since. At least one resident of
Kingstown--F. W. Griffiths--several months ago predicted that La
Soufriere would soon break out.

"Finally, on the day of the great eruption, a vast column of volcanic
dust, cinders, blocks of lava and asphyxiating gases rose thousands of
feet into the air, spreading in all directions. A large portion of
this, having reached the upper current, was carried eastward. This,
falling, was again divided, and the cinders and deadly gases were
swept by the lower winds back upon the eastward side of the mountain.
The wrecked houses show this, the windows on the side toward the
crater being unaffected, while those on the farther side were wrecked
by the back draught up the mountain.

"There was no wind on the morning of the great outburst, a fact which
facilitated the devastation of the country. The hot, asphyxiating
gases rolled out of the crater, and many were scorched and suffocated.
Hot mud falling from the cloud above stuck to the flesh of the
unfortunate victims, causing bad wounds. Great blocks of stone were
thrown out of the eastern side of the crater, which could be
distinctly seen at a distance of four miles."

Concerning the eruption of Mount Pelee, Mr. Hovey said: "An increase
in the temperature of the lake in the old crater of Pelee was observed
by visiting geologists as much as two years ago, while hot springs had
long been known to exist near the western base of the mountain and
four miles north of St. Pierre. The residents of Martinique, however,
all considered the volcano extinct in spite of the eruption fifty-one
years ago. The ground around the crater of Pelee was reported in 1901
to consist of hot mud, showing that the increase of temperature
observed eighteen months earlier had continued.

"Soon after the middle of April, this year, manifestations of renewed
activity were more pronounced. Ashes began to fall in St. Pierre and
heavy detonations were heard. The houses of the city shook frequently,
suffocating gases filled the air at intervals, and the warning
phenomena increased until they became very alarming.

"The Guerin sugar factory, on Riviere Blanche, was overwhelmed on May
5 by a stream of liquid mud, which rushed down the west slope of the
mountain with fearful rapidity. The pretty lake which occupied the
crater of 1851, on the southwest slope of the cone, about a mile from
the extreme summit and a thousand feet below it, had disappeared, and
a new crater had form