The Eruptions of La Soufriere 



445 



for the beautiful lake within it, the sur- 

 face of which was 1,930 feet above tide, 

 or about eleven hundred feet below the 

 southern rim of the crater. The depth 

 of this lake in the center was 87 }4 

 fathoms, according to the statement of 

 P. F. Huggins, engineer, of Kings- 

 town, who told me that he sounded it 

 in 1S96 (see table in appendix). The 

 northwestern portion was deeper, but 

 Mr Huggins' s line was too short to 

 reach bottom there. The walls of the 

 crater were precipitous, like those of 

 Mount Misery, on the Island of St Kitts, 

 and others, while the outer slopes of the 

 mountain were comparatively gentle, 

 except as the}' were deeply cut into bj' 

 the very steep sided ravines of erosion. 



It is difficult for one who has not 

 visited the Lesser Antilles to realize the 

 precipitous character of the ravines cut 

 into the old tuff beds by the mountain 

 torrents. Slopes of 65 and 75 are 

 common, while those of 85 and verti- 

 cally are not rare. Under the usually 

 prevailing conditions, every slope is cov- 

 ered with such dense vegetation that its 

 true character is not perceived at once, 

 but the denudation on St Vincent and 

 Martinique resulting from the terrible 

 blasts occurring during the eruptions of 

 this year has revealed in a striking man- 

 ner the wonderfully rugged topography 

 of the northern parts of the islands. 



In April, 1901, earthquakes began to 

 be noticeably more frequent than usual 

 at Kingstown, suggesting to F. W. 

 Griffith, of that place, the idea that 

 trouble might be expecied from La 

 Soufriere. as had happened ninety years 

 before, according to the diary of his 

 grandfather, who was living at Kings- 

 town at the time. Mr Griffith's proph- 

 ecy received little attention, but b} r De- 

 cember of last year La Soufriere itself 

 was rumbling to such a degree that the 

 people living on the Windsor Forest and 

 other estates on the northwestern and 

 western slopes of the mountain became 

 greatly alarmed, and could with diffi- 



culty be persuaded to remain at their 

 homes. During the succeeding weeks 

 the rumblings became less violent, only 

 to return with renewed force in Feb- 

 ruary. 



The warnings of an approaching erup- 

 tion became so unmistakable by the end 

 of April and the beginning of May that 

 nearly every one had left the doomed 

 leeward district north of Chateaubelair 

 by the 6th of the latter month. On the 

 windward side conditions were different, 

 and but little alarm seems to have been 

 felt. The earthquakes were not as se- 

 vere and it was supposed that, in case 

 of any eruption, the trade winds would 

 carry all ejecta toward the west. A de- 

 ceptive security ! When the great out- 

 burst took place, at 2 p. m., May 7, but 

 one person was killed on the leeward 

 side of the island, while on the wind- 

 ward side about thirteen hundred and 

 fifty persons were killed outright during 

 the eruption or died afterward of in- 

 juries received then. Thousands of 

 families in the northern half of St Vin- 

 cent were rendered homeless and desti- 

 tute by the storm of lapilli (volcanic 

 dust and ashes), which in a few minutes 

 swept every vestige of tropical verdure 

 from about one-third of the island, re- 

 placing the beautiful variegated green 

 of the slopes with a uniform dull gray — ■ 

 the token of desolation. 



Mr MacDonald,* from his estate at 



* Mr MacDonald's notes were published in 

 full in the Kingstown Sentry of May 16, 1902. 

 They have been published also in the Century 

 Magazine for August, icp2, vol. lxiv, pp. 

 63S-642. The compiler of the latter account 

 in his preliminary note has confounded the 

 Richmond Vale estate with the Richmond 

 estate. Mr MacDonald, fortunately, does not 

 own the Richmond estate, which lies between 

 Richmond and Wallibu Rivers and was de- 

 stro3'ed by the eruption. The Richmond Vale 

 estate belongs to the MacDonald brothers and 

 was not seriously injured by the May erup- 

 tions, but the September outbursts destroyed 

 the cultivation and damagc-d the buildings. 

 The house is half a mile northeast of Chateau- 

 belair. 



