246 The National Geographic Magazine 



and this ash covered all the country be- 

 tween Carbet, Morne Rouge, and Pre- 

 cheur, just as ashes now cover the 

 same district. The Riviere Blanche also 

 flowed a torrent of black or slaty mud, 

 as it now flows. 



But soon the rumblings ceased, the 

 ashes turned into fertile soil, the Riviere 

 Blanche once more assumed the color 

 from which it derived its name, and St 

 Pierre forgot the intimation which Pelee 

 had given of the great secret within her 

 heart until about a month before that 

 secret destroyed her. 



THE FIRST RUMBLINGS 



Just when the present eruption began 

 no one can tell. In the month of May, 

 1 901, a year before the catastrophe, a 

 picnic party to the summit of Pelee dis- 

 covered a small fume rising from one 

 corner of its ancient crater lake, which 

 smelled of sulphur and killed the foliage 

 of a tree from whose foot it ascended. 



Mrs. Prentiss, wife of the American 

 consul, in her letter to her sister, stated 

 that on Wednesday, April 23, she heard 

 three distinct shocks or reports in St 

 Pierre, which were so great that the 

 dishes were thrown from the shelves 

 and the house rocked. These were 

 probably the first effects of the present 

 series of explosions noticed. 



On April 25 everybody saw a great 

 cloud of smoke toward Pelee, and from 

 that date until the catastrophe small 

 explosions of smoke and steam occurred. 

 Professor Landes noticed these from 

 April 25 to May 7. 



Friday, April 25, Julien Romaine ob- 

 served a wreath of smoke rising from 

 the summit crater. He went up to in- 

 vestigate, and saw a remarkable black 

 mixture of bituminous appearance bub- 

 bling and boiling, rising and puffing. 

 Jets of white vapor and boiling water 

 escaped and then fell back brusquely. 



On April 27 another eyewitness from 

 St Pierre discovered, what should have 



been an alarming fact, that the lower 

 Soufriere or L'Etang sec was in erup- 

 tion. Looking down upon it from 

 above, he saw a new hole some 26 feet 

 deep and 39 feet wide, in the center of 

 which was a top of molten column 

 shimmering like glass and a muddy- 

 water pool. From the cells of the fun- 

 nel jets of steam fumed in the air, and 

 ashes were everywhere around. The 

 account was preserved in the L' Colonie. 

 From time to time there were showers 

 of ashes and cinders, and from April 28 

 rumblings were heard in St Pierre. 



A gentleman writing to M. de Blowitz, 

 correspondent of the London Times at 

 Paris, noted that Pelee had been emit- 

 ting clouds of smoke for three weeks, 

 but the smoke seemed to be produced 

 so normally that even those who were 

 inclined to look on the dark side seemed 

 not to dread the catastrophe. 



From April 29 to Ma}' 5 ashes in- 

 creased steadily, breathing became more 

 uncomfortable, eyes smarted, and throats 

 were sore. On April 29 ominous rum- 

 blings of the mountain were heard at St 

 Pierre and whitish smoke was seen ris- 

 ing from the top. On that day fine 

 dust began to sprinkle over the city. 



From April 29 to May 5 the streams 

 began to swell ; the Roxelane and Des 

 Peres became raging torrents, carrying 

 debris and dead fishes through the city. 



April 30 there were three tremblings 

 of the earth, at 3.40, 5. 10, and 6. 10 a. m. 

 " These were not noted by the people, 

 because they took place horizontally," 

 records the paper. Was there a seis- 

 moscope in St Pierre ? 



On May 2 the first series of eruptions 

 occurred and ashes fell on St Pierre. 

 Work was suspended at the Usine Guerin 

 because of the clouds of ash and cinder. 

 Could these have been from the Sou- 

 friere, hardly a mile away? 



After this date it was continually no- 

 ticed that columns of cinders and steam 

 were produced at the exact spot where 

 the new crater was found. 



