On the Eruptions of the Soufridre and Mont Pelee. 443 



Had any buildings stood in its path they would have been utterly 

 wiped out, and no living creature could have survived that blast. 



Hardly had its red light faded when a rounded black cloud began to 

 shape itself against the star-lit sky, exactly where the avalanche had 

 been. The pale moonlight shining on it showed us that it was globular, 

 with a bulging surface, covered with rounded protuberant masses, 

 which swelled and multiplied with a terrible energy. It rushed for- 

 ward over the waters, directly towards us, boiling, and changing its 

 form every instant. In its face there sparkled innumerable lightnings, 

 short, and many of them horizontal. Especially at its base there was 

 a continuous scintillation. The cloud itself was black as night, dense 

 and solid, and the nickering lightnings gave it an indescribably veno- 

 mous appearance. It moved with great velocity, and as it approached 

 it got larger and larger, but it retained its rounded form. It did not 

 spread out laterally, neither did it rise into the air, but swept on over 

 the sea in surging globular masses, coruscating with lightnings. When 

 about a mile from us it was perceptibly slowing down. We then esti- 

 mated that it was 2 miles broad, and about 1 mile high. It began to 

 change its form • fresh protuberances ceased to shoot out or grew but 

 slowly. They were less globular, and the face of the cloud more 

 nearly resembled a black curtain draped in folds. At the same time it 

 became paler and more grey in colour, and for a time the surface 

 shimmered in the moonlight like a piece of silk. The particles of ash 

 were now settling down, and the white steam, freed from entangled 

 dust, was beginning to rise in the air. 



The cloud still travelled forward, but now was mostly steam, and 

 rose from the surface of the sea, passing over our heads in a great 

 tongue-shaped mass, which in a few minutes was directly above us. 

 Then stones, some as large as a chestnut, began to fall on the boat. 

 They were followed by small pellets, which rattled on the deck like a 

 shower of peas. In a minute or two fine grey ash, moist and clinging 

 together in small globules, poured down upon us. After that for some 

 time there was a rain of dry grey ashes. But the cloud had lost most 

 of its solid matter, and as it shot forwards over our heads it left us in 

 a stratum of clear pure air. When the fine ash began to fall there 

 was a smell of sulphurous acid, but not very marked. There was no 

 rain. 



The volume of steam discharged must have been enormous, for the 

 tongue-shaped cloud broadening as it passed southwards covered the 

 whole sky except a thin rim on the extreme horizon. Dust fell on 

 Fort de France and the whole south-end of Martinique. The display 

 of lightning was magnificent. It threaded the cloud in every direc- 

 tion in irregular branching lines. At the same time there was a con- 

 tinuous low rumble overhead. 



What happened on Mont Pelee after this discharge cannot be 



