Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-10

United States more familiar with the con-
ditions that obtain at st. Pierre. The city
itself, he said today. was given popula-
ton officially of $4,000, but there were sew
erai large suburbs. beautiful estates and
sugar plantations which brought the total
population up to 900 or $1,000 persons.
According to dispatches all are destroyed.
Mount Pelee situated just north of the
city of St. Pierre, has never been consid-
cred especially liable to eruption. Prof.
Hill said this afternoon the best descrip-
ton of Mount Pelee in existence Is that
given by Lafcadio Hearn in his Two Years
in the West indies" book which is re-
markable for its beautiful descriptions of
Martinique and its people.
Many Noun rains
There are upwards of four hundred
mountains il this little island, or what at
least might be termed mountains else
where" says this work. These. again,
<are divided and Interpreted and bear hill
locks on their slopes. and the lowest hillock in
Martinique is fifty meters high. Some of
the peaks are said to be totally inaccessible;
many mornes are on one or two or even
three sides. Ninety-one only of the prin-
cipal mountains have been named. and
among these several bear similar appella-
tons"
Hearn, describing La Pelee. says:
1T is visible from almost any part of st.
Pierre, which nestles in a fold of it's rocky
skirts. 1t overlooks all the island ranges
and overtops the mighty Pitons or Carbet
by a thousand feet. You can only lose
sight of it by entering gorges or journey
ing into the valleys of the south. High as
the mountain looks from st. Pierre, the eye
underestimate it's bulk; and when you
climb the mornes about the town, La Belle
d Orang, or the much grander ParnaSSe,
you are surprised to find how much vaster
Pelee appears from these SUBMITS
volcanic hills often seem higher by rea-
son OF their steepness than they really are;
hut pein 1Dy, ~
surrounding valleys it appears lower and
from adjacent mornes higher than 1t really
Is, the delusion in the former case being
due to the singular slope Of its contours
and the remarkable breadth of it's base
occupying nearly all of the northern end
OF the island. In the latter. to misconception
OF the comparative height of the eminence
you have reached. which deceives by the
precfpitous pitch of it's sides
Pelee is not very remarkable in point of
altitude. however The clouds of the sum-
INIT afford no indication to eyes accus-
toned to mountain scenery in northern
countries. for in these hot moist ATTITUDES
clouds hang very low, even in fair weather
But In bulk Pelee is grandiose 1t spurs
out across the island from the Caribbean
to the Atlantic. The great chain of mornes
about it are merely counter forts
"Bven in bulk. perhaps, Pelee might not
impress those who know the stupendous
scenery of the American ranges. but none
could deny its special attractions appeal
ing to the senses of form and color There
Is an imposing Enthusiastically in its confg-
uration worth months of artistic study"
st. Pierre's Former Visitation.
And then Hearn goes on:
rs the great volcano dead? Nobody
knows. Less than forty years ago it rain
ed ashes over all the roofs of st. Pierre
Within twenty years 1t has uttered mutter-
ings- For the moment it appears to Sleep
and the clouds have dripped into the cup
of its highest crater till it has become q