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National Geographic : 1902 Jul
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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE tinued to fall on Precheur. At noon a stream of liquid volcanic matter flowed down the mountain side and reached the sea, five miles away, in three minutes. In its rush the flood swept from its path plantations, buildings, factories, cattle, and human beings over a breadth of about half a mile along the Riviere Blanche. At the mouth of the Riviere Blanche stood the large Guerin sugar factory, one of the finest on the island. It was completely entombed in the mud. The tall chimney alone remained visible. One hundred and fifty persons, it is es timated, perished there, including the owner's son, but the officials give a smaller number. A remarkable phenomenon occurred after the rush of the mud to the sea. At the mouth of the Riviere Blanche the sea receded at 12.25 p. m., all along the west coast, for a distance of about 1oo yards, and returned with gentle strength, covering the whole sea front of St Pierre and reaching the first houses on the Place Bertin. This created a gen eral panic, and the terror-stricken people fled to the hills, though the sea retired again without any great damage. Terrible detonations were heard hun dreds of miles northward, at short in tervals, and continued at night. The electric lights failed, but the town was lighted by the flashes of flame from the mountain. Terror-stricken inhabitants rushed for the hills screaming and wail ing. At 7.45 p. m. the cable from Fort de France broke to the north. The end of this cable was later picked up io miles due west of St Pierre in 2,500 meters of water. Professor Landes,who published an in terview in L' Colonie of May 7, noted that Riviere Blanche at this timewas furnish ing five times the volume of the greatest power and carrying rocks weighing per haps fifty tons. This was before May 5. The Topaz refugees stated that on May 5 terrible detonations broke from the mountain at short and irregular in tervals, accompanied bydense smoke and lurid flashes. This was awful in day light, but when darkness fell it was still more terrible. The awful phenomena of May 5 were so terrifying that people in their night clothes, carrying children, and lighted by any sort of lamp or candle they had caught up in their haste, ran out into the dark streets wailing and screaming and running aimlessly about the town. The mental strain became unbearable, and the Topaz was got ready at 3 a. m., and the refugees hurriedly got on board and started at 5 a. m. for St Lucia, where they arrived at i o'clock on the morning of the 6th. On May 6 Pelee was apparently in full eruption. Its detonations were heard in Guadeloupe for two or three hours, and thick clouds overshadowed the summit of Pelee. Fond de Core was abandoned and cinders fell in abundance on Macouba. Five centimeters of cin ders had fallen in Precheur, a foot of cinders was reported in the center of the mountain, and three-tenths of a millimeter of cinders fell on St Pierre on that night. People were departing from St Pierre on foot to neighboringvil lages and by steamer to Fort de France. Country places were being abandoned for lack of water, cattle were dying, and trees breaking under cinder weight. On the afternoon of the 6th, a little before 5 p. m., telegraphic communication be tween Martinique, St Vincent, and St Lucia was interrupted. There were six cables leading into Martinique, all of which were eventually broken. May 7, the day before the end, was one of horror in St Pierre, but the vol canic phenomena were not so vivid as before. Detonations like artillery were heard from 10.30 a. m. to 5 p. m. All that day the Roraima at Dominica and people of neighboring islands heard det onations. These even reached as far 248
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