Volcanic Disturbances in West Indies 



59 



The Area of Devastation as seen by me 

 between May 20 and 30 represents the 

 effect of all of these eruptions. As a 

 whole, this area includes all the country 

 between Carbet and Precheur bounded 

 \>y the north and south cliff lines previ- 

 ously mentioned in the description of 

 the configuration as constituting the 

 amphitheater of death. This area prac- 

 tically includes the country between the 

 Riviere Mouillage on the south and the 

 Riviere .Blanche on the north, with the 

 addition of two coastal prolongations 

 seaward of the cliff lines, which bend 

 southward of the Mouillage toward Car- 

 bet and northward of the Blanche to- 

 ward Precheur. 



The Mud-plastered Landscape. — The 

 whole of this area, both the included 

 valley and the faces and summit edges 

 of the escarpment, is enveloped in a 

 smooth compact casing of mud plaster, 

 resembling a coat of cement, which is 

 striped by parallel erosion scratches 

 which have scored the surface. This 

 cement covers a well-defined zone, repre- 

 senting the area of the catastrophe, the 

 shower of mud following the ignition 

 cloud. It maybe noted that pouzzioloni, 

 a natural cement, made from volcanic 

 material, was about the only economic 

 product of Martinique's geological for- 

 mations, and was extensively found 

 around St Pierre. 



Between the mud rivers south of Pre- 

 cheur and the Riviere Mare the coast 

 line bluffs. Along this bluff extends 

 the remains of what was once a magnifi- 

 cent and costly highway. Its macad- 

 amized surface is now covered to a depth 

 of three feet with mud, and obstructed 

 here and there by fallen trees. In the 

 mud there are numerous bodies of ani- 

 mals, cattle, horses, and donkeys, with 

 occasional human remains. 



Destruction of Habitations. — All the 

 homes of the 25,000 people of St Pierre 

 are destroyed. Outside of St Pierre, in 

 the area below the cliff line, there is not 

 a visible sign remaining of one of the 



homes of the 15,000 people who inhab- 

 ited them. Annihilation is the only 

 descriptive term. While remnants of 

 houses remain in St Pierre, the annihila- 

 tion extends northward to one-half mile 

 of Precheur. 



Among the country places destroyed 

 around St Pierre, according to M. Houly, 

 were the following : Perinelle, Pecoul, 

 Reduis, La Trois Points, Jardine des 

 Plants, the Bishop's house, L' Habita- 

 tion, Trouvallon, Miron, Tricolore, 

 Lance, La Touche. 



De?iudatio?i of Vegetation. — Over this 

 entire area the vegetation is entirely 

 denuded, with the exception of a few 

 larger trees standing in St Pierre, from 

 the Mouillage southward, stripped of 

 all leaves and twigs and bark, only the 

 trunks and larger limbs remaining. On 

 the edge of the cliff above St Pierre, sev- 

 eral large trees with foliage singed re- 

 main standing in the area of mud. 



In the gradients of the deep valleys 

 of the headwater ravines nearest the 

 summit, on the St Pierre slope, trees of 

 the grandes bois still stand with foli- 

 age untouched. In protected lateral 

 ravines of the south cliff, near the Jar- 

 din Botanique, bamboo and other vege- 

 tation was still green, while killed on 

 exposed hillsides above them. 



The vegetation on the summit of the 

 south cliff to an altitude of 100 meters was 

 killed ; in the deep valleys of the stream 

 entering the sea at the south end of St 

 Pierre, cane and grass were not affected. 



Along the coast benches vegetation 

 was blasted as far south as the northern 

 edge of Carbet village. In the south 

 edge cane and palms are green. To the 

 north the coast cliff as far as the first 

 stream, one-half mile south of St Pierre, 

 is also denuded and blasted to an alti- 

 tude of 200 feet or more. Nearer Pre- 

 cheur dead trees and palms are broken 

 down three or four feet from the ground 

 and lie to the westward. 



Ash (Lapilli-cove?'ed) Zone. — The 

 whole of the island has received a 



