462 The National Geographic Magazine 



' ' My residence was destroyed, and 

 out of ii2 laborers employed on the 

 plantation all but seven perished. The 

 seven who escaped happened to be visit- 

 ing a farm eight miles farther from the 

 volcano that day, and when they saw 

 the danger took refuge with a lot of 

 others in a cave. My family was in 

 Guatemala City, and therefore escaped. 



"On the trip to my plantation 

 I passed a number of other large 

 coffee plantations which had shared the 

 same fate as my own. The scene along 

 the route was frightful. The dead 

 bodies of Indians and animals, who had 

 been suffocated by the deadly fumes, 

 were visible everywhere, and the stench 

 was awful. I passed through one In- 

 dian village where over 350 had per- 

 ished. All of the bodies had their 

 hands to their nostrils, showing plainly 

 what caused death. The damage to the 

 country is beyond repair. 



' ' Two new craters had been formed 

 in the mountain side, and were in erup- 

 tion at last accounts." 



EXPLORATIONS AROUND MOUNT 

 McKINLEY 



THE Brooks Alaskan expedition of 

 1902 fulfilled in the main the pro- 

 gram of work in the Mount McKinley 

 region outlined by Mr Brooks in the 

 April number of this Magazine, p. 134. 

 Eight hundred miles were traversed, 

 probably the longest journey with a 

 pack train ever made in Alaska. An 

 instrumental survey was made through- 

 out by Mr Raeburn and his observa- 

 tions made to connect with his surveys 

 in 1 901 beyond the Yukon. Thus in 

 the two years' work a belt has been sur- 

 veyed from Cook Inlet to the Arctic 

 Ocean, a distance of 2,000 miles, and 

 a record for reconnaissance work in 

 Alaska. Evidences of glaciation were 

 found everywhere from Cook Inlet to 

 Tanana up to altitudes of 4,000 or 5,000 



feet. Dr Brooks reports the Mount 

 McKinley region probably the best 

 game country in the world. Deer, 

 caribou, bear, and birds were constantly 

 in sight, and so tame that they could 

 knock them with a stick. As elsewhere 

 in Alaska, the mosquitoes incessantly 

 attacked them in clouds, except for four 

 or five hours at night time, from 10 to 

 3, when the party obtained some rest. 



The remarkable magnetic disturbance 

 which attended the eruption of Mont 

 Pelee on May 8, 1902, and which was 

 noted in the June, 1902, number of this 

 magazine, page 208, was recorded at 

 practically all the magnetic observatories 

 throughout the world. This extended 

 magnetic disturbance is something en- 

 tirely new in our history of volcanic 

 action, as no magnetic disturbance has 

 previously been noted and recorded as at- 

 tending a volcanic outburst. The data 

 and observations recorded in May, 1902, 

 at the various magnetic stations in the 

 world have been collected by the Mag- 

 netic Division of the U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. A study of these ob- 

 servations is now being made by the 

 Survey under the direction of Dr L. A. 

 Bauer, and in due time an announce- 

 ment of the results will be made. 



Dr Walter Reed, who freed Cuba of 

 yellow fever, which had scourged the 

 island for centuries, died at his home, in 

 Washington, D. C, November 23, 1902. 

 By his discover}' that the yellow-fever 

 germ is carried by mosquitoes, he has 

 made the northern tropics habitable in 

 a true sense. The importance of his 

 discover}' is considered second only to 

 Jenner's discover}' of vaccination. Dr 

 Reed had only reached his fifty-second 

 year, but he had the satisfaction of 

 knowing that, as a result of his study 

 and efforts, not a single case of yellow 

 fever had occurred in Habana during 

 the last year of his life. 



