The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-12
DEFoE's PROPHETIC VISION.
A suppositious Story of Volcanic
 Eruption in the West Indies.


 Norfolk Landmark.
 That wonderful and classic liar tho harm mcant), Daniel Defoe has sprung into sudden posthunious fame on the strength of something else than Robin- son Cruesoe. which long ago put him in son Crusoe, which lon gago put him m erature 1t has been discovered that the inventive Defoe. away back Tn llis' ton in the west Indies which bears . startling similarity to the actual catas- trophe in Martinique and St. vincent iasl month. from Vol II of Lees Life and Newly Discovered Writings of Daniel Detos U,ondon. ls69), the complete text of thas prophetic narrative. which Is one oI tne most remarkable feats of imagination on record in literature. The dream" is sev- eral columns long. 1t is one Of a series a entertaining fabrications which the author was writing at the time for Eng- Journal on the 5th of July. HIS. The fol- lowing quotations suffice to show the as- tonishing accuracy of Defoe's preWsion:
 We have a piece of public News tnis time of such consequence, ana S,,,iw .c- dualnted with, that our friends wno nave written several letters to us, which other wise deserve publishing. must excuse us for this week.
 of the Island of St. Vincent, in the West indies. by the immediate hand of Nature, directed by Providence, and in manner astonishing to all the wGr,o' s .sn sne rrnss nss tion: or. at least since the destruction or inc Earth by Water in the general Del 's Ion the e4th of March. a French I is sloSp oSp Island of St. Vincent the 32nd. He saws that all was safe. and in very good condition there. for anything he perceiv- ed, only that some of his Seamen reposI since the disaster. that one of the Indians told them, they had been terribly right enei with Earth1uakes for some ume, and with flashes of fire like Ligntmhs, which did not come out or the Clouos as usual, but out of the Earth; and, that thev had felt these Earthquakes Tor a Month past, to their very great Amaze ment. At. was darkened in dreadful manner. which darkness by all accounts seems to have extended all over the Coloniss and Islands which were within w ,a,er nhaJs of that place. piafe Ma;t,ido Ihs the I men are SO terr!fy'd still, and were so Amazed ~ what they saw and heard, that they were perfectly stupefyd, and give ittie or no Account; others are come into other ports so horribly frighted, that they scarce retain their senses; others give confus' Accounts, and so, more or less uistinct, as they were nearer or farther rom ths Place. the sum Of what may pc 6atheieo from them all Is this:- ,
 That they saw in the Night terri err. ble flash of Fire, and after that they heard innumerable Clashes or Thunuer- some say it was Thunder they heard others that it was Cannon--only that the noise was a thousand times as loud as Thunder or Cannon. considering that lt annear'd to be at a great distance rom them. The darkness still encreas d after this tviz) in the afternoon they were surprisd with the falling Of some thing upon them as thick as smoke, put fine as dust and yet solid as sandi tnis Ycll thicker and faster as they were near CT or farther off-some Ships had It nine inches. others foot thick-upon their Decks; the Island of Martlnico Is covered with it at about ' to inches thick' at Rarbadoes it is frightful. even to St. Christophers 1t exceeded four inches seen on the Continent of New spain. about the point of Guiana. ,. This continued falling for two or three Days and Nights successively: and 1t was in- nnssihJe for any Man to find out or so much as guess at the meaning or It, or of any natural Cause to produce It, tiil inc whole came to discover itself .. The first News that was given Of the whole thing was by some vessels that were under sail. in the Night of the 18th. belonging to Martinico. by which we had the following particulars: that on the said 26th. about Midnight. the whole Island Of St Vincent rose up into the AIT, with most dreadful eruption Of Fire from un- derneath the Earth, and an inconceivable Noise in the Air at it's rising up; that 1t war not only blown up, but blown out of the very sea with a dreadful force. as 1t were torn up by the Roots. or blown up from the Foundations of the Earth"