SOUFRIERE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE, IN 1902. 
307 
under story of the manager’s liouse thirty people died. The manager himself, 
Mr. FFvASEE, was found dead on his verandah ; his wife’s body was lying at the foot 
of the steps leading up to it. They seem to liave been overcome as they were 
returning from the cellar where they had at first taken refuge. We were told that 
Mr. Fraser complained that the densely packed crowd of negroes made the atmo¬ 
sphere uidDearahle, and returned to his house to get some fresh air. 
At Turema the fatal cloud did its deadly work quite as efiectively. All who were 
in the manager’s house, estimated to number thirty-five, were killed. One woman 
survived for three days, and was found by the first seai'ch parties who went out from 
Georgetown. She begged for water to drink; they gave her some, and returned to 
make arrangements to have lier taken to the relief hospital, where she died shortly 
after her arrival. In the “ Great House, ” or Mansion House, four were killed in the 
kitclien, where the windows and doors had not been effectively closed ; trvo shut 
themselves iqj in another room, closing all apertures as thoroughly as possible, and 
they survived. All who were in the villages or fields perished, without exception. 
In Overland village the loss of life was terrible; hundreds were killed. In one 
small shop by the roadside, in a room j^erhaps 15 feet square, eighty-seven bodies were 
found. When we saw this place the ash around was dotted with little hummocks, 
under each of which lay a heap of bodies, but everything was decently interred, and 
contrasted strongly with the charnel heaps of bleaching skeletons we saw later on in 
St. Pierre. One man whom we interviewed liad lived in this village ; in his house 
seven died, but four or five survived. When they saw the black cloud coming down, 
they shut iq) all doors and windows as tiglitlv as possible. As the hot cloud approached, 
it was red at first, but changed into black before it passed overhead; the heat was 
dreadful, and the lightnings very vivid. The air smelt very strongly of sulphur, and 
their throats were dry and parched. Some burst into spasmodic couglung from the 
irritant sid 2 )hurous acid and fine dust in the air. Many cried out for water, l)ut in a 
few seconds the suffocating feeling prevented articidation. Then several threw up 
their hands and fell dead. Others collapsed, Imt lingered in some cases for an hour 
or more. ’I’hose who survived state that in a few seconds it would have been all over 
with them. But the air began to clear, there was a slight breeze off the sea, and the 
windows on that side were thrown open, and, with a sense of great thankfulness, 
they inlialed again deep breaths of cold pure air. Here, as at Babaka, those who were 
watching the cloud state that as it struck the surface of the sea it flaslied with fire. 
One man showed us where the back of his fore arms had been sevei'ely burned l)y 
hot mud or asli which came down with tlie black cloud. The parts of his body 
covered l)y clothes were protected, but his shirt sleeves were lulled iq3, and his arms 
below the elbows rvere bare. 
At Orange Hill, Turema, and Lot 14, there were large herds of cattle, horses, and 
mules. Every animal on these estates perished. Some were suffocated or burnt 
extensively ; others had apparently been struck by lightning. They were all in the 
