274 
RECENT VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN THE WEST INDIES. 
we all, passengers and crew, heaved up the anchor as quickly as possible, 
and set all sail. The black cloud had meanwhile rolled down the side 
of the mountain on to the sea, and came quickly towards us. We 
had not moved a moment too soon. The upper slopes of the moun¬ 
tain cleared somewhat, and some big red-hot stones were thrown out, 
then I saw the triangular crack become red, and out of it poured a 
surging mass of incandescent mateiial, reminding me of nothing so much 
as a big snow-avalanche in the Alps, but at a vastly different tempeia- 
ture. It was perfectly well defined, did not at all tend to rise like 
the previous cauliflowers, but flowed rapidly down the valley in the side 
of the mountain which had clearly 7 been the track of previous eiuptions, 
till in certainly less than two minutes it reached the sea, and was theie 
lost to view behind the remains of the flrst black cloud, with which it 
appeared to coalesce. There and on the slopes of the mountain were 
doubtless deposited the greater part of the incandescent ash, while the 
steam and gases, with a certain portion of still entangled stones and 
ash, came forward in our direction as a black cloud, but with much 
greater rapidity than before. The sailors were now alarmed, nay, 
panic-stricken, got out the oars and pulled for their lhes. Meanwhile 
the cloud came nearer and nearer ; it w^as well defined, black, and 
opaque, formed of surging masses of the cauliflower type, each lobe 
rolling forward, but not all with one uniform rotation; bright scintil¬ 
lations appeared, seen in the cloud itself, and some like little flashes of 
light vertically between the cloud and the sea on which it rested. 
These were clearly the phenomena described by the survivors in the 
St. Vincent eruption as “fire on the sea/' occurring in the black cloud 
'which, overwhelmed the windward side of that island. V e examined 
them carefully, and are quite clear that they were electric discharges. 
The scintillations in the body of the cloud became less numerous and 
more defined, and gradually took the form of vivid flashes of forked 
lightning darting from one part of the cloud to another. The cloud 
rapidly gained on us. When it had got within perhaps half a mile or 
a m il e _for it is difficult to estimate distances at sea and in a bad light 
_ we could see small material falling out of it in sheets and festoons into 
the sea, while the onward motion seemed to he chiefly confined to the 
upper part, which then came over our heads and spread out in advance 
and around us, but left a layer of clear air in our immediate neighbour¬ 
hood. It w 7 as ablaze all the time with electric discharges. 
As soon as it got overhead stones began to fall on deck, some as big 
as a walnut, and we were relieved to find that they had parted with 
their heat and were quite cold. Then came small ashes and some little 
rain. Eventually we gained the harbour of Fort de France unhurt, and 
the proposed ascent of Mont Pelee next day, for which men had already 
been engaged, was abandoned. The cloud wars also noticed at Fort de 
France. It was described as like those in the previous eruptions, but 
