The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1902-07-10
| ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT.
The BRITISH POSSES SION DEVASTA.
TED BY A VOLCANO.

~ IL DlT1ueu bY 1lOuntaln hluSe - 10
Population Almost wholly Rural -
kinsston tho Capital and Trading Cen-
trp previous Outbreak OF ha Soufricre.
From the Information. received it
woH,d eeem that the present voican'"
eruption on the island of st. Vincent
is almost exactly counterpart Oh
that of 1919, heretofore the greatest
event in the history of the island. The
next in importance to it and n havoc
wrought being tho terric hurricane
which @ia .Ie 11th of September, 1898,
swept from Barbados across the
Windward Islands, making st. Vincent
its chief victim, although our owe
Porto Rico suffered severely:
A ridge OF mountains crosses the
island, dividing it into eastern and
western parts, Kingstowh, the capl
tai. a town Of 5000 Inhabitants, is on
the southwark side and stretching
alang the shores of a beautiful bay
with mountains gradually rising be-
hind it in the form of vast ampni'
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 aftec the Spanish
style-the same types of houses that
We're in st. Pierre and which are not
unlike tho ola Roman houses which
in Al stages of ruin and semi-preser
vation are found in Pompeii to tnis
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, cc
crpying scattered villages which con
sist of negro huts 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. Tne
negroes in many cases are 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 a fantastic tumble of hills
eliminating in the volcanic ridge
which runs lengthwise OF the ova
shaped island Beautiful valleys al
various points. in fact, intersect this
ridge. The eliminating peak of the
e, eat volcanic 1nass, ter st. Vincent is
nothing more, is the Morne Garou, Of
which La Soufriere is sort of lofty
excresence in the northwest and
flanking the main peak at some dis
tance away.
It may be said that all Of the vol
canic mountains in this part OF the
West Indies have what the people cal
a "soufriere'-a sulphur pit" or sui
phur crater'-thc name coming, as II
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 agitsted.
In 1912 it was La Soufriere ada
cent to the Morne Garou which broke
loose on the island of st. Vincent an6
it is the same SoIfriere which now
has devastated the island and is bonn
harding Kingstown with rocks, lavs
and ashes.
The old crater of Morne Garou has
long been extinct, and, like the ole
crater of Mont Pelee, near St. Pierre
it. had far down in it's depths, sur
rounded by sheer cliffs from 500 to SO(
feet high, a lake.
Glirnpses of the lake Of Mornt
Garou were difficult to get, owing tt
the thick verdure growing about the
! dangerous edges Of the precipices
but those who have seen it describe i
! as a beautiful sheet of deep blue wa
ter.
Despatches from Barbados, 10;
! miles to the. east of St. Vincent, stat
ed that the explosions and mighty
! volcanic cannonading at st. Vincen
J were distinctly heard there, that tht
; sky was black with the great mass O.
; smoke and dust hanging overhead ant
: the enIire surface of the Barbadoe:
! was covered with thick coating @
! ashes.
This is precisely a repetition @
, what happened at the time of tn
! terrible st. Vincent eruption in 1872
What amazed people then was tha
this smoke and the great dense cloud!
: Of ashes and impalpable dust shoult
, be borne so far seaward in the yer!
! teeth of the strong trade winds which
: blow toward the southwest. The ez
i planation of this phenomenon wa
: thcn.sas it is now, that the force o
the explosion, from the volcano hurlet
. the smoke and litter miles high int
! the air until they were way above tn
: trade winds and there met the revers'
air currents going in the opposite dl
! rection.
! Barbados is totally dissimilar in it
natural features to any of the volcan
ic chain of the Caribbean Islands. 1
resembles a pear in outline, witt
the narrow end pointing to the north
and is slightly concave on the east. Il
configuration the island is elevated
and yet not mountainous, the highes