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The National Geographic Magazine 



which faced eastward, were badly shat- 

 tered, the glass being broken by stones 

 which passed through them from the 

 outside, and their frames were indented 

 in such a manner as to show that the 

 falling stones struck with considerable 

 force. This interesting observation, 

 taken in connection with other facts, 

 shows that the stones shot upward by 

 La Soufriere rose through the layer of 

 the atmosphere affected by the westward 

 blowing trade winds, and on reaching 

 the higher region of the atmosphere, 

 where the wind is known to be blowing 

 from west to east, were carried well to 

 the eastward of Georgetown, but on 

 falling were again swept westward by 

 the trade wind, accented, it is to be pre- 

 sumed, by an indraft toward the erupt- 

 ing volcano, and given such a slant that 

 on striking the windows referred to they 

 passed through and entered the rooms 

 within. 



On St Vincent the rain of dust and 

 stones was similar to that which fell on 

 Martinique, but in general the material 

 is coarse. Throughout the desolated 

 area rough, angular stones, some 5 or 

 6 inches in diameter, fell in vast quan- 

 tities, and at a distance exceeding about 

 five miles from the volcano dust and 

 lapilli descended so abundantly that 

 even at Kingstown, 12 miles from La 

 Soufriere, the fresh layer formed was 

 about three-fourths of an inch thick. 

 At Chateau Bellair, on the west coast, 

 and again at Georgetown, on the east 

 coast, each distant about five miles from 

 the volcano, I found the level fields 

 coated with a new layer of volcanic 

 debris about 2 feet thick. This is a 

 minimum measure of the depth of the 

 disastrous shower of stones on the devas- 

 tated area, and the average thickness of 

 the deposit is several times as great. 

 This material, it must be remembered, 

 came down while yet hot and man}' of 

 the stones were still glowing when the}' 

 struck. Not only were the stones that 

 fell on St Vincent larger than those 



which descended on Martinique, but, 

 what is also instructive, stones of two 

 classes are conspicuous on the desolated 

 fields. The greater part of the debris 

 consists of gray scoriaceous andesite, 

 and came from the columns of fresh lava 

 that rose in the conduit of La Soufriere. 

 This material was sufficiently cooled to 

 become solid before it was blown into 

 the air, and to a great extent was re- 

 duced to dust by the sudden expansion 

 of the steam it contained. In addition 

 to the fragments of fresh lava, the fields 

 are strewn with angular masses of older 

 and much more compact rock, which 

 was torn from the walls of the conduit 

 of the volcano by the uprush of molten 

 material and steam and blown high into 

 the air. These fragments of old rock 



GEORGETOWN 



KINGSTOWN 



Sketch Map Prepared by Israel C. Rus- 

 sell Showing Zones of Devastation 

 in St Vincent 



The black area is the region of greatest loss 

 of life ; the black and dark areas are the zone 

 of total destruction. In the light area the vege- 

 tation was not injured except by light shower 

 of volcanic dust. 



