly escaped, though man}^ died within a 

 few hours from shock, or from the severit}^ of their injuries. In 

 some cases a few survived, entirely or almost entirely uninjured, 

 in a room in which many others died. Most of those who escaped 

 had shut themselves up in the rum cellars or in substantialh" built 

 houses, and had firmly closed all doors and windows. By the time 

 the hot blast had reached the coast the sand it contained was no longer 

 incandescent, and though still at a very high temperature it did not 

 set fire to wood or burn the clothes of those exposed to it. The burns 

 on the survivors were chiefly on the outer aspect of the arms and legs, 

 and on the faces, and confined to parts not protected l)v their clothes. 



Complete darkness now covered the whole north end of St. Vin- 

 cent — a darkness moi'e intense than an}- that the iidial)itants had ever 

 before experienced. The fugitives had to creep along the roads or 

 feel their way along the roadsides. The roaring of the mountain was 

 terrible — a long, drawn out, continuous sound resembling the roar of 

 a gigantic animal in great pain. Fine ash and sand rained down over 

 the whoU^. country, with occasional showers of large stones. Some of 

 these were so hot as to set fire to the "trash" roofs of huts in the 

 south end of Georgetown, at a distance of T miles from the crater. In 

 Kingstown, 12 niiles from the Soufriere, the ash was at first moist, 

 but afterwards dry. It had a strong sulphurous smell, and pattered 



