May 29, 1902] 
day La Soufriére, ninety miles to the south, gave 
evidences that it was disturbed, but it was not until 2 p.m. 
on May 6 that it can be said to have erupted. At 7 a.m. 
on May 7 the eruption was violent. At noon three craters 
opened, lava flowed, ashes were driven to a height of 
eight miles, to fall upon Kingstown, twelve miles distant, 
whilst the schooner Ocean Traveller had to fly to escape 
destruction from the showers of lapilli. A violent explo- 
sion took place at 1.30 p.m., whilst at 3 p.m. the detona- 
tions were terrific. One hour later a dust cloud, which 
apparently had travelled in the teeth of the trades, reached 
Barbados. Dust or extremely fine ash was falling at or 
before 5.30, and in three days, when the eruption in St. 
Vincent moderated, a thin layer of this covered Bar- 
bados. The weight of this dust layer, which has already 
been analysed and is expected to improve the texture of 
the soil, is estimated at two million tons. This is what 
La Soufriére, assisted by an upper current of air, effected 
at a distance of 100 miles eastwards from its crater. It 
may here be noticed that this mountain commenced its 
violent outbursts, which extended over three days, before 
the explosion of Mont Pelée, which happened at 11.50a.m. 
on May 8, although Mont Pelée was in eruption some 
days before La Soufriére. 
The Dies Jae for St. Vincent was May 7, whilst for 
Martinique it was on May 8. Other events of considerable 
significance which happened on May 7, but about which 
we have as yet but little information, were, first, the St. 
Lucia-Martinique, the St. Lucia-St. Vincent, the St. 
Lucia-Grenada and the Guadeloupe-Martinique cables 
were interrupted ; second, at Io p.m. a very strong earth- 
quake shook St. Vincent; and lastly, in St. Vincent 
time in the Isle of Wight a seismograph commenced to 
indicate at 1oh. 45m. p.m., the maximum motion being 
attained at 11.16 p.m. The character of the seismogram 
is that of a disturbance which originated at a distance 
from the Isle of Wight of between 60° and 70°. From 
this it is inferred that the time at which this disturbance 
originated was about 10.33 p.m. 
Now St. Vincent is 60° from Great Britain, but 
whether the earthquake which took place in that island 
is identical with that recorded in Britain and repre- 
sents a suboceanic convulsion which interrupted the 
cables on that date can only be definitely settled by 
those who know the hours at which these cables ceased 
to work. 
The suboceanic disturbance which at 6.32 a.m. on 
December 29, 1897, interrupted the cables off Hayti 
gave in England a seismogram which was comparatively 
large. In this case, although the seismogram is small if 
we for the present assume the disturbance it represents 
to have originated off St. Vincent, it indicates that the 
sudden adjustments in the earth’s crust accompanying 
the eruption of La Soufriére were more violent than 
those which took place around Mont Pelée, from which 
earthquakes of any magniude do not seem to have 
originated. The considerations attending the laying of 
cables are no doubt numerous, but from the fact that those 
which have been mentioned for the most part pass along 
the western side of the Antilles, it cannot be said that 
they occupy the best position o avoid the effects of sub- 
marine convulsions. A comparison of the registers of 
the interruptions these cables have experienced with those 
of earthquakes which may have been recorded at many 
very distant stations would throw great light upon the 
geological activities in progress beneath the Caribbean 
Sea. 
To turn back to: Mont Pelée and La Soufriére, we 
see that after their paroxysmal efforts, when 2000 
lives had been lost in St. Vincent and 40,000 in 
Martinique, the eruptions at these mountains moderated, 
but this was only for a time. On May 17 another great 
eruption took place at La Soufriére, whilst on the 2oth 
Mont Pelée destroyed everything that had remained 
NO. 1700, VOL. 66] 
NALTORE 
BLT 
standing at St. Pierre, and, as if filled with a desire to 
destroy more life, showered stones and ashes on Fort 
de France, thirteen miles distant. The northern ends of 
two islands have now been destroyed and the eruptions 
continue, whilst in St. Lucia, which lies at a distance of 
about twenty miles from each of these scenes of 
destruction and exactly between them, the boiling 
sulphur springs and volcanoes remain in their normal 
conditions. 
With the great eruptions of Pelée on May 3, 8, 19 and 
20 there appear to have been disturbances of sea level, 
the water either rising or receding. With that of La 
Soufriére on the 17th, we read that at Chateau Belair 
every few hours there were continuous convulsions of the 
ground, at Kingstown and Georgetown there were sixty 
shocks in four hours, whilst the village of Wallibou partly 
sank and that of Richmond rose. All these phenomena, 
taken in conjunction with the interruption of cables, 
indicate that the more violent displays of activity were 
accompanied by adjustments in the neighbouring strata, 
and it is more likely that such adjustments were the 
cause rather than the result of the marked phases of 
activity. 
About unusual phenomena which occurred at a 
distance we have as yet but little information. 
On May 11 a geyser or boiling lake in Dominica, 
some 300 feet in length and 200 feet in breadth, dis- 
appeared. The next day some boiling springs at Bath, 
in Jamaica, became extremely hot. On May 13, and for 
several days previously, Pico de Colima, a volcano 
12,700 feet high, in Mexico, created alarm by belching 
forth puffs of smoke, whilst at St. Thomas at 4.30 p.m. 
a slight earthquake was felt. On May 18 an earthquake 
was felt throughout California. Up to noon on Sunday, 
May 25, with the exception of what has here been noted, 
the instruments in the Isle of Wight have been at rest. 
J. MILNE. 
Volcanic Ash at Barbados. 
Volcanic ash fell very thickly at Barbados in the afternoon 
of May 7, in consequence of the eruption of the Soufricre on 
St. Vincent, and caused almost total darkness in the afternoon. 
On the morning of May 8, we learn from the Barbados Advo- 
cate, kindly sent to us by Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, the 
streets were found to be covered with this grey dust, and it 
was estimated that about twenty-two tons per acre fell in 
twelve hours. The ash lay so thick in the streets that traffic 
was interfered with, and great difficulty was experienced in 
clearing it from houses and approaches. 
There was a fairly strong east wind prevailing during the 
whole period, and ordinarily speaking, St. Vincent being to the 
west of Barbados, it would have been considered impossible 
that the dust could have travelled in this direction nearly a 
hundred miles against the wind. But whilst the prevailing 
direction of the wind was from the east, the upper currents 
of air travelled from the west, and the phenomenon observed 
in the eruption of 1812 was repeated in the present. The 
dust was hurled from the volcano into the upper strata of air 
and borne eastward against the direction of the surface 
currents. 
According to the official statement in the 4gricu/tural News, 
the quantity of ash that fell varied from three-eighths to half an 
inch in depth, covering everything with a grey mantle of impal- 
pable dust. By actual measurement it was ascertained that the 
weight of ash was at the rate of 17°58 tons per acre, probably 
nearly twomillion tons being deposited over the whole of Barbados. 
Prof, d’Albuquerque’s preliminary chemical examination led to 
the conclusion, which was contrary to expectation, that the ash 
was of no fertilising value, but that it may tend to improve the 
texture of the surface layers of heavy clay lands. Dr. Longfield 
Smith’s preliminary mineralogical examination disclosed volcanic 
minerals and volcanic glass, the minerals predominating, and 
consisting chiefly of silicates of iron and magnesia, also a con- 
siderable proportion of quartz and some potash felspar. Under 
