450 
DES. T. AXDERSOX AXD J. S. FLEET OX THE EEUPTIOXS OF THE 
The Hot Blast. 
Few in St. Vincent saw the avalanche and none survived, but many were struck 
hy the hot Idast, and of these a certain number have lived to tell the tale. Its 
force was nearly spent before it reached the low grounds of the Carib Country, where 
stood the most populous estates, but there and in Fancy the men who were holding 
the doors or windows felt the shock, and in one or two cases were knocked down by 
the impulse of the blast. The houses are built so as to ft’eely admit the air. and the 
lal)ourers' huts cannot he effectively sliut up. Several of the sur^dvors in Overland 
Villa u'e and Orano-e Hill told us that the sudden rush of the hot o-ases was like 
^ o o 
a powerful puff of wind. It is only, however, further up the mountain that it was 
sufficientlv vigorous to leave behind unmistakable effects. At Eichmond and at 
Raljaka it was travelling at perhaps 30 miles an hour, a strong breeze, but not 
sufficient to do much damage. The trees were broken by the falling stones, and the 
weight of ash which gathered on the branches and the withered leaves was often 
sufficient to weio'h them down to the o-round or tear them off the stems. It was not 
the violence of the blast which injured the vegetation. 
The varying effects of the blast, the rate at which it travelled, and the changes in 
its velocity as it swept down the hill-sides, are best studied in that tract of flat land 
above Lot 14, over vLich the path to the summit passes before it takes to the knife- 
edges of the spurs (see Plate 31, ffg. 2). There the configuration of the surface 
is comparatively simple; elsewhere the irregularities presented by the ridges and 
ravines, and their influence in shielding or exposmg the standing timber, must con- 
stantlv be kept in mind, for sometimes in a valley which everywhere else was swejDt 
hare of all vegetation, a solitary tree would be left standing behind some ridge, or in 
a little lateral gully, where it had been sheltered and preserved. But the changes 
were essentially of the same character on all parts of the hill, though local conditions 
had had an influence in modifying their intensity. 
At Lot 14 the trees were still standing, hut had lost many of their branches, and 
principally those which were on the side towards the crater. This was also to be seen 
on the lower slopes on the leeward side and on the ridge behind Wallibu (see 
Plate 2G). The trees Avere erect for the most part, but all branches facing the 
blast had been stripped; a feAV of those pointing toAA'ards the opposite quarter still 
remained. The smaller and weaker trees u^ere often bent over and inclined awaA’ 
from the crater. A glance at these leafless twisted stems was sufficient to show that 
over them a blast had swept, tearing off everything that directly obstructed its path 
(see Plate 27, fig. 2). 
Further up the hill, on both sides, the effects were still more noticeable. Many of 
the trees were overturned; others still stood, mere trunks without leaves or branches. 
All that had fallen lay parallel, and pointed down the valleys and the slopes. The 
smaller branches had disappeared, broken off and SAvept aAvay, or burnt up by the 
