Identifier: cruisingamongcar01stod (find matches)
Title: Cruising among the Caribbees, summer days in winter months
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Stoddard, Charles Augustus, 1833-1920
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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being seventeen miles long andten miles broad, with an area of one hundred andthirty-one square miles and a population of nearlyfifty thousand. A mountain ridge divides the island,and here, at the height of a mile, is the vast crater ofMorne Garon, which was the scene of a tremendouseruption in 1812, when the earthquakes which fortwo years had terrified the South American coastand the West India Islands, had culminated in anexplosion which at Caracas buried in a moment tenthousand people; wrought ruin along the whole lineof the Andes, and ended in an awful outburst fromthe Souffriere of St. Vincent, whose dust darkenedthe sun for an entire day, and spread over a hundredmiles of sea and land. This eruption changed theappearance of the island, and seemed to have de-stroyed its eastern end. The present crater, formedat that time, is half a mile in diameter and five hun-dred feet deep. The old crater is now a beautifulblue lake, walled in by ragged cliffs to a height ofeight hundred feet.
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ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 161 But the devastation of April, 1812, has not beenrepeated. The volcano did its work and gave ventto the hidden forces of a continent, and beneficentNature has repaired the ruin and made the islandmore beautiful than ever. We landed from boats ata little wharf built out from the sandy beach whichcurves from the northern headland around to thesouthern promontory, and found Kingstown a neatand pleasant town. Some of the party made friendswith residents, and were invited to bring their pa-jamas and make an interval in the voyage under thepalm and cinnamon trees with tropical company andits delights; but they were loyal to their companionsand, though sorely tempted, followed the example ofUlysses without being tied to the mast or havingtheir ears plugged with wool after the style of theHomeric hero. We found that the stone buildings along the sea-shore were occupied by a police station and govern-ment stores. Three streets, broad and lined witligood houses

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