324 E. 0. Hovey — Erujptions of 190% of La Soufriere^ 



agglomerates show that there liave been many eruptions of the 

 volcanoes of St. Yincent of the same character as that of 1902. 

 They contain bombs as well as blocks. The beds of solid rock 

 on the island show that many of the ancient eruptions were 

 accompanied by extensive flows of molten lava. The porous 

 agglomerates have suffered much from the decoui posing action 

 of percolating waters, and the lava beds show extensive altera- 

 tion due to the same agency. Beautiful spheroidal weathering 

 is common in the basalts of the southeastern part of the island 

 and in the elevated beach conglomerates of the windward coast. 



Although there are many ancient lava beds in the composi- 

 tion of the mountain, no streavi of melted lava has issued from 

 the Soufriere during the present eruption. The " bread-crust '- 

 bombs, however, which occur plentifully on the mountainsides, 

 especially on the windward slopes, show that during the present 

 eruption molten lava has been present in the throat of the vol- 

 cano, and that many lumps of half-melted rock were thrown 

 into the air. Besides the bombs, the volcano ejected blocks of 

 ancient andesitic lava of several kinds and of varying degree& 

 of coarseness of grain, and of all sizes up to masses six or eight 

 feet across, and vast quantities of coarse and tine lapilli and 

 dust. Most, if not all, of the blocks were thrown out at very 

 high temperatures, as is showm by their cracked condition, 

 though they were not actually fused. Although a few bombs, 

 some of which were twelve to fifteen inches across, were found 

 on the leeward side as far away from the crater as the site of 

 Richmond village, three and one-half miles distant, by far the 

 largest number of both bombs and blocks, as well as the largest 

 specimens, were found on the windward side, bombs fifteen ta 

 eighteen inches in diameter being common in the bed of the 

 Rabaka Dry River. 



The area of devastation on St. Yincent is very large in pro- 

 portion to the total area of the island. After plotting it out 

 carefully on the British Admiralty chart and measuring the 

 area with a planimeter, I find it to be forty-six square miles, 

 practically one-third the entire area of the island. From 

 much of this devastated area, however, the ashes are being 

 washed off so rapidly by the rain that vegetation is already 

 asserting itself, and within another year crops will be growing 

 there again.* 



Extensive landslides have taken place on the western side 

 (see Plate YIII), removing a strip of coast, in places one 



* Newspaper reports and private advic'es from St. Vincent show that the 

 area of devastation has been extended on the leeward side of the island by 

 the tremendous eruption of September 3-4 about four miles south of the 

 boundary indicated on the map herewith presented (fig. 1), while the whole 

 western portion of the devastated area got a heavy additional coat of lapilli. 

 The windward side did not suffer materially from this eruption. 



