CHAPTER XXIX. MOUNT SOUFFRIERE. "But we stood on the summit ;-all feelings were crown'd, Or in awe all absorbed, at the fiery profound; The crater upflinging wild volumes of cloud, That rose from its depths like old Titian's shroud; Letter of Lady Seraphina to the Court Journal. THE period allotted for the stay of the government transports at St. Vincent was limited to one week; which was thought time sufficient for the disembarkation of the new regiment, and for the embarkation of the old. nature. Procrastination is one of the great failings of human There were many officers of the regiment who had not yet seen the celebrated volcano of St. Vincent, although they had been stationed in the island more than three years. To have left without seeing it would have been always a source of regret ; therefore, Lieutenants Land S-, with Ensign A-, determined on devoting three of the six days that remained to them to that purpose; and, as I thought it a good opportunity, I resolved to accompany them. Accordingly, on retiring from his Excellency's ball, instead of going to bed, to sleep off the fatigue of dancing, we all mounted our horses, and set off for the Souffrière mountain. I have before mentioned the mighty and majestic chain of mountains that are seen towering towards the skies, and enveloped in clouds, which are prominent features in the Island of St. Vincent, and render its scenery so romantic and sublime. The Souffrière, which is one of the loftiest of these island giants, is situated on the leeward side of the island, and lies more to the north than all the rest. I will pass over our ride, and omit to recount the hospitality of the proprietors of the several estates that lay in our way; neither will I stay to number the many glasses of potent sangaree which contributed to keep up our spirits on the road. Suffice it to say, that we arrived in safety at the base of the mighty mountain; and, after riding part of the way up, were obliged to dismount, and pursue the rest of our journey on foot. When we arrived near the volcano, the scene that presented itself by no means disappointed our expectations. I guessed it, as the American said, to be some eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, although the summit of the mountain extends, perhaps, nearly one third higher. On the southern side of the mountain there is an extensive basin, four hundred and fifty feet deep, nearly round, and about four furlongs in width, in the midst of which, to the height of two hundred and eighty feet, once rose a little mountain in miniature, if I may so call it, which was full of rocky fissures, and covered, in many places, with evergreens and shrubs. The huge crater has long since been in a peaceful state; and a canoe is now floating on its surface, in which the more curious visitors were sometimes wont to row round it for the purpose of sounding its depth. The mountain itself is again covered with trees; and the green verdure has, in many places, concealed the ravages made by its eruptions. As the fame of the Souffrière has spread far and wide, there are few persons who come to the colony, and make any stay, without visiting it. And amongst the residents there are many ladies whom curiosity has attracted to the spot, and who have surmounted all the obstacles of the ascent in their anxiety to view the present state of a volcano, which burst with an explosion of which the awful and fatal consequences will ever be remembered with terror and regret. The last and most terrific of its eruptions was on the night of Thursday, the 30th of April, 1812, and a brief account of so memorable an event may not be unacceptable to my readers. Ever since noon on the preceding Monday strong symptoms had been observed of the approaching crisis; and, even before that period, numerous earthquakes had prepared the inhabitants of St. Vincent to expect some extraordinary event. On that day, however, a violent concussion of the earth, and unusual sounds and noises in the air, in the vicinity of the mountain, were succeeded by the appearance of huge columns of smoke rising from the volcano, and by the falling of sundry showers of light pebbles, stones, sand, and ashes, on the lands around. On Tuesday and Wednesday the fall of stones and ashes increased greatly, and the immense quantity of sand and favilla thrown up from the mountain spread all around, and was carried by the wind to a great distance across the island, obscuring the air, and destroying the vegetation and verdure of the surrounding plantations. On Thursday the horrible and terrific appearance of the mountain, and the alarming progress and magnitude of the falling showers, while it plainly evinced that the event was near its crisis, and that an explosion would shortly take place, spread terror and consternation into the minds of all classes of inhabitants. The Charaibs in its vicinity immediately deserted their dwellings, and flocked to Kingstown; the estate negroes fled from their work, and concealed themselves, in alarm, wherever they could find a refuge from the masses of favilla that continued falling in every direction. Yet all this was only a prelude to the grand event that was about to follow. The glorious sun was buried in its western bed; the dusk of evening had approached, and at any other time, the negroes would have been retiring from their work, and the inhabitants of Kingstown taking their rides or promenades, and enjoying the cool air of the evening zephyrs! but now every one sought shelter from the burning showers, and no one dared to venture out of his abode. Between the hours of six and seven in the evening, the crater was observed to emit huge pyramids of smoke and flame, and shorly after the boiling lava burst in a torrent from its mouth, and having once found vent, continued overflowing, and covering in its progress all the country around, bearing down all obstructions, and unimpeded even by the lofty hills. The mass of burning sand and ashes that had fallen at times during the last three days, had dried and withered all the foliage about the mountain, so that when the fiery globes of flame burst from the crater, it communicated to the trees and shrubs, and consumed them with destructive rapidity. It was a truly terrifying and overwhelming scene: the majestic Souffrière, in that awful moment, would not have been unworthy of Virgil's description of Etna: By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high; By turns hot embers from her entrails fly, "And flakes of mountain flames that lick the sky! "Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown, And shivered by the force come piecemeal down; "Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow, "Fed from the fiery springs that boil below." Dryden's Virgil. The huge mountain shook from its foundation: and the protracted trembling of the earth was terrific in the extreme. It was, indeed, a dreadful night! |