SOUFEIEEE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE, IN 1902. 
387 
side, but if the crater still contained the lake, there can he little doubt that the larger 
outbursts would project water and mud to considerable heights. 
At 11.10 he notes that “the area of escape of vapour seemed now to be extended 
in a direction corresponding with Morne Ronde.” In all probability there was an 
overflow of steaming water on the south-west edge of the crater. It was just about 
this time that Mrs. Kelly saw steam in the Wallibu Dry River near the sea. 
At 12.25 “Small vents seen forming on slope near old road and facing Richmond 
Vale. Jets of vapour being emitted seemingly from them, then a more violent out¬ 
burst, which appears to be extending the crater towards the left (westwards); dark, 
blacker upheavals, as if the side of the crater toward Morne Roiide broke away and 
enlarged in that direction.” The floor of the crater was now rising, and the boiling 
water of the lake was being discharged into the streams on the south-west side of the 
mountain. As the hot water poured down the valleys clouds of steam arose, and this 
suggested that a fissure had opened and vents formed in the ravines. 
Just about this time (12.30 p.m.) Mr. Robertson' was leaving Wallibu. He had 
hardly got on board his boat on the beach when one of them called out, “Wallibu 
River coming down on fire.” Mr. Robertson turned and .saw a raging flood of hot 
water tearing down the valley. He estimated its height at 30 to 40 feet, and states 
that he never had seen so high a flood in the river before. There had been no rain 
that morning at Wallibu, or, so far as he knew, on the leeward side of the mountain, 
to account for this, and he concluded, naturally, that it was the boiling water of the 
crater lake pouring down the stream. 
No doubt similar torrents coursed down the other streams on this side of the 
island, as the Wallibu Dry River, the Rozeau Dry River, and perhaps also the 
Larikai. On the windward side a little after 12 o’clock the Rabaka River came 
down in floods of boiling water. 
In the light of these facts, Mr. McDonald’s subsequent notes may be readily 
interpreted. 
“ 12.35. It seemed as if slope to left of old road up Soufriere had formed into 
fissure, as vapour was issuing from small vents, and at 12.40 these fissures were 
unmistakable, and discharges from crater were extended to windward. 
“ 12.50. Enormous outburst through vent or front of mountain as far as could 
be ascertained, the mountain being largely enveloped in vapour, &c.” 
This last was probably the greatest discharge, and practically completed the 
emptying of the lake, but again at 1.25 and 1.33 p.m. he mentions volumes of vapour 
arising from the slopes of the hill. What was happening in the Wallibu and other 
rivers on the leeward side of the Soufriere at that time we cannot say, as no one who 
Mr. E. 0. Hovey was told that “ a wall of water and mud 50 or more feet high (they compared it 
with the height of a factory chimney) came out of the upper reaches of the river (the Eabaka Dry River) 
and went out to sea.” “ Martinique and St. Vincent: a Preliminary Eeport,” ‘ Bulletin American 
Museum of Natural History,’ vol. 16, p. 341. 
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