ERUPTION OF THE SOUFRIERE IN ST. VINCENT. 815 



on the roofs liko a h('a\ v shower of tropic;il rain. Around the volcano 

 the earth shook and trembled continuously, and the motion was 

 described to us as undulatino- rather than resemblino- the sharp shock 

 of an earthquake. Only in one or two cases were the walls of houses 

 injured. What was taking place on the sunmiit of the mountain no 

 one can tell, but all who passed that night in the vicinity of the Sou- 

 friere agree tlr.it then* was one l)lack sutl'ocating cloud, and onlv one. 

 In all probabilitv the eruption had reassumed the ordinary phase, and 

 the showers of ash and stones were produced l)v violent u})ward explo- 

 sions of steam. By half past 5 o'clock the ash was falling in Barlxi- 

 dos, 100 miles to the eastward, whither it had been carried by the 

 upper currents of air in a direction opposite to that of the trade winds. 

 In St. Vincent the darkness lessened slightly before nightfall, but the 

 rain of dust and the noises lasted till early in tlu^ ensuing morning, 



When day l>roke it was seen that in St. Vincent, and even in Bar])a- 

 dos, everything was covered with tine gra}' ash, resembling a fall of 

 snow. The dust had penetrated into the interior of the houses, where 

 it lay in a thin tilm on walls and furniture. In Kingstown tliere were 

 stones as large as a hen's egg; in Georgetown and Chateaubelair some 

 had fallen as nuich as 1 foot in diameter. Little damage, however, 

 ai)pears to have been done to growing crops, except in the north end 

 of the island. In fact, many believe that the sulphurous ash had 

 insecticidal properties, and benetited the vegetation. From Chateau- 

 l)elair it could be seen that the volcano was still emitting putt's of slat}^- 

 coloi'ed steam, and show^ers of tine dust were falling on the leeward 

 side of the mountain. For several days these discharges of vapors 

 continued, Init a new phenomenon now attracted more attention. 

 The ra\ ines which furrow the south side of the mountain were found 

 to be discharging clouds of vapor, and this gave rise to reports of 

 tissures having opened on the ttanks of the Soufriere, of subsidiary 

 eruptions arising from these ttssures, and of streams of lava flowing- 

 down the valleys. As a matter of fact, they were really due to the 

 action of water flowing through the hot sand, which in some places 

 had almost ot)literated the old stream courses, as will ))e explained 

 more fully later on. By the J 5th the volcanic activity had apparently 

 subsided, and the mountain reujained clear and uncloud(Hl. The 

 explosions of steam in the \alleys continued, and are prol)ably still 

 going on. 



The state of quiescence continued till Sunday, May 18. Confldence 

 was being restored, and the inhabitants of those districts near the 

 mountain which had not sufl'ered severely were returning to their 

 homes. On the windward side the work of burying- the l)0(lies had 

 been completed and things were resuming their normal course. But 

 about S o'clock that evening an ominous sound was heard from the 

 crater. Its nature was at once recognized and struck the l)Iack popu- 



