The Eruptions of La Soufriere 



457 



the windward coast were all stripped of 

 their glass, while immense quantities of 

 dust were carried to the Island of Bar- 

 bados, 90 miles due east, and beyond. 

 The accounts of other eyewitnesses in- 

 clude the mention of a strong blast of 

 volcanic material ' ' returning from the 

 sea ' ' after the main cloud had rushed 

 down the mountain. There probably 

 was an inrush of air toward the moun- 

 tain, due to the uprushing column from 

 the crater acting on the east side in con- 

 nection with the trade winds. 



An official's estimate of the loss of 

 life on St Vincent by the eruption places 

 the number of killed at 1,350. The ac- 

 tual number of bodies buried was 1,298, 

 including those of the wounded who 

 died in the hospitals. Almost all of the 

 people who passed through the fury of 

 the eruption and escaped uninjured had 

 taken refuge in cellars, the only open- 

 ings into which were on the side farthest 

 from the crater, and were, moreover, 

 tightly closed with wooden doors or 

 shutters. The most striking example 

 of such protection was at Orange Hill, 

 on the windward coast two and one-half 

 miles north of Georgetown, where one 

 hundred thirty-two persons were saved 

 unharmed in an empty rum cellar. 

 This cellar, which is only partly under- 

 ground, is part of a sugar factory situ- 

 ated on a rather flat divide between two 

 ravines, which may have tended to sep- 

 arate the volcanic storm somewhat, 

 though the roof of the building over 

 the cellar was demolished by the ejecta. 

 The only openings into the cellar were 

 a door and two windows on the side op- 

 posite the crater, and these were pro- 

 vided with heavy wooden shutters which 

 were kept closed during the fury of the 

 eruption. 



The manager of the estate, Alexander 

 McKenzie, with his wife and a son, re- 

 mained in the manor house, scarcely a 



hundred yards from the rum cellar, and 

 were killed during the eruption, appar- 

 ently by asphyxiation. The house had 

 large windows, the glass of which was 

 shattered by the projectiles from the 

 volcano, permitting free entry to the 

 deadly dust-laden steam. These three 

 Scotch people and a Portuguese em- 

 ploye at the Wallibu sugar works, on 

 the leeward side, were the only white 

 people killed by the eruption. The ex- 

 periences of the people in the cellars 

 suggest the great desirability of con- 

 structing similar places of refuge for use 

 in time of hurricane as well as of vol- 

 canic eruption. 



The deaths on St Vincent seem to 

 have been due, principally, to the fol- 

 lowing causes: (1) asphyxiation by 

 hot, dust-laden steam and air; (2) burns 

 due to hot stones, lapilli, and dust; (3) 

 blows by falling stones ; (4) nervous 

 shock ; (5) burning by steam alone, 

 and (6) strokes of lightning The last- 

 mentioned cause is perhaps somewhat 

 doubtful, for though it is very generally 

 named by the survivors, there has been 

 no substantiation mentioned beyond the 

 fact that there was a great deal of ex- 

 tremely vivid lightning during the erup- 

 tion. The action of steam would ac- 

 count for the burns received underneath 

 the clothing where the clothing was not 

 even charred. Sulphur dioxide, S0 2 , 

 and hydrogen sulphide, H.,S, were ob- 

 served in troublesome quantities in the 

 steam coming from the crater, and it is 

 more than probable that these gases, 

 especially the former, added very ma- 

 terially to the deadly character of the 

 dust-laden steam. Strange as it may 

 seem, not an autopsy was made on any 

 of the hundreds of victims of the catas- 

 trophe, so that it never can be known 

 definitely what part was played by these 

 or other poisonous gases in the destruc- 

 tion of human life. 



