Volcanic Disturbances in West Indies 225 



THE DEPARTURE 



THE Lord rained fire and brim- 

 stone and the smoke of the 

 country went up as of a fur- 

 nace. — Bible. 



The present year seems to be one of 

 unusual volcanic and seismic activity. 

 In Russia, Mexico, Guatemala, the 

 West Indian and Aleutian Islands dis- 

 turbances of severity, accompanied by 

 great loss of life, have taken place, while 

 the volcanoes of Vesuvius and Hawaii 

 are also displaying marked activity. It 

 was reserved for two apparently quies- 

 cent and long-forgotten volcanoes in the 

 West Indies, however, to give us an ex- 

 hibition of sudden and deadly violence, 

 and to awaken a world-wide interest in 

 these phenomena. 



The first news of the outburst of the 

 Martinique volcano to reach the United 

 States was a dispatch May 6 from St 

 Thomas, West Indies, to the New York 

 Journal, announcing that the flow of 

 lava from the volcano Montagne Pelee, 

 Island of Martinique, had begun; and 

 on the previous Saturday, May 3, had 

 completely destroyed the Guerin fac- 

 tory, situated two miles from St Pierre, 

 the principal town of Martinique, and 

 reporting that there was a rumor to the 

 ■effect that 150 persons had disappeared. 



On May 9 the frightful news followed, 

 announcing that the beautiful city of 

 St Pierre, with all its inhabitants, had 

 been annihilated on the preceding day 

 by a terrific volcanic outburst. 



As horrible as are volcanic disasters, 

 they are always exaggerated in the first 

 reports, and many were loath to believe 

 that 30,000 people had been swept into 

 eternity at a single moment, as was de- 

 scribed. 



Sitting in my office, where at the 

 time I was preparing a long-deferred 

 report upon the geology of the Wind- 

 ward Islands for Professor Alexander 

 Agassiz, to be published by Harvard 

 University, the news was made known 



to me by a reporter of the New York 

 Herald, who asked me to give him some 

 information (published in the Herald 

 of May 10) upon the geology of the 

 islands and the volcanoes. Erom that 

 moment until the sailing of the Dixie, 

 at 9 p. m. on the night of May 14, when 

 she sailed from the Brooklyn dock, I was 

 besieged by reporters for information, 

 and since that first news I have myself 

 been in a continuous state of eruption 

 from endeavoring to procure and give 

 such information as within my power. 



THE START 



On Tuesday, May 13, the officers of 

 the National Geographic Society re- 

 quested me to accompany the Dixie 

 relief expedition, which sailed at the 

 hour previously stated. Without prep- 

 aration I joined the ship, and on the 

 morning of the 15th was well out to sea, 

 headed for the scene of disaster. 



We had hardly settled ourselves on 

 board the man-of-war when we began 

 to speculate concerning the conditions 

 which we would find awaiting us at the 

 island. Immediately followingthe news 

 of the catastrophe at St Pierre the reports 

 were full of accounts of many startling 

 phenomena. Among these may be men- 

 tioned the rumors that the top of the 

 mountain had blown away ; that the 

 island had decreased in area one-half ; 

 that the entire north coast had disap- 

 peared ; that the sea bottom had sunk 

 1 ,000 feet ; that the streams of lava were 

 flowing, and that the configuration of 

 the entire island had been changed. 

 Finally, as we left New York, the after- 

 noon papers printed rumors that Fort 

 de France had been burned, so that for 

 seven days we sailed in ignorance of the 

 conditions awaiting us. 



From all parts of the world also came 

 notices of impossible accompanying phe- 

 nomena. Volcanoes were found in Ne- 



