THE SHATTERED OBELISK OF MONT PELEE 



By Prof. Angelo Heilpri 



N 



Author of "Mont Pelee and the Tragedy of Martinique," "The 



Tower of Pelee," etc. 



OF the remarkable phenomena 

 which enter into the history 

 of the recent activities of Mont 

 Pelee, and of the activities of volcanic 

 mountains generally, few have at- 

 tracted more wide-spread attention 

 than the extrusion, through the Pelean 

 apex, of a core of rock which, at the 

 time of its greatest development, at- 

 tained a height of upward of a thou- 

 sand feet. This block of rock, which 

 thus rose the better part of twice the 

 height of the Washington Monument, 

 in the city of Washington, and had a 

 thickness at its base of from 300 to 500 

 feet, was a fundamental part of the his- 

 tory of the volcano for upward of a 

 year, not improbably already existing 

 in a minor or concealed form at the 

 time of the destruction of Saint-Pierre, 

 and continuing into the period of 

 August to September of the year fol- 

 lowing (1903). Today nearly all that 

 was of it lies in shattered fragments, 

 covering up much of what before was 

 the ancient crater basin of the Etang 

 Sec and of the domed mass which has 

 been constructed nearly centrally over 

 the floor of this basin. The fragments 

 of disruption occur in many sizes, from 

 boulders of two to three feet diameter 

 or less to others having the more re- 

 spectable measure of ten, twenty, or 

 even thirty feet. Their numbers make 

 up a veritable wilderness of debris, 

 From among which fumarolic vents are 

 still at intervals forcing vapor, and in 

 which at favored spots the eye detects 

 small growths of fern and other lowly 

 types of vegetation. 



The generally active condition of the 

 volcano, whether in its wilder or gen- 

 tler mood, had until this year virtually 

 barred all approach to this great rock 

 monolith, and thus made its study a 



matter of inferential deduction rather 

 than of actual observation. A long 

 period of quiescence in the activities of 

 Pelee has now made access to its cen- 

 tral parts possible, and the riddle of the 

 mountain is no longer kept to itself. 

 Taking advantage of this condition of 

 the volcano, the writer undertook a 

 fourth journey to the island of Mar- 

 tinique in the month of February of 

 this year, and, as he believes, success- 

 fully accomplished the object of his 

 visit. 



We arrived at Fort-de-France on the 

 2 1 st of the month, five days after a 

 fairly severe seismic movement, when 

 the inhabitants of the capital city were 

 still seeking refuge from possible earth- 

 quake visitations in short flights to the 

 canipagnc and when Pelee was again 

 coming in for a fair share of (wholly 

 undeserved) excoriation. Despite cable 

 reports to the contrary, the volcano 

 was wholly passive — except for quiet 

 emissions^ of summit steam — on the 16th, 

 when Castries, on the island of Saint 

 Lucia, suffered much, and Fort-de- 

 France considerably less. A record 

 of 35 to 40 houses more or less injured 

 hardly has significance from the earth- 

 quake point of view, but it was suffi- 

 cient at this time to point to graver 

 possibilities or even probabilities in 

 the near future, and hence le volcan and 

 les tr emblements de terre were an al- 

 most fixed topic of conversation with 

 everybody. I made my accustomed pil- 

 grimage to Saint-Pierre, now a disap- 

 pearing ruin in an encroaching jungle, 

 and on the second day following made 

 my way over to the northeastern side 

 of the island and established myself as 

 heretofore, under the hospitable roof 

 of the Usine Vive. On February 27, 

 starting from the Habitation Leyritz, 



