494 
DR8. T. ANDERSON AND J. S. FLEET ON THE ERUPTIONS OF THE 
Soon, however, it seemed to lose its velocity; its surface became less agitated, it 
formed a great black pall, with larger, less vigorous, more globular, bulging convolu¬ 
tions. Evidently its violence was spent, and it was not to strike us; it lay almost 
like a dead mass on the surface of the sea. 
At first the wind was east and very gentle, a slight tide drew us southward and, 
as we slipped past Carbet, the church tower shone in the pale moonlight (the moon 
was in its first quarter and high in the heavens to the south-west), and there was 
still liglit to enalde us to see the figures of men fleeing south along the cliffs, and we 
could hear their shouts of terror. 
The black cloud rose from the fis.sure about 20 minutes to 8 o’clock. It took verv 
*j 
little time for us to get the sails set, and for 20 or 30 minutes we .sailed along with a 
gentle breeze from the ea.st, every sail drawing, and the houses of Carbet lessening 
gradually as we sped south. Then the wind fell away, and it was practically a dead 
calm. In the deepening dai’kness we ke})t a close watch on the mountain, and soon 
the black cloud seemed to clear, for again we conld see dimly the di.stant cloud-capped 
mass of Pelee, with a faint red glare above the fissure from which the cloud had come. 
This glare, however, had been seen once or twdce during the previous month by 
various observers. But it slowly increased, and we coidd see bright, glowing masses 
describing parabolic paths through the air and then landing on the mountain slopes 
and rolling down the hill. These were clearly red-hot stones, and they mirst have 
been projected about a mile from the crater. The .sailors had been often in St. Pierre 
during the previous three weeks, but they had never seen anything like this before, 
and it was apj^arent that the volcanic activity was unusually great. 
Suddenly a great yellow or reddish glare lit up the whole cloud mass which veiled 
the summit. It was like the lights of a great city on the horizon, or the glare over 
large iron furnaces, as seen from a distance on a dark night reflected from an over¬ 
hanging mist, but brighter and more yellow. Then from the mountain burst a 
prolonged angry growl, not a sharp detonation or a series of detonations, such as we 
had heard just before when the hot stones were launched from the crater, but a long, 
low, rumbling .sound, like the sullen growl of an angry wild bea.st. It seems strange 
that this sound should have been heard as far as Barbados, for what struck us about 
it was not its loudness, but its snailing character. 
Then in an instant a red-hot avalanche rose from the cleft in the hillside, and 
poured over the mountain slopes right down to the sea. It was dull red, and in it 
were brighter streaks, which we thought were large stones, as they seemed to give off 
tails of yellow sparks. They bowled along, a})parently rel^ounding when they struck 
the surface of the oTound, but never ilsino’ hinh in the air. The main mass of the 
avalanche was a darker red, and its surface was billowy like a cascade in a mountain 
brook. Its velocity was tremendons. The mist and steam on the mountain top did 
not allow us to see very clearly how the fierv avalanche arose, but we had a perfect 
view of its course over the lower flanks of the hill, and its glowing undulating surface 
