450 
DKS. T ANDERSON AND J. S. FLETT ON THE ERUPTIONS OF THE 
cross-questioned said tliere were no hot sjnings, and tliat tlie warm water was merely 
surface water. 
There is no evidence of any submarine cliff, and had there been any at first, it 
must now have been masked by the material dislodged by landslides, or eroded by the 
sea from the cliffs and the vast quantities of new ash which have been deposited all 
along this coast by the rivers which flow down the mr>imtaiu. At present, we can 
(inly say that the existence (ff" a fault along the shore from Wallihu to Morne Ifonde 
remains an open (piestion. 
FRF.VIOUS 
ERUPTIONS OF THE SOUFRIEEE. 
The Eruption of 1718. 
The earliest liistoi'ical account of an ei'uption in St. Vincent is that which appears 
in the ‘ Weekly Journal,or ‘ Saturday’s Post ’ (otherwise known as ‘ Mist’s Journal ’), 
of July 5, 1718. It occupies the principal place in that number, and was considered 
so important that tlie usual letters from corres})ondents were crowded out to make 
room for it. 
It heffins as follows :— 
O 
“ tVe have a piece of pul)lic news this time of such consequence, and so necessary for all our readers 
to l;>e fully acquainted with it, that our friends who ha^m written several letters to us, which otherwise 
deserve publishing, must excuse us for this week. 
“ This relates to the entire desolation of the Island of St. Vincent, in the West Indies, by the imme¬ 
diate hand of Nature, directed bj^ Providence, and in a manner astonishing to all the world, the like of 
which never happened since the creation, or, at least not since the destruction of the earth by the v'ater 
in the general deluge. 
“Our accounts of this comes from so many hands, and several places, that it would be impossible to 
bring the letters all separately into this journal; and when we had done so, or attempted to do so, would 
have the story confused, and the world not perfectly informed. We have therefore thought it better to 
give the substance of this amazing accident in one collection, making together as full and as distinct 
account of the whole, as we believe is possible to come at Iry any intelligence whatsoever; and at the 
close of this account we shall give some probable guesses at the natural cause of so terrible an operation. 
The relation is as follows, viz.;— 
“ An account of the island of St. Vincent, in the AVest Indies, and of its entire desti'uction on the 
26th March last, with some rational suggestions concerning the causes and manner of it. 
“ The island of St. A^incent is the most populous of any possessed by the Carribeans, its altitude is 
16 degrees north from the line. Those who have seen the island Ferre or Fietre, one of the Canaries, 
affirm that this is much of the same figure. It maj^ be about 8 leagues in length and 6 in breadth. 
There are in it several high mountains and very fruitful plains, if they were cultivated. The Carribeans 
have many fair villages, where they live pleasantly, and without any disturbance; and though they have 
a jealouisy of the strangers, yet do they not deny them the bread of the countr}’, which is cassava. 
* Reprinted in ‘ Daniel Defoe ; his Life, ami recently discovered Miscellaneous AA^ritings.’ AA illiam 
Lek. A^ol. 2, p. 52. 1869. 
