286 DR. TEMPEST ANDERSON ON THE ERUPTIONS OF THE SOUFRIERE IN 
The localities may now be discussed more in detail. The conditions at the Rich¬ 
mond Plantation Works may be taken as a type of those of all the low ground 
near the limit of devastation. The incandescent avalanche swept down the Wallibu 
valley and spread out over the old fan or plateau at its mouth, it then turned 
south round the lower end of the Richmond ridge and destroyed the Richmond 
Works and all the vegetation near them. The ash still remains to a depth of two 
to six feet in different parts, and the old roots are completely buried and thoroughly 
destroyed, but the avalanche was confined to the bottom of the valley, and none 
of its effects are visible on either side. The black cloud which accompanied the 
avalanche either did not keep to the ground beyond the ridge behind the Works or 
had lost most of its heat, and on this slope there are Gru Gru palms ( Acrocomia 
sclerocarpa), which though injured are recovering, and one silk cotton tree ( Erioclen - 
dron anfrcictuosum ) at the Works is still alive (Plate 19). In other places, however, 
further to the east, some trees are killed, but this appears to be the limit of 
devastation. The surface of the ash near the Works has not consolidated, but is 
rapidly breaking up under the influence of plant roots, and humus is being formed. 
The chief new plants are Castor Oil ( Ricinus communis ), which grows in luxuriant 
masses along and around the ruins of the Works, and a plant, Cattle Tongue ( Pluchea 
odorcita), which has already formed flourishing bushes taller than a man (Plate 20, 
fig. 1). Besides these, Indigo ( Indigofera Anil), Sensitive Plant ( Mimosa pudica), 
Guinea Grass ( Panicum maximum), Eupatorium odoratum , and two grasses (unnamed) 
were also noticed. On the hill sides, grasses and a few trees, such as Gru Gru palm 
(Acrocomia sclerocarpa) above mentioned, Walnut (Andira inermis), Fiddle Wood 
Tree, and Ficus sp. Near the river the Rozeau Grass (Gynerium saccharoides) is 
also growing luxuriantly to a height of 12 or 15 feet (Plate 20, fig. 2). 
At the foot of the seaward slope of the Richmond ridge is a fan, or plateau, which 
was covered several feet thick with the incandescent avalanche, the end of which is 
mentioned above as extending up the valley as far as the Richmond Works (Plate 21). 
Here the surface has consolidated into a crust nearly an inch thick, almost like a 
concrete pavement, and where this crust is perfect no vegetation can spring up ; where, 
however, it is broken up, as along the small water courses, Silver Ferns (Gymnogrammc 
calomelanos), grasses and young Plucheas are getting hold and their roots are spreading 
into the harder parts on each side. In places also the crust is being broken up by 
the trampling of horses and cattle, and the process of return of vegetation is thereby 
being hastened. The lower end of Richmond ridge above this fan was only slightly 
affected. 
Further to the north along the coast there are several other plateaux on which the 
vegetation is making similar progress (Plate 14). They are much cut up by ravines, in 
the precipitous walls of which, and in the sea cliffs, the old soil is generally exposed at 
a junction of the old tuff and new ash above it, and this line is often marked by a band 
of luxuriant growth from the old roots. The Wallibu Plantation (Part 1, Plate 25, 
