SOUFRIERE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAC4NE PELEE, IN 1902. 
379 
damage to buildings or other structiues, but so much alarmed were some of the black 
labourers that the managers and owners of estates had, in some cases, to take steps to 
allay their apprehension and encourage them to continue A\orking in the district. 
They appear to have been very local and to have differed greatly in intensity at 
different jjarts of the hill. In the Carib Settlement at IMorne Ronde more were 
experienced than anywhere else. Earthc|iiakes and noises continued through the 
whole of the ensuing twelve months. They Avere neither violent nor loud, but Avere 
more numerous than AA'as usual for that part of the island. The Avhite inhabitants 
regarded them Avith indifference or curiosity, for as earthcjuakes are by no means 
rare in St. Vincent, the repeated small shocks felt during 1901 AA'ere not regarded 
as necessarily the precursors of a cataclysm. There AA’-ere some, hoAvever, Avho, aAA’are 
of the suddenness Avith AA’hich the eruption of 1812 had broken out, could not help 
suspecting that they foreboded another outburst. 
In the latter half of April, 1902, they increased considerably in number and 
intensity. At Owia, on the 13th of April, at 12.20 p.M., there Avas a sharp shock, 
and about that time as many as eiglit tremors Avere sometimes experienced there in 
24 hours, all slight and of short duration. Along the Asliole north-Avest quadrant of 
the hill the violence of the earthquakes in the last AA'eek of April, 1902, Avas excep¬ 
tional. They dislodged stones from the cliffs of lava and sent them tumbling doAvn 
the slopes, and occasioned small landslips in tlie loose material of the taluses, damaging 
the crops AAdiich Avere planted there. On Monday, AjAiil 29th, three Avell-marked 
shocks Avere experienced at Windsor Forest and Campobello, Avhile at Morne lionde 
about tins time eighteen earthquakes AA'ere counted in one day. It Avill be remembered 
that the first signs of actiA'ity on Montague Pelee Avere obserA'ed about the 23rd of 
April, and that a great earthquake shook Guatemala on the 18th April.^ As yet 
the Soufriere had sliOAvn no symptoms of actual eruption. Tire Caribs at Morne 
Ronde, hoAveA'er, fully anticijiating an outburst, Avere preparing to eA'acuate their houses 
and flee to Chateaubelair and othei' places of safety. 
Freliniinury Stages of the Eruption, Tuesday, May Qth. 
By 1 o’clock on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 6th May, there could no longer be any 
doubt that the Soufriere aa^is in eruption. It is said that din ing the })revious night 
the Caribs had seen a cloud of steam emitted from the mountain and a bright gloAv 
on the summit. This is doubtful, but certainly on that morning tliey Avere flocking 
into Chateaubelair, and a general anxiety Avas aAvakened in the neighbourhood. 
At Wallibuf a rumbling sound like distant thunder Avas heard from 6 to 8 a.m. on 
the 6th May, and betAA^een 8.30 and 12 that forenoon, seven distinct shocks of earth¬ 
quake AA'ere felt. These tremors Avere not experienced in Chateaubelair, Avhich is about 
* ‘Nature,’ a'oI. 66, p. 150. 1902. 
t For the position of 'Wallihu relatively to the Soufriere, see Plate 25, fig. 2. 
3 G 2 
