Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-18
ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT.
How Nature is Reassertine Itself
After Volcanic Disturbances.

AFTER volcanic Disturbances.
From the London Times
AS nave Just returned from a fortnight's
tour In St Vincent, during which 1 had op-
| portunities Of seeing the greater part of the
island, 1t may be interesting to the readers
| OF the Times to know how far the ordinary
processes of nature have begun to reassert
themselves since the cessation of the vol
canic disturbances. The first thing that
one notices is the remarkable Iuxuriance of
the green growth of vegetation of all kinds
II IS true that vast quantity of unassimt
iated CLASSY ash is visible everywhere
fainfui to the eye and burning to the feet
very diHerent from the COOL restfuI duh
piackness of the soil that 1 remember two
VI three years ago. But wherever the ash
mas mixed well In the soil 1t seems to have
,i"u some 1ertilizing effect. notwithstand-
ing the assertions Of the ANALYSTS
But the havoc which has been u,rou,h+
among the smaller life of insect ana hia
Is oeplorable. l saw no lizards in tho
grasses, only the sea ntiest show of freains
at husk. far fewer butterflies and far fewer
huHTing birds. All the high ridges az tha
mountains are denuded of the tail forast
tfees and palms which used to clothe their
submits. This is of course dine to Tho
nun hurricane or ls,s; previously one rarely
sa" the bare outline of an escarpment sill
houetted against the brilliant sky: wrinl,Iad
waves OF foliage alone marked the confp-
uration; but now the presence of a larpe
Tree ~ me exception and even then it shows
Signs or ruthless stormtear. 1t was pleas
anter to ride through the new settlements
provided for the Caribs and other refugees.
sufferers alike frorl the hurricane and from
the volcanic eruptions. The wisdom of the
executive In removing the dwellers in the
extreme north Of the island and finding
tEem homes outside what was then a dan
gerous locality fully justified nv a fter
-
sore feeling and dissatisfaction was created
at the time. But, like many of the suffer-
ers from the storm in Barbados the de-
ported families are now better housed than
ever before in their lives The new viii
lagos, with their neat cabins and plots of
iand. decorate the fertile slopes and add
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 composing
herself for another long slumber-how long
O" how short no man can say. Still. the
lake In the bosom of the crater is once
again filling, and this is considered to be q
token and promise of good behavior. The
ascent of La Soufriere can no longer be
ma de by the old route from Chateau Belair;
ore is obliged to go farther north to Wal
| Thou. and thence begin the long climb of
nearly 1000 feet. The scene from the sum-
| NIT reminds one, in its gloom and desola-
| ticn. of the nefghbOrhood of the Cities of
| the Plain. Not bird, not n insect not a
tTee-SaVe Few charred StumpS-can be
| seen. black wall of pitch-like looking
cliff confronts one where all used to be YER
cure and thick scrub. and through the
! broken rocks glimpse of the smaller and
| unused crater now appears the old knife
| edge partition which formerly divided the
| two craters having been partially destroyed
| in the violent paroxysm of the last erup-
| ticns. On the slopes lower down chimneys.
cattle-pens boiling-hOuSeS and negro cabins
| can be discerned sticking an odd stone or
rafter or trash roof through the mud where
| l. has been secured away by the torrential
rains.
| And yet. amid all this destruction and
| desolation. there the beginnings of a
| fresh era to be welcomed. Already on the
| lowest sands there is a profusion of silver
ferns mo gold ones. as I had hoped and
| not unreasonably expected. and guinea
grass. sweet potatoes and cassava are
| springfng. self sown on the ridges up to
| 1.0Oo feet. Given five years of undisturbed
natural processes, / see no reason why the
north of the island should not once again
be as cuitivable. fertile and habitable as 1t
was in the half century preceding the erup-
| lions of 1902-'O3.