The Monticellonian., 1904-07-14
Nature Reasserting Itself Since the SuhSidence of Volcanic Dis
 turbances.

As have. just returned from a fort nights tour in St Vincent, during which l had opportunities of seeing the great CT part of the island, it may be interest ing 10 the readers of the Times to know how far the ordinary processes of Aature have begun to reassert them selves since the cessation of the vol- eanie disturbances. says writer in the London Times. The first thing that one notices is the remarkable luxuriance of the green growth of vegetation of all kinds. It is true that vast unassimi- lated glassy ash Is visible everywhere, painful. to the eye and burning to the ieet-yery different from the cool rest fnl, dull blaekness of the soil that remember two or three years ago But wherever the ash has mixed well in ghe soil it seems to have had some fer tiAzing effect, notwithstanding the as- asrtions of the analysts.
 But the havoc which has been wrought among the smaller life of insect and bird is deplorable. l saw no lizards in the grasses, only the seantiest show of aFeflies at dusk, far fewer butterflies, and far fewer hHmming birds. All the high ridges of the mountains are de- nuded of the tall forest trees and palms which used to elothe their summits. This $, of course, due to the hurricane of 1898: previously one rarely saw the bare outline of al escarpment silhouettec against the brilliant sky: wrinkled waves of foliage alone marked the con- ieuration; but now the presence of Iarge tree is the exception. and even tten it shows signs of ruthless storm sezr. It was pleasanter to ride through she new settlements provided for the Carlos and other refugees, sufferers alike from the hurricane and from the volcanic eruptions. The wisdom of the executive in removing the dwellers in the extreme north of the island and find Ing them homes outside what was then dangerous locality was fully justified By after events, although a considerable amount of sore feeling and dissatisfac- tien was created at the time. But, like many of the sufferers from the storm Tn Barbados. the deported families are HOW 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- sd 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 con- posing herself for another slumber- 1ow long or how short no man can say. Still. the lake in the bosom of the era fer is once again filling. and this is considered to be a token and promise of good behavior. The ascent of La Soufriere can no longer be made by the old route from Chateau Belaire: one is obliged to go farther north 10 Wallibou. and thence begin the long climb of nearly 4000 feet. The scene from the summit reminds one. in its gloom and desolation. of the neighbor- hood of the Cities of the Plain. Not bird, Rot an insect, not tree-saYe a few eharred stumps-ean be seen. A alaak wall of pitch-like looking cliff eonfronts one where all used to be yer Gure and thick scrub. and through the broken rocks q glimpse of the smaller aud unused crater now appears, the old k1tfe-edge partition which formerly di- Fided the two eraters having been par sially destroyed in the violent paroxysm 1t the last eruptions. On the slopes lnyer down ehimneys, cattle-pens, boil fng-houses and negro cabins can be dis earned sticking an odd stone or rafter ar tras1 roof through the mud where t has been secured away by the torren- tial rains
 And yet. amid all this destruction and lesolation. there are the beginnings of fresh era to be welcomed. Already on the lowest sands there is a profusion of' silver ferns tno gold ones as I had hoped, and not unreasonably expected). ard guinea grass, sweet potatoes and cassaya are springing. self-sown, on the udges up to 1000 feet. Given five years of undisturbed natural processes, I see TO reason why the north of the island should not once again be cultiyable. fertile and habitable as 1t was in the half century preceding the eruptions ct Is02-'03.