The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-10


pieces tinkles down upon the stone
From the cathedral the army surgeon,
the navy paymaster. and I, who are
roaming the ruins together, turn south
ward and eastward and mount the hill
side. Between lines OF sunken rectangles
which were shops or homes differentia-
ton is impossible-we gain the terraced
open space in the rear of the cathedral
A torrent OF mud and water has charged
dom this incline and obliterated the
STEPS ana walkwsys it has uprooted the
royal palms which grsced it, and tossed
them headlong to the south, burying
/ their fronded crests completely Their
trunks are bowed, and damlike, have
caught and held long tangles of wreck
age from the higher part OF the city.
To our right, built close under the ris-
| ing slopes Of Morne d'Orange, are the
shattered walls of the Asylum Of Our
Lady Of the Fields. the largest building
IN St Pierre. II was the civil hospital
and contained about 200 patients when it
was destroyed. But in ruins it is no
more hospital than Theatre, it may be
either, anything, for one CHARACTERISTIC
OF the ruins is that externally no struct-
ure. save the cathedral, gives the vaguest
hint of the use to which it was put.
Homes. stores. stables, cafes. schools.
all are alike; they are cracked, dust
covered walls. nothing more.
>Girdle-hke, behind the city, runs the
military road built upon a high retaining
wall, decidedly Roman in suggestion. 1t
extends from the Botanical Gardens near
the RoxeIane 10 'LAnse. Under its
shadow, using it. in fact. as a back
ground, is the Cemetery of the Anch-
orage The rich are inferred there in
vaults extending through the wall and
having little mortuary chapels before
them There are perhaps a score. of
these little arched enclosures along the
wall, looking seaward. Within the tab
lets set in masonry will indicate that
the cemetery is of great age.
La Pelee has played sad pranks here.
She has Ievelled the cemetery from the
threshold line of the chapels and swept
gravestones and monuments into the
streets below. But the chapels, clinging
to the wall, have not been RACED and
whirled away. They stand dismantled
and forlorn, but the graves within are
as firmly sealed as on the day their oc-
cupants were shut within. Latticed iron
doors are off here and yonder an arch.
with a surrounding figure of Grief,
has been set away; farther on, the side
of a chapel is cracked and forced sea-
ward, but, as a whole the line has
weathered the blunt of the blast. In some
Of the chappels glass urns and porcelain
vases, their sides blown out-the sides
toward PeIee-are still standing filed
with withered flowers; in others. the
-sr7-
ing from the roof are uninjured, and in
others still the destructive force has
swept them bare, even of the wreaths
of immortelles which, whisked from the
walls, strew the dusty walls outside
As We are moving away bit OF green
underfoot catches the eye. One of US
prods it with his foot and then stoops
down in surprise The bit of green had
thrust itself above the ash crust is the
head of a courageous little plant which |
has survived where great walls have
crumbled Beside it is another and still
another in all, six little shoots of liv-
ing green. the only living things we
came upon this day. Nature, so truly |
queen IN Martinique is already dressing |
her dismantled throne.
1t is from the wide wall of a house di- |
rectly south of the cemetery that the /
best general view Of the ruined city is |
obtained. Thence it lies before the eye
as a fight of haphazard steps running |
down to the bay. The ruins WAIVER in |
the hot sunshine the silkwood tree |
trunks in the foreground raising gray |
charred arms which seem transfixed in |
agony, and all aobut is the unequalled |
devastation. the indescribable silence of |
the annihiliated city. Blocks of buildings |
cannot be told one from another; they |
are huddled together in fright The top |
Of every wall. as far as the eye reaches, |
is furred with the soft gray ash which /
lies ankle-deep under foot. The Rivere |
Roxelane. known also as the Rivera du |
Mouillage, is a wrinkled. Shiny mud SER
pent, its tail in the mountain. its head /
lost in the sea- and beyond it. in the
Quarter of the Fort, is another stretch Of
the shattered city somewhat more deep
~ covered with ashes, and once the site
of many Of the finest homes in st.
Pierre. Only the highest ruins show here;
mud has descended upon them and OBJ
liberated the low structures. Further on
the eve takes in the choked bed of the
Rivere des Peres. with the steam jets
half-concealing it. and
then. to the northward, to the Rivere
Blanche the undiscovered section which
now is simply a sloping plain. vast and
nude
And to the very edge OF this desolated
region comes the blue harbor, so blue.
so tranquil. so clear. that there is no
forgetting it. II is the Bay of Naples.
Pelees is Vesuvius. and here is the sunny
Neapolitan city dabbling its feet in the
shining water Somewhere beyond in
the luminous mist is Pompeii.
We climbed down from the wall. and.
starting southwark. begin a wide detour.
which eventually takes us towards the
Roxelane As we fass over the mound
which covers the leres ct penates OF what
appears 20 have been a large dwelling
house; a slipping foot dislodges a stone
and brings 10 light twisted. biackened
mass OF tableware. knives. forks. spoons.
and such small things. When
the dust nearby IS brushed away. plates
and cups and saucers. many without 2
crack IN them. ara laid bare. It is re-
markable fact that throughout the ruins
one constantly comes across pieces OF
china and glassware which have not suf-
fered so much as a nick IN the edge; in
deed when we are finally called 20 our
boats. one Of the party has slung on the
strap of his camera half-a-dozen small
coffee cups. the saucers Of them balanced
with great skill upon q porcelain cream
pitcher.
Another extraordinary feature OF the
ruins. particularly in the south-oentral
part OF the Mouillage Quarter, IS the