220 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. 



flicted people; and the Secretary of War was Dr. E. O. Hovey, of the American Museum of 



authorized to use such vessels as might be neces- Natural History, also went on the Dixie, as well 



sary for the quick transportation of the articles, as newspaper and magazine correspondents, 



Thi's bill was held up in the House by being re- photographers, and artists. The Dixie reached 



ferred to the Committee on Appropriations; but 

 when the President informed Congress on the fol- 

 lowing Monday in a special message that the 

 French Government had asked for relief, and ur- 

 ging immediate action, also recommending that 

 the appropriation be increased to $500,000, the 

 House increased the Senate appropriation by 

 $100,000 (on May 12). The War Department 

 at once ordered the Dixie to load the necessary 

 stores, and by direction of the President, Secre- 

 tary Hay cabled Ambassador Choate at London 

 to express to the British Government the sym- 

 pathy of the President and the people of the Uni- 

 ted States in the affliction that had befallen the 

 island of St. Vincent, and our desire to share in 

 the work of relief and rescue. 



The Dixie sailed from Brooklyn in the night 

 of May 14, at 9 o'clock, bearing the relief ex- 

 pedition to the unfortunate islands, including a 

 special scientific expedition to investigate the re- 

 gions of the disturbances under the auspices of 

 the National Geographical Society. Its members 

 consisted of Prof. Robert T.Hill, of the Geological 

 Survey; Prof. Israel C. Russell, Professor of Geol- 

 ogy in the University of Michigan; Comd. C. E. 

 Borchgrevink, antarctic explorer; Dr. T. A. Jag- 

 gar, of Harvard University; Mr. G. C. Curtis, of 

 Cambridge; and Dr. Angelo Heilprin, president 

 of the Philadelphia Geographical Society. This 

 was one of the most important and best equipped 

 expeditions ever sent out to study volcanic action. 



fOO, GUATEMALA, RUINED BY THE EARTHQUAKE. 



Fort de France, Martinique, on the morning of 

 May 21, and while the explorers proceeded to St. 

 Pierre in a smaller boat she unloaded a part of 

 her supplies. A desolate scene met the gaze of 

 those who debarked among the ruin and piled-up 

 debris and volcanic ash on what was once the 

 beautiful city of St. Pierre. There was not a 

 person in sight or a living thing among all this 

 ruin, except where a squad of French soldiers 

 were busy far up the slope piling up the dead to 

 be cremated. Prof. Russell estimated that about 

 20 square miles had been devastated on the west- 

 ern slope of Mont Pelee, and in all that space not a 

 living thing was left. Fire followed the hurricane 

 of hot vapor, and a rain of rock dust buried what 

 the fire left uncovered. Never in the history of 

 man had such complete destruction been wrought 

 on an area of equal size. As to the precise 

 nature of the blast that destroyed the city, the 

 opinions of the commission seem to differ. Prof. 

 Russell favors the opinion that the general cause 

 of death was a blast of steam charged with hot 

 dust. The people on the border of the devastated 

 area who escaped, and who in some instances 

 were injured, suffered from burns inflicted by hot 

 dust that adhered to the skin. Witnesses who 

 were on the Roddam in front of St. Pierre at the 

 time of the disaster say that when the eruption 

 occurred the vessel was struck with such force by 

 the material ejected that she was nearly capsized, 

 and at the same time she seemed to be enveloped 



