330 E. 0. Hovey — Eru])tions of 1902 of La Soufriere^ 



" smoke " and steam began rising from La Souf riere at 1 P. M. 

 of September 3, but that the violent outburst did not begin 

 until 9.30 that night. Three hours later the eruption was at 

 its height and the last explosion occurred at 5.40 A. M. The 

 roaring of the volcano from midnight onward was continuous 

 and was terrifying even at Kingstown, while the electric dis- 

 play about the great column of dust-laden steam surpassed 

 those of May T and 18. The matter ejected by this last erup- 

 tion is described by Mr. Durrant as being " a heavy, black 

 sand" of the coarseness of blasting powder, with plenty of 

 pumice, but very few stones." Yery little light-gray ash like 

 that of the May eruptions fell this time. Kichmond Yale 

 estate received about eight inches of ash, Chateaubelair about 

 six inches, Petit Bordel about four inches. Southward the 

 coat of ash diminished to Peter's Hope, an estate on the west 

 coast about ten miles southwest of the. crater, where it ceased 

 to be of importance. The beginning of this eruption was a 

 mud-flow toward the site of Morne Ronde village. 



Under date of September 26 Mr. T. MacGregor MacDonald 

 writes me that three men, two brothers and a cousin by the 

 name of Richards, visited the summit of La Soufriere August 

 19. From their accounts it was evident that relations within 

 the crater had not changed materially from what we found on 

 May 31. On September IT Messrs. J. Adams and W. Cum- 

 mings made the ascent to see what changes had been wrought 

 by the tremendous eruption of September 3-4. They reported 

 that the crater was filled up to about the level of the surface 



* A sample of the material thrown out by the eruption of the Soufriere 

 September 8 AYas received from Mr. Durrant September 25 and has been 

 examined under a hand-lens. It consists of fine and coarse volcanic sand 

 and gravel, apparently for the most part comminuted ancient lavas of the 

 volcano. The fragments from 3 to 15 millimeters across show the coarsely 

 crystalline structure of the old lavas and many of them show that they are 

 parts of weathered masses. Olivine, pyrite (pyrrhotite ?) and porphyritic crys- 

 tals of feldspar, hypersthene and hornblende are abundant in these frag- 

 ments and the separated minerals make up a large proportion of the particles 

 about 2 millimeters in diameter. A comparatively large fragment (20"^'" in 

 diameter) shows phenocrysts of feldspar imbedded in dark brown and light 

 brown scoriaceous glass which is apparently fresh. All the fragments and 

 the particles of sand are coated with dust which seems to be as fine as any 

 that fell during the May eruptions, so that the explanation of Mr. Durrant's 

 statement regarding the relative absence of fine dust from the ejecta of Sep- 

 tember 3-4 may be that the wind carried most of such material northward 

 and westward awaj^ from Kingstown, his point of observation. The cloud 

 from this eruption of La Soufriere is reported to have produced darkness for 

 about six hours on September 4 in Fort de France, Martinique. 



The dust -coated sand is dark gray when dry, but is almost black when 

 wet, justifying the description quoted from Mr. Durrant's letter. Compari- 

 son of this new material, however, with that collected by myself. May 23- 

 June 10, indicates that there is no essential difference between the ejecta of 

 the earlier and the later eruptions. 



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