ST. VINCENT. 481 



to the sea, and here and there present convenient terraces for plantations and 

 settlements. 



The central ridge, which throws off spurs east and west, develops a line of 

 sharp peaks, clothed with vegetation to their summits, and culminating with the 

 Morne and Garou, 5,200 feet high. Half-carbonised tree-stems, embedded in the 

 layers of travertine or in the lava streams, reveal the history of old eruptions by 

 which the forests were successively destroyed, springing again into new life after 

 each convulsion. The arable soil is everywhere an extremely rich black earth, 

 formed of ashes mixed with vegetable remains. 



According to Bulkeley, the spear-headed trigonocephalus also infests the 

 forests of St. Vincent, though this formidable reptile is usually supposed to be 

 confined to Martinique and St. Lucia. St. Vincent and the neighbouring islet 

 of Bequia probably served as so many stages on its migrations from South 

 America to the Antilles. To the presence of the trigonocephalus Bequia is said 

 by Labat to owe its title of " Little Martinique," a name since transferred to 

 another member of the Grenadines. 



La Soufrière, at the northern extremity of St. Vincent, is a mere fragment of 

 an ancient cone, which probably at one time rose to double the present height 

 of the loftiest summits of the crater. Reports, contradictory in their details, all 

 agree in the general statement that in the year 1718 a terrific erujDtion of La 

 Soufrière buried the whole island and surrounding waters in ashes ; it was, 

 doubtless, on that occasion that the upper part of the cone was blown away. 

 The ruptured mountain was still in a restless state in 1785, but in 1812 a deep 

 lake flooded its terminal crater. The waters were agitated by frequent shocks, 

 which corresponded with similar disturbances occurring simultaneously in both 

 Americas and the Antilles. 



On April 27, 1812, a month after the destruction of Caracas, in Venezuela, by 

 an earthquake, another eruptive mouth appeared on La Soufrière not far from its 

 first crater. A few volleys of stones and ashes were followed by more violent 

 discharges, which became constantly more frequent, at last merging in a con- 

 tinuous roar. The whole firmament was gradually overcast with dense clouds 

 of dust torn at intervals by the fiery tracks of blazing masses, and daylight 

 disappeared behind the black canop}^ belched forth from the bowels of the earth. 

 The underground rumblings were heard on the llanos of Venezuela, 600 miles 

 away, and for three days the shroud of night was suspended over the sea as far 

 as Barbados, 120 miles farther east. The troops quartered in this island, hearing 

 the distant rattle, fancied that two fleets must be en^raged in the neiorhbourins: 

 waters, and began to prepare for the possible attack of some unknown enemy. 

 But nothing could be descried across the "visible darkness" until the raging 

 storm abated, when a shower of ashes was seen pouring down from space. When 

 it ceased the island was found covered with the black and fertilising ashes for a 

 thickness of some inches. At first it was supposed that the scoriae had been cast- 

 up by some volcano that had risen above the ocean to the windward of Barbados, 

 as it seemed incredible that they could have been wafted across the sea by the 



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