The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1902-05-15
ST. PIERRE.
The Island City Destroyed by Volcanic
Eruption.

Eruption.
st. Pierre, destroyed by volcano
last Thursday, was the commercial cen
ter of the Island of Martinique, which,
with the neighboring island of Guarde-
loupe, forms the last of the French pos
sessions in the West Indies. The is
lands greatest length is AZ miles and
the mean width 10 miles. A cluster of
volcanic mountains in the north, sim
liar group in the south and a line of
lower heights between them, from the
backbone of the island, which culmi-
mates in the northwest Mt. Pelee, which
rises 4, 430 feet above the sea level.
The entire island, formerly called
Madiana, is of volcanic formation and
is known as one of the "wet" islands,
owing to the amount of rain which an.
nually falls something like 15O inches.
Its climate is hot and hurricanes and
earthquakes are not infrequent. The
island has about 80, 900 acres of very
fertile land under cultivation. The to-
tai area is about $50 square miles.
The population of the island is 100, 600
of which perhaps 10000 are white. Su-
lgar, rum and coffee are the principal
fproducts.
Many things combine to make the
island of Martinique itself more beau
tiful and more Economically interesting
than any other of the West Indian is
lands. Its mountain scenery is more
POLITICALLY beautiful, its towns more
strikingly picturesque in architecture,
and its population more varied and
beautiful in color and type than any
where else among the Winward islands.
st. Pierre, with 40, 900 inhabitants,
was the principal city of the island in
point of population and commercial
importance, although Fort de France
is the civil capital.
Down to the waters edge the streets
of st. Pierre descend and behind were
gardens and plantations sloping up to
the mountains. The city was built on
rising land, and the streets, which fol-
lowed the coast line, mounted one
above the other, so that the upper ones
were 200 feet above the sea. These
streets were intersected at right angles
by long avenues which descend steeply
to the waters edge; sometimes, as in
the native quarter, the descent was so
sharp that the streets were built into
flights of steps. Down the center or at
the sides of every street ran canals of
freshly flowing, rapid water, carrying
the refuse of the city to the sea.
The houses were substantial, many
of them built in the eighteenth centu-
ry, and were carefully constructed with
marble or cedar floors. The uniform
color of the houses was bright yellow
with blue or violet shutters and doors,
which gave the old French island town
a coquettish gaiety even in the days o.
its old age and decay. And these
houses were buried in the splendid
green of tropical gardens, and shont
like gold in the splendors of an atmos
phere palpitating with sunlight ant
the sapphire of tropic sky and tropi'
sea, which at the high level of th,
streets melted its liquid blue into tn,
ethereal blue sky.
An air of spring pervades Scribner'
Magazine for May. Itcontains a beau
tiful drawing in color by Henry Nc
Carter to illustrate Heine's "May
Song" there is a breezy salt-wate
narrative by James B. Connolly, VIII
gives his adventures "On a North Sc
: Smack" illustrated by NJ. J. Burns
another of those inimitable fshin
sketches which have already put MI
Connolly in the first rank of writer's G
: the sea; an exciting eight with
Muskallonge, by John r. Ranthom
who in very brief space gives tn
reader all the sensations that an expeI
! fisherman gets in landing a gamy fis
illustrated with a spirited picture b
A, b. En0SlN and 1thHtS is an earl