Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-15
Where Earthquakes Are Born.


Here is where earthquakes are bred, such
as sank old Port Royal in Jamaica under
the and shook Caracas into ruins, and
here is where the elements still rage that
break out in volcanic eruptions such as has
swept St Pierre out of existence, and per-
haps repeated the experience of ST. Vincent
ninety years ago, when contemporaneously
within the Caracas earthquake it's old
Soufriere belched fire and smoke and the
whole region was covered with a pail of
darkness for days. AT that time the vol
canic dus, was thrown in huge volume
above the trade winds and carried by the
counter current to Barbados, a hundred
miles away, where it covered the surface
of the island as with a black snow and
frightened the inhabitants with it's mystery
The popularity of physical conditions in
the Caribbees is not confined to the land
The currents of the sea, caused by the
heated waters of the equatorial region flow
ing around the broad shoulder of South
America, make through the passages of
this broken continental bridge for the deep
basins within, and, finding no outlet beyond
are forced under the accumulated pressure
in a single stream from the Gulf of Mexico
to the Atlantic. Thus. this barrier to a re-
turning sweep in the face of the continued
currents performs its part in generatin the
gulf stream, whose tepid waters flow like a
widening river through the north Atlantic
to temper the climate of Europe.
Cause of the Hurricane
Less beneficent are the currents of the
atmosphere produced by tropic heat radi-
ating upward from the land surfaces, for
sometimes these rush into the rarif1ed
spaces with fury that sweeps everything
before 1t and terror only second to that
of the volcano and the earthquake. There
are typhoons and cyclones in other parts Of
the world, but only the West Indian hurri-
cane has the opportunity Of prostrating
whole people at once
The history of the Caribbees is in thrill
ing interest quite in keeping with their
unique physical chacter. They belong to
the part OF the western world first discov-
cred by the European explorers, who
thought that here they had reached the
Indies by a shorter passage than that
around Africa, and the romance of their
history began with the later voyages of
Columbus and the wanderings Of Vespucct.
heir native CARDS, who had come up from
the south resisted f1ercely when the gentle
Arowaks of the north faded submissively
before Spanish cruelty. Along this range
the Spaniard gained no lasting foothold.
but his enemies, the Dutch and English and
French. fought for its possession, and after
many battles divided the spols among
them.
Interest in Islands
About these islands lurked the pirates
and buccaneers, the slavers and privateers
of a time of daring and adventure when
the laws of civilization were suspended in
possessions which the nations stole and
fought over. Here even Drake was a pirate
rather than a great admiral; but the time
came when naval warfare took the place
of marauding if the island seas Marti-
nique ard Dominica were the scene of the
gathering of the feets of Rodney and De
Grasse, and the adjacent waters saw one
of the greatest naval battles of century
Now that we have foothold in the West
N mo diva do,
by way of st. Thomas and Santa Cruz they
have special interest for us, and we are
concerned to know whether they NAV vet
be subject TO commissions which will carry
the remnants of the old bridge between the
continents altogether below the surface. as
Prof. Heilprin seems to apprehend.