THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



more than 200 yards from the site of Guerin sugar works — the 

 first notable victim of the fury of Pelee. This block is about 

 22 feet high, 30 feet long and 24 feet broad, and the day I photo- 

 graphed it (June 25) it was still very hot. It may have been 

 thrown out during the great eruption of June 6. More interesting, 

 however, than the " ejected blocks " are the " bread-crust bombs." 

 The former were cast out of the crater in a heated, but 

 not molten condition, while the latter are masses of lava 

 which were thrown out of the volcanoes in a melted or partly 

 solidified condition. The bombs are glassy in structure but 

 contain porphyritic crystals, the interior being porous in tex- 

 ture, while the exterior is solid. The solid exterior in cooling 

 contracted and formed gaping cracks in every direction, the re- 

 sult giving an appearance like the crust on a loaf of bread, 

 hence the name. I brought several of these bread-crust bombs 

 to the Museum from each volcano, and a choice specimen 26 inches 

 across, from Mt. Pelee is now on exhibition. The bombs thrown 

 out by Pelee were of all sizes, from those weighing a few ounces 

 up to one about 1 5 feet long which we found on the eastern rim 

 of the crater. There had been no stream of lava yet from 

 either volcano in this series of eruptions, up to the time of my 

 leaving the islands. 



The activity of La Soufriere seems to have been concen- 

 trated in two violent efforts resulting in the eruptions of May 

 7 and 18, when more material was thrown out than had been 

 ejected from Mt. Pelee up to the time of my departure. After 

 May 18 La Soufriere became less and less active (though a 

 severe earthquake was reported from Kingstown, St. Vincent, 

 July 17), until late in August, when activity increased and there 

 were terrible eruptions August 30 and September 3, Mt. Pelee, 

 however, has had many severe outbursts since the memorable 

 8th of May, and even as I pen these words cable dispatches re- 

 late some of the particulars of great eruptions which took place 

 in the last days of August and early in September. These out- 

 bursts are reported to have been greater than any of their pre- 

 decessors, and Mome Rouge is said to have been destroyed 

 August 30. I spent four nights at this beautiful village in June 



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