474 
DRS. T. ANDERSON AND J. S. FLEET ON THE ERUPTIONS OF THE 
observations were made with my own eyes, and the watc4i in my hand. It will be obsem'ed the first two 
hours the sand was small in quantity and coarse in its nature, but the last 10 hours were ashes, reduced to 
an impalpable powder, and sublimated to the highest degree. That it is a calcined matter strongly 
impregnated with nitre and ferruginous particles does not admit of a doubt, if examined through a good 
microscope; and that it has come from the eastward may be supposed from its involving in its mass the 
men-of-war birds, which are generally found about 60 miles to the east end of the island, seldom 
approaching nearer. From 1 p.m. to 6 the fall of the ashes began to decrease ; at 6 P.M. ceased altogether. 
At no period of the day did the light amount to more than a dull twilight, and at 5 p.m. the day closed 
altogether, and darkness succeeded mitil the morning.” 
According to the contemporary account already quoted (p. 464), it tvas shortly after 
7 P.M. that the “ lava ” overflowed the north-west side of the crater, and about that 
time the noises from the mountain were very loud. These repoi'ts, apparently, were 
not heard at Barbados, or, if heard, were mistaken for thunder. About half-past one 
another overflow took place on the soutlj side, towards the valleys of the Babaka and 
Walli1)u, and the detonations which attended this outburst were heard in Barbados 
at two in the morning, accoixling to the diary. i\.shes were falling in small quantity 
between 2 o’clock and 6 o’clock ; tliere was much lightning, hut it was not very dark. 
When the day l)roke there was a thick mist of falling dust, and at half-past six there 
was a considerable increase in tlie rain of ashes. This means, probably, that the 
material ejected Ijy the great outburst at 2 a.m. had taken four hours and a half to 
reach Barbados, a distance of 99 miles. This year the main explosion was appi’oxi- 
mately at two in the afternoon, and the dust was falling freely in Barbados at 
half-past five, having taken only three and a half hours on its journey. 
In 1812 ash began to fall “ between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.,” fell freely from 6 a.m. to 
1 P.M., and ceased altogether about 6 p.m., a duration of somewhat over 12 hours. In 
1902 ash began to fall about 5 o’clock, and continued till daybreak next day, or 
approximately 12 hours also. In 1812 it fell mostly in the day ; this time mostly 
through the night. The weather was dry this year, and the dust formed a fine, dry 
powder easily blown about by the wind; in 1812 there were frequent heavy showers, 
and much of the ash fell wet. Otherwise the tw'o records are as similar as could 
M ell have been expected. 
Another account of the rain of ashes in Bai'bados in Mav, 1812, has come down 
to US in the form of a private letter from a gentleman of St. George’s parish to 
a correspondent in Great Britain. It is less precise and full of details than that just 
quoted, and was printed in Tullocii’s ‘Philosophical Magazine’ of the year 1812 
(p- O). 
In the morning at lialf-past six, when it should have 1jeen bright daylight and the 
sun above the horizon, he was astonished to find that it was still so dark that he 
could only comj)are it to moonlight on a night when the moon is at times clear and 
at times obscured by cloud. He had not heard the detonations about 2 o’clock in 
the morning, though they had led to a general opinion that an engagement between 
British and I’l'ench ships of ^yixv had taken place somev here in the neighijouiing seas. 
