SOUFRIERE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE, IN 1902. 
419 
apprehension. But a rude awakening was at hand. On the evening of Sunday, 
May 18th, a second erujition took place, less violent and far less destructive than the 
former one, but still sufficiently vigorous to throw the whole population into a state 
of terror, and make those near the mountain flee for their lives. 
The afternoon of Sunday was beautifully calm and clear, and the inhabitants oi 
Chateaubelair could see the mountain from base to summit. Many were in boats 
along the leeward coast examining the strangely-altered surface of the plantations of 
Wallibu and Bichmond, and the startling modifications which had taken place in the 
coast line to the north of the village. Not a single cloud veiled the face of the 
mountain, and the bare, burnt surface showed up in every detail in the evening light. 
Sunset was followed by a clear, starry night with bright moonlight and a cloudless 
sky. In Chateaubelair, Kingstown, and Georgetown many people were enjoying a 
walk in the cool refreshing night air, when suddenly, about 8.30 P.M., a loud, prolonged, 
ominous groan burst from the mountain. Some residents in Kingstown compared it 
to the noise made when a war-ship lets go her anchor in the bay and the cable rattles 
out throuffii the hawse holes. At the same moment a great cloud of steam shot from 
the crater and rose to an immense height in the air. As seen from Kingstown, it 
was pointed, and its heiglit was estimated at many thousand feet. In this great 
mass of vapour, lightnings incessantly scintillated. They were tortuous and snaky, 
and did not resemble the clear flashes often seen on a tropical night. The noises in 
Chateaubelair were deafening; many thought they were as loud as on the afternoon 
of the 7th May. Soon the village was enveloped in total darkness. The inhabitants 
sprang out of their houses, and, seizing their children, fled along the road that leads 
southwards past Petit Bordel. Darkness settled down on the fugitives, a dark¬ 
ness so intense that they stumbled over the roads, groping their way along the 
ditches, guiding themselves by feeling the objects on the way side. Tlie lightnings, 
the thick darkness, the roaring noises, and the falling ash, dismayed the stoutest 
hearts, and many were weej^ing and lamenting loudly as they hurried through tlie 
night. Some lost their children in the gloom, others fell into ditches or over the 
banks on to the sea-shore. When they reached Bosebank the light was beginning 
slowly to improve, and many took refuge with friends there. About 10 o’clock the 
sky cleared, the moon appeared again, the noises ceased, and the eruption was at an 
end. The earthquakes noticed during tliis eruption were few and insignificant, and 
the fall of ash in Chateaubelair was very slight, and consisted mostly of very fine dust 
or sand. 
In Georgetown also the day had been exceedingly fine, and no warning was given 
of the coming outburst. When the steam-cloud rose with loud noises from the 
mountain-a general exodus took place, but later in the night, when the darkness 
lifted, many returned. The ash which fell was in the form of fine dust, and amounted 
only to a very thin film, most readily seen on roofs and leaves and the stone pave¬ 
ments around the houses. 
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