Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-09-29
THE ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT
Nature Reasserting Itself Since the
Subsistence Of Volcanic Dis
turbances.

As I have just returned from fort
nights tour in st. Vincent, during which
/ had opportunities of seeing the great
er part Of the island, it may be interest
Ing to the readers of the Times TO
know how far the ordinary processes of
nature have begun to reassert them
selves since the cessation of the vol
canic disturbances, says writer in the
London Times. The first thing that one
notices is the remark able luxuriance of
the green growth of vegetation Of all
kinds. 1t is true that vast unassimi-
lated CLASSY ash is visible everywhere,
painful to the eye and burning to the
feet--very different from the COOL rest
full, dull biackness Of the soil that |
remember two or three years ago. But
wherever the ash ms mixed well in
the soil it. SO nc - we had some fer
tilizing r(,f+ "~ standing the as
eeTllonA -. 4so Anai5slsi
But the havoc nich has been wrought
among the Smaller life of insect and
bird is deplorabie. saw no lizards in
the grasses, only the scantiest show of
firefies at dusk, far fewer butterflies.
and far fewer humming birds All the
high ridges CT the mountains are de-
nuded of the tall forest trees and palms
which used to clothe their SUBMITS. This
is, OF course, due to the hurricane OF
1898; previously one rarely saw the
bare outline Of an esearpmept silhouettec
against the brilliant sky: wrinkled
waves of foliage alone marked the con-
figuration; but now the presence of
large tree is the exception, and even
then it shows signs of ruthless storm
tear. 1t was pleasanter to ride through
the new settlements provided for the
Caribs and other refugees, sufferers
alike from the hurricane and from the
volcanic erIptions. The wisdom OF the
executive in removing the jewellers in
the extreme north of the island and find
Ing them homes outside what was then
a dangerous locality was fully justified
by after events, although considerable
amount Of sore feeling and dissatisfac-
ton was created at the time. But, like
many of the sufferers from the storm
ia Barbados, the deported families are
now better housed than ever before in
their lives. The new villages, with
their neat cabins and plots Of land, deco
rate the fertile slopes and add undoubt-
ed picturesqueness to the leeward side
Of the island.
But what OF La Soufriere herself?
Her last utterance was In March, 1903,
and there is every sign that she is COM
posing herself for another slumber-
how long or how short no man can say.
Still, the lake In the bosom Of the era
ter is once again filling, and this is
considered to be token and promise
of good behavior. The ascent Of La
goufriere can no longer be made by
the old route from Chateau Belaire;
one is obliged to go farther north to
Wallibou, and thence begin the long
climb of nearly 1000 fest The scene
from the summit reminds one, in its
gloom and desolation, Of the neighbor-
hood Of the Cities of the Plain. Not
a bird. not an insect, not tree-save
few charred stumps-can be seen. A
black wall Of pitch-like looking Cliff
confronts one where all used to be YER
dure and thick scrub, and through the
broken rocks a glimpse Of the smaller
and unused crater now appears, the old
knife-edge partition which formerly d.
vided the two craters having been par
TALLY destroyed in the violent paroxysm
of the last eruptions. On the slopes
lower down chimneys, cattle-pens, boil
lighthouses and negro cabins can be dis
cerned sticking an odd stone or rafter
or trash roof through the mud where
it has been secured away by the torren-
tial rains.
And yet, amid all this destruction and
desoiation, there are the beginnings Of
a fresh era to be welcomed. Already on
the lowest sands there is profusion
of silver ferns (no gold ones, as had
hoped, and not unreasonably expected,
and guinea grass, sweet potatoes and
cassava are springing. self-sown, on the
ridges up to 1000 feet. Given five years
Of undisturbed natural processes, l see
no reason why the north Of the island
should not once again be cultivable,
fertile and habitable as il was in the
half century preceding the eruptions
AZ 1QO2-'O3