50G 
DKS. T. AXDEESON AND J. 8. FLETT OX THE EEUPTIOXS OF THE 
month there was no great outburst. It is true that several have been recorded both 
from St. Vincent and fiom Martinique on other dates, but in the former case they 
were false, and in the latter we have good reason for believing they were trivial, or 
did not occur at all. So excitable is the population after the terrible events of 
this spring, and so willing are the newspapei\s to publish sensational news without 
inquiring as to its veracity, tliat many eruptions have been reported which never 
happened. On Pelee there was an outbreak on July 9th, and two minor ones on 
tlie nth and the loth, and between these dates the smaller steam clouds were 
frequently emitted, though for hours at a time none might be seen, and as on the 
afternoon of the 11th, when we passed along the base of the mountain, there might 
he nothing to indicate its deadly virulence except the hot water in the streams, and 
the thin coating of fine, })ale-gTey ashes which had been scattered over its surface 
that veiy morning. 
The Avalanche of Sand and the great Black Cloud. 
A synthetic study of the features of these remarkable discharges, so far as they 
are known to us from our own observations and tliose of eye-witnesses on whom we 
can I'ely, involves the discussion of many matters which are more or less theoretical; 
and we have, in consequence, thought it best to separate this part of our Report 
from the previous chapters in which we descril^e what we and others have seen. 
Inferring oidy indirectly to the underlying causes. 
All witnesses agree that the gi'eat black cloud consists of dust, stones, and gases 
at a very high temperature, and moving with a great rapidity. But as yet it is 
impossible to give a complete description of its properties, though sufficient evidence 
is available to enable us to consider its outstanding features and to justify an attempt 
to explain them. 
The Beginning of the Blast .—We have ourselves observed one of the black clouds 
emerge from the crater and come rushing down the hill, and have already described 
what we saw on that occasion. The evening of July 9th was perfectly clear, and 
the mouth of the fissure, on the south-west side of Pelee, was clearly visible from 
where we weie anchored, a little north of Carbet. The little black cloud ball rose 
from tlie crater and rested on the lip, tumbling and seething ; it lay there for a 
little time, then began to travel down the hill, at first slowly, then fiister and faster, 
till it rushed down tlie lower slopes with a velocity which must have approached 
100 miles an hour. 
Others have seen the black cloud rise from the fissure, but their descriptions do 
not entirely agi'ee with ours. Several descrihe it as rising in the air a considerahle 
distance and tlien curving downwards as if it overbalanced itself It is probable 
that in the larger outbursts a considerable mass of dust is projected up into the 
air ; and as this black cloud is too heavy to ascend or to be waited away by the 
