No. 44s'.] ERUPTION OF MOUNT PELEE. 



69 



Doubtless no dissertation will be expected from us on tlie 

 cause and nature of the Mt. Pelee volcano. This study would 

 require a professional knowledge other than we |)()ssess : wc 

 have merely tried to fulfill the request of the j4-()vci nnK'in and 

 report upon the extent of the accidents occasioned by ilu- 

 eruption of the 5th of August and certain exact tlctails. \\ c 

 will vouch for nothing beyond the facts which we ourscKcs 

 have determined. If these facts, compared with those i)os- 

 sessed by science already a propos of the other volcanoes of 

 the earth (more than two hundred in number) can throw some 

 light on the nature of this great phenomenon we shall be well 

 satisfied. But it is not our task to enter upon such matters. 

 The following we can vouch for : — 



The eruption of the fifth of August was entirely a local event 

 bounded by the ravine of the Riviere Claire, devastating an area 

 800 to 900 meters broad at the outside. 



The effects of the eruption were at first a continuous buzzing 

 sound, then a series of intermittent detonations, and simultane- 

 ously there was thrown out a jet of white or black vapors which 

 made a deposit wherever they spread in the shape of a grayish 

 mud or cinder; and these vapors produce in their vicinity a 

 strong odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. 



It is not possible to assert whether this material is always 

 thrown out in the form of cinders or powder, or not sometmies 

 in the form of a rain of mud. It is more probabl} m a i)owdcr\ 

 condition and when it falls on the trees it is moistened l)y steam, 

 or when it falls on the ground it becomes mixed with rain water 

 and forms a sort of clay. 



The eruption of the fifth of August was not aeeompanied In 

 any noticeable earthquake in Martinique, even m the Precheiir 

 district. Since that time no shocks have been felt. In this 

 respect the opening of these vents seems to be for our island a 

 happy event, a kind of safety valve giving \ent to subterranean 

 gases and vapors and so protecting us from those earth commo- 

 tions which formerly produced such desolation here. "It hap- 

 pens," says Buffon, "that in the lands subject to earthquake. 



