SOUFKIEEE, AND UN A VISIT TO MONTAUNE PELEE, IN P302. 
418 
it is impossible to form even an approximate estimate. When we remember that 
on the island of Barbados, which has an area of only 166 square miles, and is 
100 miles distant from St. Vincent, 1,700,000 tons fell, it does not seem improbable 
that several billions of tons of solid matter were projected into the air in that short 
space of time. 
The Closing Scenes of the Eruption of May 7th, 1902. 
Thursday and the following Days. 
In the north end of St. Vincent the sun rose on scenes of desolation and despair. 
Three-fourths of the population lay dead in their houses, and many of the survivors 
Avere fearfully burnt and suffering dreadful agony. The green and fertile Card) 
country, which had been covered with rich crops, lay buried beneath several feet of 
hot and smoking ashes. The Soufriere, which on the previous morning had been 
a mass of verdure and green forest, was now the leaden hue of the new fallen ash. 
With the return of light, though the air was still misty with falling dust, many fled 
and sought refuge in Georgetown and the region to the south of it. Others stayed 
to succour the Avounded or to bury their dead. A Aveary procession of mangled and 
injured toiled along the road to Georgetown. Already before daAvn some had passed 
through the village fleeing from Babaka and Langley Park, and they spread the 
tidings of death and destruction. Efforts were early made to penetrate the burnt 
country and help the sufferers. A police-constable Avent out along tlie windward 
coast to ascertain how great the damage had been. The sights he saAv Avere 
fearful, dead in every Adllage, almost in every house, corpses everyAvhere along 
the roadside, dead cattle streAvn through the fields, many of the bodies mangled, 
burnt, and distorted. The injured and terrified survivors, Avho Avere unable to 
make their AAary along the roads, Avere lying among the corpses, crying aloud for 
water to moisten their scorched throats; many had their skin extensively burnt and 
peeling off their hands and faces. Slate-coloured vapours still ascended from the 
mountain, every noise struck terror into the minds of the survivors. There is small 
room for wonder that it was difficult to get men to volunteer to explore that 
thirsty, burnt, and death-struck country. Yet the officials, the clergy, and the 
inhabitants of GeorgetoAvn nerved themselves to the task, and in a very short 
time the helpless injured Avere being gathered into Georgetown and accommodated 
in temporary ho.spitals there. The task of burying the dead had perforce to AA^ait. 
De.spairing of assistance, one boy of fourteen buried his father, his mother, and seven 
brothers and sisters in a trench he dug in the ground outside the house—a fact which 
throws a lurid light on the sAveeping nature of the calamity which had overtaken 
the inhabitants. It Avas not till some days had elapsed that the work of burying 
the dead aatis finished, so many Avere they and so long did it take to clear the 
ashes out of tlie houses, huts, and yards, and bring the bodies to AueAv. The official 
