430 



Dr. Tempest Anderson and Dr. J. S. Flett. 



down the valleys. As a matter of fact, they were really due to the 

 action of water flowing through the hot sand, which in some places had 

 almost obliterated the old stream courses, as will be explained more 

 fully later on. By the 15th the volcanic activity had apparently 

 subsided, and the mountain remained clear and unclouded. The explo- 

 sions of steam in the valleys continued, and are probably still going on. 



The state of quiescence continued till Sunday, May 18. Confidence 

 was being restored, and the inhabitants of those districts near the 

 mountain which had not suffered severely were returning to their 

 homes. On the windward side, the work of burying the bodies had 

 been completed and things were resuming their normal course. But 

 about 8 o'clock that evening an ominous sound was heard from the 

 crater. Its nature was at once recognised and struck the black 

 population with terror. The noises were as loud as those of the first 

 eruption, and the lightning was very vivid. On the leeward side 

 complete darkness prevailed, and ashes and sand fell freely for some 

 hours. In Georgetown the fall of ashes was quite inconsiderable, not 

 exceeding a thin film on the roof of the houses. Gradually the noises 

 lessened, the darkness lifted, and the moon appeared again. No lives 

 were lost and practically no damage was done, but exactly what 

 happened on those parts of the mountain nearest the crater it is, under 

 the circumstances, impossible to say. This second eruption was the 

 last which proceeded from the main crater. Clouds of steam were 

 sometimes seen gently rising for some days later, but nothing of the 

 nature of a volcanic outburst has since taken place. 



We arrived at Kingstown on Tuesday, June 10, and proceeded at 

 once to Chateaubelair, where Mr. Jas. E. Bichards, of Kingstown, 

 kindly placed a house at our disposal. The geological products of 

 this eruption proved to be of very simple character. The Soufriere 

 and the surrounding country were covered with a layer of ashes mostly 

 in the form of fine dark coloured sand, but mixed with spongy bombs 

 of various sizes and many ejected blocks composed of fragments of the 

 old rocks of the hill. Lapilli and scoria are there in plenty, as is 

 obvious where the heavy rains have washed away the finer material, 

 but the greater part of the ejecta consist of fine sand which, when dry, 

 is hot and yellowish-grey in colour, but when wet becomes almost 

 black. This sand, as has already been noted by many observers, 

 contains plagioclase felspar, hypersthene, augite, magnetite, and frag- 

 ments of glass, and represents a fairly well crystallised hypersthene- 

 andesite magma which has been blown to powder by the expansion of 

 occluded steam. 



The coarser material is mostly a slaggy andesite with crystals of 

 plagioclase and pyroxene. ■ There is little pumice, though we obtained 

 a few fragments which floated on water and contained but few crystals 

 visible to the naked eye. The larger bombs are often black, highly 



