Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-09-15
THE ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT
Nature Reasserting Itself Since the
Subsistence Of Volcanic Dis
turbances.

AS have just returned from q 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 blackness of the soil that
remember two or taree years ago. But
wherever the ash no; mixed we'll in
the soil it s~-.yrS e We had some fer
tilizing ei,s,a standing the as
Eertion. -. a. ,l4sly sts.
But the havoc v hich has been wrought
among the Smaller life of insect and
bird is deplorabie. | saw 70 lizards IN
the grasses, only the scantiest show Of
firefies at dusk, far fewer butteTt the
and far fewer~hummins birds are de-
high ridges Of the mo}roe tand Mains
nuded of the tall .l fHf1he their SUBMITS. This
~Nion u0eu ~ due to the hurricane OF
49, 80 " oC"S1ously one rarely saw the
Io00. Ldtline of an escarpment silhouettec
1Ssainst the brilliant sky; wrinkled
waves of foliage alone marked the con-
figuration; but now the presence OF a
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 eruptions. The wisdom OF the
executive in removing the dwellers IN
the extreme north of the island and ind
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
in Barbados, the deported families are
now better housed than ever before In
their lives. The new villages, with
their neat cabins and plots oFland, 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 Il
considered to be a token and promise
of good behavior The ascent Of Ii
Soufriere can no longer be made b.
the old route from Chateau Belaire
one is obliged to go farther north t.
Wallibou. and thence begin the lonI
climb of nearly 1000 feet The seen
from the summit reminds one, in 1t
gloom and desolation, OF the neighoor
hood of the Cities of the Plain. No
a bird, not an insect, not tree-save
few charred stumps-can be seem
black wall of pitch-like looking CHI
confronts one where all used to be Ver
dure and thick scrub, and through tn
, broken rocks glimpse Of the smalle
and unused crater now appears, the oil
: knife-edge partition which formerly d
yided the two craters having been pal
TALLY destroyed in the violent paroxysl
of the last eruptions. On the slope
lower down chimneys, cattle-pens, boi
ing-houses and negro cabins can be dii
cerned sticking an odd stone or raftt
or trash roof through the mud whel
It has been scouVed away by the torrel
tial rains.
And yet, amid all this destruction an
desolation, there are the beginnings
It a fresh ere to be welcomed. Already
q the lowest sands there is a profusio
of silver ferns (no gold ones, as / he
hoped. and not unreasonably expected
and guinea grass. sweet potatoes ar
cassava are springing, self-sown, on Il
y ridges up to 1000 feet. Given five yea
e of undisturbed natural processes, s
IF no reason why the north OF the islal
A. should not once again be cultivabl
~ fertile and habitable as 1t was in Il
o half century preceding the eruption
of 19o2-03.