The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-05-29
ERUPTIONS OF MT. PELEE.

gust, 1901. fIeFlOuS W Ludl, III 1io',
about 1000 people were killed by an
earthquake in Martinique. In 1899, the
then capital. Fort Royal, now Fore de
France, was visited by an earthquake
which destroyed about half the town,
caused great damage throughout the
island and killed about seven hundred
persons
Mont Pelee is the loftiest mountain
on Martinique and is 4,450 feet high.
When it was in eruption in 1851 flames
and volumes Of black smoke and fine
ashes burst suddenly from the crater
and threw the people Of st. Pierre into
panic. They fed from the place,
many taking refuge on the ships in the
roadstead. The eruption on this occas-
ion was not serious only covering some
hundreds of acres with sulphurous de-
bris, but it was enough to show that
Mont Pelee was not dead, but sleeping.
The terrible volcanic storm in which
ages ago Mont Pelee was uplifted
crumpled her summit and rent and fis-
sured her sides, and sent her foothills
sprawling all over the northern end OF
the island of Martinique, less, perhaps,
by her enormous bulk than T her
pyramid symmetry Of her outlines.
The Bald Mountain" she was called,
but never was adjective so misapplied,
for La Pelee was fully clothed from
the edge of the sea to the very summit
in the most extravagant luxuriance OF
tropical vegetation.
Within twenty years the great noun
tain has sounded its warning-rumb-
ling and growing and muttering like
some uneasy giant in his sleep-but
the gay people merely shrugged their
shoulders and laughed at the menace,
for they knew that the crater had been
turned into lake by the rains and
that it had been many years-hardly
within the memory of the oldest inha-
bitant-since the volcano did anything
but threaten. The presence of the lake
in the crater they accepted as proof
positive that the fires had been drown
ed out, never to be lighted again.
Interesting Facts About st. Pierre.
The part Of st. Pierre on the slope
was known as the upper town" and
was clean and we'll built. The lower
town situated along the roadstead front
was dirty and unhealthy. The town
was divided into two parts by a small
river over which there was handsome
bridge.
Five newspapers were published in
st. Pierre. They were Las Antilles,
founded in 1912; Les Colonies, founded
in 1878; La Defense. founded In 1881;
LIE Propagateur. founded in 1852 and
L'Union, founded in 1891.
The principal commerce Of st. Pierre
was the expectation Of sugar, rum, SOL
fee and cocoa. Remarkably fine CO.
logne water was manufactured in st.
Pierre and exported to France. France
took most of the expectations. The i'm"
portations of st. Pierre were textile
fabrics, grain, flour, wine, oil and meet
cattle.
The climate has been described as
very fine and healthful, resembling
that of Lower California to remark
able degree. An abundance m clear,
sparkling water from the mountains
helped keep the town in a fine sanitary
condition.
One traveller, writing Of St. Pierre,
said
THE visitor to the island is remind
ed on every corner that the Empress
Josephine was born in Martinique, at
Trois Isiets, enar Fort de France.
went to see both her birthplace and
the statue which Napoleon III. erected
to her memory in the public square In
Fort de France; but it Is no reminder
Of Josephine that is uppermost when l
think of Martinique. It is one Of the
most beautiful and quiet spots in the
world that presents itself.
Just to he southwark Of st. Pierre
is a point Of rocks, half way up of
which a large white cross has been
erected. Beyond the point Of rocks the
sea sweeps inward in a great semicir-
Gle, making a bay. with another point
in a distance. The shore Of this bay
is a broad yellow beach. smooth as
carpet. Where the beach ends and the
grass begins thousand cocoanut
palms, all giants. stretch around the
semicircle. Under the palms nestle a
score of little stone houses with red:
tiled roofs. In the back yards Of these
houses, hundred feet back from the
water, the mountain begins, and goes
up, almost straight up. till its summit
Is lost in the clouds. Such a beautiful
nook l fear shall never see again"
Some idea of the formation of the
island Of Martinique may be obtained
from the fact that, although 1t Is not
quite forty-hve miles long and only
about nineteen miles wide. it has 40a
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