UNKNOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 110, 10 May 1902, Page 5

UNKNOWN.

THOUSANDS: KILLED.

A EIVEE OF • BOILING MUD.

OTHER WEST INDIAN VOLCANOES ACTIVE

CONSTERNATION IN THE ISLANDS

(Received 9.52 a.m.)

NEW YOKE, May 9

Further news received from the scene of the terrible volcanic disturbances indicates a general revival of volcanic activity throughout the Lesser Antilles, in the West Indies, aud confirms the news of the great loss of life on the island of Martinique. *» A cablegram from St. Thomas states that thousands of people in Martinique have been killed. After smoke and ashes were ejected from the crater of Mount Pelee the volcano increased its activity, and a stream of boiling mud flowed down tbe mountain side from the crater. This river of mud, which began to flow on tbe Sth inst,, overwhelmed the chief factories at St. Pierre and caused enormous destruction of property. The stream of mud is still flowing, but is decreasing in volume. Great alarm exists in several other islands of the Lesser Antilles owing to renewed volcanic activity. j The volcano of Souftrire (3000 feet high), in the British island St, Vincent, is smoking ominously. The active craters on the island of Dominica (British), immediately north of Martinique, are in a state of eruption. Great consternation has been caused in Guadeloupe (French island, north of Dominica) owing to loud noises and frequent earthquake shocks. Tbe loss of life and property by this outbreak must be enormous, as tbe population of St. Piere is put down in tbe latest handbooks at numbers varying from 25,000 to 28,000. The island of Martinique, in the West Indies, is 43 miles long by 12 to 20 broad, with an area of 380 square miles. The population is about 190,----000, of whom 10,000 are whites. The island was colonised by the French in 1635, and has been under the French flag ever since, except for three short intervals (1761-63, 1704----ISO2, and 1809-14), when it was held by the British. The volcanic mountain which hai. just broken out is in tbe

n«rth of the island, and St. Pierre is almost underneath it. St. Pierre is the commercial capital, and is situated on the west side of the island. Fort De France, the political capital, has a population of about 15,000. It was nearly destroyed by fire in IS9O. The soil of the island is very productive, but ihe climate 'is not good. About one-half the land in cultivation is occupied with sugar-cane. Railways connect 'the principal towns. The principal exports are sugar, coffee and cotton. St. Pierre has a good

harbour, and has a cathedral and college. It was the- birthplace •of Josephine, consort of Napoleon I. The fact that the cables have been interrupted south of Santa Lucia point to the fact of submarine volcanic disturbances having occurred in conjunction with the outbreak of Mount Pelee. Martinique lies about 100 mites south-east of the island of Santa .Lucia. Some of tbe islands of the Lesser Antilles are wholly volcanic, and Martinique is of volcanic origin, but as the six volcanic heights on the island were considered qiiite extinct, the inhabitants deemed themselves safe from volcanic eruptions, though earthquakes have been frequent. The crater of Mount Pelee is described as being of great size. The destruction of St. Pierre (if the above news is correct) will rank with some "of the most terrible seismic and volcanic catastrophes in history. Our experiences in New Zealand, with the Tarawera eruption of 1886, in which over 100 lives were lost, will enable us to form some idea of the calamity which has wiped out St. Pierre. As in the case of the Tarawera eruption, the Pelee volcano does not appear (judging from the meagre messages which have come to band) to have ejected molten lava, but to have thrown out immense quantities of ashes, and also mud, and this probably in conjunction with an ocean wave caused by the submarine eruptions in the vicinity, appear to have overwhelmed the city. Previous eruptions and earthquakes in various parts of the world have caused even more destruction of human life than the catastrophe just reported. In the Great Lisbon earthquake -o,uoo persons perished. In the Sunda Islands, East Indies, some of the most' terrible volcpnic eruptions in tbe world have taken place. In ISl_ an eruption of Sumbawa cost 12,000 li.-es, and decreased the height of the island from 14,000 to 7670 feet. The most awful volcanic cataclysm of modern times occurred in 1883, when tbe island of Karakatoa,between Java and Sumatra, in the Straits of Sunda, was the scene of a tremendous catastrophe. From M. y tbe volcano on the island had been ejecting asbes; during August the crater walls fell in, together with a part of the ocean bed, carrying with it eight square miles, or two-thirds of the islands. At the ! same time a gigantic ocean wave intmdated tbe adjoining coasts of Java and Sumatra, causing a loss of 35,500 lives, and then careered around the entire globe. Mount Vesuvius, in Italy, has at various times caused loss of life ever since the destruction of Pompeii and llerculaneuni, 18 centuries ago. I [The island of St. Vincent, in the Windward Group, is British, and has an area of 132 square miles. It is traversed by a range of volcanic mountains, of which tbe volcano mentioned in the cablegram, is the highest. This volcano, Mt. Luffriere, was in violent eruption in 1812. The 2)opulatio.n is about 41,000, and the capital, Kingstown, lias a population of about 5000. Sugar is the chief industry. Dominica Island is about 20 miles long, and 15 broad, and is of volcanic origin, and very mountainous and picturesque. The population is 29,000. The principal towns are Roseau, on the south-west coast (population about 6000), and Portsmouth (population about 2500).)