THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



familiar with the rank vegetation which clothed the slopes of 

 these mountains with tropical verdure before the eruptions took 

 place. Ejectainthe shape of dust and lapilli (= volcanic sand 

 and gravel) were scattered all over the islands and distributed 

 over a very wide area beyond, but the " area of devastation " may 

 be considered to be confined to the limits within which buildings 

 were destroyed and crops ruined for the time being. Plotting 

 these areas on the British Admiralty charts as well as possible 

 without actual surveys and then measuring the areas with a 

 planimeter, I find that about 46 square miles, practically one- 

 third, of the island of St. Vincent, and about 32 square miles, 

 one-twelfth, of the island of Martinique were laid waste by the 

 material thrown out by the volcanoes between May 5 and July 

 6. Within a few months the tropical rains will have washed the 

 coating of ashes from a large portion of these areas and vege- 

 tation will hide the ruin wrought by the eruptions ; while, unless 

 the activity continues severe, a very few years will suffice to 

 restore the islands to their former verdure. Over much of the 

 devastated district on each island the roots of the grass and 

 other vegetation were not killed and even before my departure 

 from Martinique, July 6, the hillsides overlooking St. Pierre 

 were becoming green and the grass was asserting itself much 

 nearer to the centre of destruction. I found uninjured grass 

 roots within ten feet of the very rim of the crater. But nothing 

 can restore life to the 30,000 human beings swept out of existence 

 on Martinique and to the 1350 persons destroyed on St. Vincent. 

 The sugar factories will be long in rebuilding, especially upon 

 St. Vincent, whence prosperity departed years ago and where 

 the people have been impoverished by a series of hurricanes and 

 by the decline in the price of sugar. 



The material thrown out by both volcanoes contains fragments 

 of the old surface rocks of the islands as well as fresh lava brought 

 up from the earth's interior by the present activity. The propor- 

 tion of old lavas in the ejecta of La Soufriere seems to be greater 

 than it is in the ejecta of Mt. Pelee, though the largest blocks 

 have been thrown out by the latter. A monster of this kind 

 lies upon the plateau between the Seche and Blanche rivers not 



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