SOUFRIERE, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAGNE PELEE, IN 1902. 
481 
boiirhood of the fissure in this gorge, and, as will be seen later, it bad still not lost 
its virulence and destructive energy. 
The Lac des Palmistes is now filled with hot stones and sand to within a few feet 
of the lip, and the present crater lies to the south-west of it, apparently on the site 
of the former Soufriere, which has been much enlarged, and a great fissure has been 
opened on its southern lip. 
The Eruptions of Pelee. 
The only previous eruj^tion of Pelee of which there is historic record is that ol 
1851, which appears to have been brief and abortive. A few mud-flows in the rivers, 
a discharge of steam and a fine ashy dust, and the volcano relapsed into quiescence for 
another 50 years. The earlier stages of the eruption of this year were of a precisely 
similar character, and this was one of the causes which lulled the suspicions of the 
inhabitants of St. Pierre, and inspired them with a fatal feeling of security. The 
premonitory earthquakes, so frequent always at the Soufriere, where they have 
heralded the outburst of every eruption, and prepared the minds of the inhabitants for 
the apj)roaching paroxysm, were apparently practically absent in Martinique, and 
although there are records of a few small shocks, we are not aware that they were 
numerous or disquieting. But at Pelee there was a long preliminary phase leading 
up to the crisis. Steam was seen to ascend from the crater about April 23rd, or a 
fortnight befoi'e the culmination of the eruption. At first the activity was so gentle 
that it awakened only curiosity, and several people made ascents and reported that 
9 
both the upper and the lower Etangs were boiling and giving out much steam. But 
day by day the violence increased, and by May 2nd a good deal of apprehension was 
felt in St. Pierre, and some were meditating flight. That night there was great 
activity in the craters, loud noises were heard, and over the mountain toj) a bright 
glare was visible. The ashes were wafted by the wind over St. Pierre and Precheur, 
and next morning these were covered with a layer of light grey dust. The crops 
were blighted, the cattle starving for want of water and of food; the people from the 
country began to flock into town. The noises and the rain of cinders and of dust 
continued more or less intermittently from that time onward. 
The rivers descending to the south-west from the summit had already become 
muddy on more than one occasion, but on the 5th a great flow of hot mud poured 
down the Riviere Blanche with great rapidity and overwhelmed the Usine Guerin, 
killing many peoj^le. At the same time there was a • small sea wave which did no 
damage. This mud-flow was apparently the waters in the Etang Sec which had 
escaped through some fissure on the south side of the peak, driven out by the 
ascending column of lava and the constantly increasing pressure of the gases wuthin 
the volcano. Next day the streams were still torrents of mud, and the harbour of 
St. Pierre was covered with floating trees and the wreckage of bridges and other 
VOL. CC.-A. 3 Q 
