iviere Blanche, the bed of which is dry at this season
of the year, overwhelmed everything which obstructed its rush to the
sea. Estates and buildings were covered up by the fiery wave, which
appeared to rise to a height of some twenty feet over an area of
nearly a quarter of a mile. When the torrent had poured itself into
the sea, it was found that the Guerin sugar factory, on the beach,
five miles from the mountain and two from St. Pierre, was imbedded in
lava. The burning mass of liquid had taken only three minutes from the
time it was first perceived to reach the sea, five miles away.

"Then a remarkable phenomenon occurred. The sea receded all along the
western coast for about a hundred yards and returned with gentle
strength, covering the whole of the sea front of St. Pierre and
reaching the first houses on the Place Bertin. This created a general
panic, and the people made for the hills. Though the sea retired
again, without great damage being done ashore or afloat, the panic
continued, intensified by terrible detonations, which broke from the
mountain at short intervals, accompanied with dense emissions of smoke
and lurid flashes of flame.

"This was awful in daylight, but, when darkness fell, it was more
terrible still, and, at each manifestation of the volcano's anger,
people, in their nightclothes, carrying children, and lighted by any
sort of lamp or candle they had caught up in their haste, ran out into
the dark streets, wailing and screaming, and running aimlessly about
the town.

"The mental strain becoming unendurable, the Topaze was got ready, and
the refugees hurriedly went on board and started for St. Lucia. In the
afternoon the gentlemen of the party, having placed their families in
safety, returned by the Topaze to Martinique.

"In the meantime, telegrams were being sent from Martinique, imploring
that a steamer be chartered to bring away terrified people from St.
Pierre. But the superintendent of the Royal Mail company, at Barbados,
would not allow one of the coasting boats, the only steamer available,
to go to Martinique. At a little before five o'clock in the afternoon
cable communication was interrupted and remains so."

Martinique mails, forwarded just prior to the disaster, arrived in
Paris on May 18. The newspapers printed a number of private letters
from St. Pierre, giving many details of events immediately preceding
the catastrophe. The most interesting of these was a letter from a
yo