Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-07-30
ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT.
THE BRITISH POSSESSION peVASTA-
TED BY A VOLCANO.

TED BY A VOLCANO.
1t Is Divided bY 4 Mountain Ridge - Its
Population Almost Wholly Rural
KinGston tho Capital and Trading Gen.
tre-Prevlous Outbreak of La Soufriere.
From the information received 1t
would seem that the present volcanic
eruption on the island of st. Vincent
is almost exactly counterpart OF
that of 1872, heretofore the greatest
event in the history of the island, the
next in Importance to it and in havoc
wrought being the terric hurricane
which on the 18th of September, 1893,
swept from Barbados across the
Windward Islands, making st. Vincent
its chief victim, although our own
Porto Rico suffered severely.
A ridge of mountains crosses the
island, dividing it into eastern and
western parts. Kingstown, the capi'
tai, town of 5000 inhabitants, Is on
the southwark side and stretching
along the shores of beautiful bay,
with mountains gradually rising be-
hind it in the form of vast amphl'
theatre Three streets, broad and
lined with good houses, run parallel
to the waterfront There are many
other interesting highways, some OF
which lead back to the foothills, from
which good roads ascend the noun
tains.
The majority of the houses have
red tile roofing and a goodly number
of them are of stone, one story nigh,
with thick walls after the Spanish
style-the same types of houses tnat
were in st. Pierre and which are not
unlike the old Roman houses which
in all stages Of ruin and semi-preser-
vation are found in Pompeii to this
day.
Behind the great mass of the houses
OF the town looms the governors resi-
dence and the buildings of the botani.
cal gardens overlooking the town.
Kingstown is the trading center and
the one town of Importance in the
island. 1t contains the churches and
chapels of five Protestant denomina-
tions and number of excellent
schools. Away from Kingstown the
population is almost wholly rural, oc-
cupying scattered villages which con-
sist of negro huls clustering around a
few substantial buildings or of cabins
grouped about old plantation buildings
somewhat after the ante-bellum fash
ion in our own Southern states.
The entire population of the island
Is about $4,000, of whom 10000 are
Africans and about 5000 Europeans,
the rest being made UP of Asiatics
with sprinkling of mixed Caribs. the
negroes in many cases arc land own
ers. and arrow root, since the decay of
the sugar industry now all but extinct,
IS the chief export.
In an island only eighteen miles
long by eleven broad there is not
room for any distinctly marked noun
tain range. The whole of st. Vincent
in fact is fantastic tumble of hills,
eliminating in the volcanic ridge
which runs lengthwisc OF the oval
shaped island. Beautiful valleys at
various points, in fact, intersect this
ridge. The eliminating peak of the
great volcanic mass, tor st. Vincent is
nothing more, is the Morne Garou, of
which La Soufriere Is a sort of lofty
eycresence in the northwest and
flanking the main peak at some dis
tance away.
1t may be said that all of the vol
canic mountains in this part of the
West Indies have what the people call
"soufriere"-a Sulphur pit, ur "oul-
phur crater"-the name coming, as in
the case of past disturbances of Mont
Pelee, Martinique, from the strong
stencil of sulphuretted hydrogen
which issues from them when the vol
cano becomes agitatcd.
In 1912 it was La Soufriere ada
cent to the Morne Garou which broke
loose on the island of st. Vincent and
it is the same Soufriere which now
has devastated the island and is bom-
harding Kingstown with rocks, lava
and. ashes.
The old crater Of Morne Garou has
long been extinct, and, like the old
crater of Mont Pelee, near st. Pierre,
it. had FIR down in its depths, sur
rounded by sheer cliffs from 500 to 500
feet high, lake.
Glimpses of the lake of Morne
Garou were difficult to get, owing to
the thick verdure growing about the
dangerous edges of the precipices,
but those who have seen it describe it
as beautiful sheet of deep blue wa
ter.
Dispatches from Barbados, 100
miles to the east of st. Vincent, stat
ed that the explosions and mighty
volcanic cannonading at ST. Vincent
were distinctly heard there, that the
sky was black with the great mass Of
smoke and dust hanging overhead and
the entire surface of the Barbados
was covered with thick coating of
ashes.
This is precisely repetition of
what happened at the time of the
terrible st. Vincent eruption in 1872
What amazed people then was that
this smoke and the great dense clouds
of ashes and impalpable dust should
be borne so far seaward in the very
teeth of the strong trade winds which
blow toward the southwest. The eX-
nlanation of this phenomenon was
then, as it is now, that the force of
the explosion, from the volcano hurled
the smoke and litter miles high into
the air until they were way above the
trade winds and there met the reverse
air currents going in the opposite di-
rcction.
Barbados is totally dissimilar in it's
natural features 10 any of the volcan-
4, obo pf Tel