45° 



The National Geographic Magazine 



crater of 1812 ; the rim of the small 

 crater showed less and less dust as one 

 receded from the edge of the great 

 crater. 



Samuel Brown, a ranger or care-taker 

 on the Lot 14 estate 011 the southeast 

 slopes of La Soufriere, who was our 

 guide, when we reached the small crater, 

 told us that he watched the eruption of 

 May 7 until the great outburst at 2 

 o'clock, and that no cloud of steam or 

 ' ' smoke ' ' rose from the small crater. 

 Furthermore, at the time of my leaving 

 the island, June 10, no column of steam 

 had risen above that crater since May 7. 

 Brown was at the sugar factory of the 

 estate, three and one-half miles in a 

 straight line east-southeast from the 

 crater, a most favorable spot from which 

 to observe what was going on at the 



summit of the mountain. He saved his 

 life by running into the rum cellar of 

 the factory and closing the door and the 

 window shutters just before the volcanic 

 blast swept over the building. On in- 

 quir}' in Georgetown I found persons 

 who had watched the eruption from the 

 town and had noted the fact that no col- 

 umn of steam rose from the small crater. 

 Although there are many ancient lava 

 beds in the composition of the mountain, 

 no stream of melted lava has issued from 

 La Soufriere during the present erup- 

 tion. The "bread-crust" bombs, how- 

 ever, which occur plentifully on the 

 mountain sides, especially on the wind- 

 ward slopes, show that during the pres- 

 ent eruption molten lava has been 

 present in the throat of the volcano, 

 and that many lumps of melted or half- 



La Soufriere. Interior of Crater. Eastern Wall Showing the Alteration of 

 Columnar Beds of Lava with Deposits of Tuff Agglomerate 



From a photograph taken by Dr E. O. Hovey, May 31, 1902 



