Volcanic Disturbances in West Indies 247 



The eruption of May 3 occurred at 

 eight bells, but its effect did not reach 

 Fort de France. It was characterized 

 principally by dense yellow-brown fumes 

 and boiling mud, which ran down the 

 Riviere Blanche. 



At 1.05 p. m. the first mud flow came 

 down the Riviere Blanche, which had 

 been of a dark hue for many days. This 

 caused Mr. Guerin, the proprietor of 

 the Usine at this point, to prepare to de- 

 part. Mont Pelee also began to throw 

 out dense clouds of smoke. At mid- 

 night the same day flames, accompanied 

 with rumbling noises, lighted the sky, 

 causing widespread terror. On this day 

 the first cable broke north of Martinique 

 at an unknown distance from the shore. 

 Then followed the first serious eruption 

 of ashes. 



A rain of cinders which began at 7 

 p. m. prevented the steamer Topaz from 

 approaching Precheur. 



E. G., in L'Colonie, in his graphic 

 account of his ascent to the summit 

 after the first explosion of May 3, says 

 the top of the mountain was all green 

 and the destruction was far less than 

 below. He also noted that a new cal- 

 dera had formed in the old crater and 

 was boiling up and flowing into the 

 Take de Palmiste. As it did not fill 

 up the lake, he concluded that it had a 

 subterranean outlet into the Riviere 

 Blanche. On the 4th of May birds died 

 from asphyxiation from ashes, and this 

 river became a torrent of mud and 

 pumice, large quantities of which began 

 to flow, causing much alarm as to what 

 the night would bring forth. Hot 

 ashes also covered the whole city quarter 

 of St Pierre an inch thick, and while 

 falling made Mont Pelee invisible. 



Monday, May 5, at 5 a. m., the erup- 

 tion of Pelee seemed ended and a calmer 

 state prevailed, although cinders con- 



Photo by Israel C Russell 



Mud-coated Surface and Injured Trees, Morne d'Orange (see page 2§g) 



