The Jennings daily record., 1902-06-24
ISLAND FIERY FURNACES
cARlBBEES ARE GREAT ASH HEAPS
EVER READY TO EXPLODE.
Eruptione Como With Terrific Suddenness
and When Least Expected-No Flow of
Lava, But Gigantic Explosion OF Steam, l.,
Gas and Red Hot Cinders.


Gas and Red Hot Cinders.
Professor Robert Z. Hill. of the
| United States Geological Survey, and
geologist Of the AgasSiz West Indian
| Expedition, writes in the New York
| Herald as follows: Across the throat
| of the Caribbean extends IA chain of
| islands the Carribees), which are real
ly smouldering furnaces, with fires
banked up, ever ready to break forth
| at some unexpected and inopportune
moment This group, commencing
| with Saba. on the north, near our own
| Porto Rico, ard ending with Grenada,
| on the south, near Trinidad. consists of
| ancient ash heaps, piled up in times
| past by volcanic action. These old ash
heaps have weathered into fertile SOIL
which, bathed by an undue share of
moisture, has become covered with
ripe growths of damp and mouldering
vegetat ton. This same soil also pro-
| duces all the richest vegetable products
of the tropics. These volcanic island
| of the tropics.
These volcanic islands have been
slowly piling up since the beginning of
! the Tertiary Period, and their bases
| extend beneath the waters for a depth
rs great as their SUBMITS project above
| it. making their total height nearly
| 10000 feet above their submerged
| bases.
The northern islands of the neck
lace. like Saa and ST. Eustatius. are
simple crater cones. but the centre of
the chain consists Of four larger isl
ands-Gaudeloupe, Dominica, San
Lucia and st. Ninccr leach of which
is a complicated mass of old volcanic
vents, whose peaks attain their great
est height in Mount DioblOtim. in Do
| minica, 4747 feet above the sea.
These volcanoes do not conform to
the type which most people have in
mind. for from them there flow no fiery
streams of lava. nor do they always
give days OF warning before their out
breaks. On the other hand. their erup-
tionS consist Of hot water. cinderS and
mud. Their explosions come with ter
rife suddennesS ard when least ex-
pected. In volcanoes which eject lava
the ascending column Of molten liquid
vibrates the earth for days or months
before it reaches the surface, and the
people of the vicinity can always for
tell the cruptions. This is not so with
the cinder type. for they explode sud
denly and do their damage without
| much warning
While the explosions by which the
mud and ciuder were elected have
been sudden. they have taken place
only at long intrvalS of time, each enc
adding its pile TO the surface debris
and obliteraUnS the previous land
| Scape.
1t had been so long since any explo-
! siOnS occurred that most geographers
as well as the inhabitants of the isl
ands. had considered that the forces
! which produced them We're spent, and
| classified them as extinct volcanoes.
! 1t is true that the soufriere of Gaude-
| loupe has Sent up from its summit
from time immemOrial faint putfS of
| steam. and that upon Dominica and
other of the islands there We're a few
hot springs. but for nearly a hundred
years there had not been the least sign
of explosion. There is also an old
crater or Soufriere on the island of
San Lucia which contains some boil
ing springs.
Within human history there has been
but one serious eruption in the Carri-
bee Islands. but this. like the present
| catastrophe, was one of the most de-
structive the world had ever seen. In
1872 the mountain of Morne Garon, on
| the island of st. Vincent, about ninety
! miles south of Martinique. exploded.
The explosion was Il most fatal and
far reaching catacyism, being equaled
in recent years only by that of Kraka-
toa. in the Straits Of Sunda. In Car
acas. 10000 persons We're buried in a
single moment. and after this event
ruin WAS wrought all along the line
of the Andes by earthquakes.
MOrne GarOu vomited vast clouds of
dust. which darkeued the sun for an
entire day and spread over Il hundred
miles of sea and land. The volumes of
mud changed the contiguration of the
| island, as well rs its eastern end. The
present crater. formed at that time,
is half mile in diameter and 800 feet
| deep. and is now a beautiful lake,
| walled in by rocky cliffs 10 a height of
500 feet. Its slopes are covered with
| peaceful vegetation and fields of cane.
The Island of Martinique is COM
posed almost entirely of old volcanic
material, and is dominated by three
conspicuous peaks. which have prob
| ably been volcanic in the past. Mont
Pelee. the highest of these. is 442S feet
| in height, and dominates the northern
| end of the island. Near the centre of
the island is Corbet. $500 feet in
height, and near the southwestern end,
Vauclin, 1867 feet.
In "A peaceful blight behind the shell
| tprinp Ice of pplpp Law ST Pierre This