SOUFRTERE, AJs’D OX A VISIT TO MOXTAONE PELRE, IN 1902. 
359 
Richmond Peak (3528 feet), and the Soiifriere (4048 feet). If we except the last, 
which forms the north end of the chain, we may say that the form of all these 
mountains indicates that they have suffered prolonged and intense erosion. Though 
of volcanic origin, none of them shows a crater or a well-preserved cone. A series of 
radiating valleys, very deep and narrow, has been cut into the old volcanic pile, and 
between these valleys there are high steep-sided spurs, the summits of which 
are knife edges often only broad enough to serve as a footpath. In the recent 
geological history of the island erosion has been of vastly more importance than 
accumulation. This is due to the causes already enumerated; and nowhere better 
than in St. Vincent can the rapidity with which denudation takes place in a moist 
tropical climate be studied and exemplified. Excepting on the steepest slopes, where 
loose accumulations will not rest, the rocks are deeply covered vfith weathered 
material, which has either been formed in situ or has been carried down by landslij^s or 
as rain-wash. 
The rainfall is not equally distributed over the year, as June, July, and August 
are usually the most rainy months, while January and February, March and 
April, constitute the “dry season.” It averages about 110 inches in the year, 
according to the records kept for many years in the Botanic Gardens at Kingstown.^ 
Among the mountains, however, especially on the windward side, it is much greater 
than this. Most of it falls in short heavy showers, which fill the rivers up to their 
banks, and make them difficult or dangerous to cross when they are of any size. 
Even after gentle showers the water is muddy from the quantity of sediment it 
carries. The smaller brooks have usually their channels encumlDered with large 
boulders, which have obviously been Ijrought down in floods and left stranded 
when the water subsided. The steep and winding road which passes along the 
leeward shore is in this way often obstructed by falls of earth or rock. A very 
brief residence in the Windward Islands is sufficient to convince a geologist that 
erosion is there proceeding with, great rapidity, and that although the volcanic masses 
have been deeply sculptured, they are not necessarily of great geological age. 
The axial mountain ridge is as a whole fairly continuous, at any rate from Mount 
St. Andrew, which overlooks Kingstown to Richmond Peak, which is a few miles south 
of the Soufriere. Some of the streams, however, in cutting l)ack the heads of their 
valleys from opposite sides of the island, have nearly succeeded in meeting across the 
main ridge and uniting to form a low open channel from side to side of the island. 
The valley of the Buccament has been cited by Professor Spencer as “ crossing the 
* Mr. Henry Powell, Curator of the Botanic Gardens in Kingstown, St. Vincent, has kindly furnished 
us with tables of the rainfall at that station during the last seven years (including this year up to the end 
of November). The average monthly rainfalls for that period are as follows :—January, 5-78 inches ; 
February, 4‘29 inches; March, 3‘79 inches; April, 4‘22 inches; May, 9’85 inches; June, 12'87 inches; 
July, 11-34 inches; August, 11-97 inches; September, 13-69 inches; October, 10 84 inches; November, 
12-0-0 inches; December, 9-78 inches. It will be seen that the first four months of the year constitute 
the “ dry season,” The average yearly rainfall is about 110 inches. 
