Report on the Eruptions of the Soufrière, in St. Vincent, in 1902, and on a Visit to Montagne Pelée, in Martinique, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Report on the Eruptions of the Soufrière, in St. Vincent, in 1902, and on a Visit to Montagne Pelée, in Martinique, Vol. 1These deluges of rain not only greatly increase the cutting power of the streams, but they also saturate the soil and render it particularly liable to slip when it is lying on steep ground. Much of the ground under arrowroot cultivation on the leeward Side of St. Vincent lies on the side of ridges and slopes at angles approaching When the plants have been dug up and the surface is left nearly bare, a few showers of heavy rain may cause extensive landslips, and the planter may have all the valuable soil stripped from a considerable part of a field in a few minutes. So deep and narrow are the valleys, that on each side the material is resting practically at the angle of repose, and anything which facilitates interstitial movement or lessens the cohesion Of the particles, is sufficient to cause a landslide. Thus it will be readily understood that in a typical Caribbean valley the experienced eye can perceive how every feature of the surface is determined by the underlying geological structure. The coulées of lava stand out as vertical cliffs, which give foothold to only a few scattered plants which have managed to take root in the crevices and cracks. The columnar jointing, though often rude, is usually suficieutly pronounced to yield characteristic surfaces, and to indicate the nature of the rock from a distance. This, however, is not always a safe criterion, for it is possible to find beds of tuff which weather in much the same way. AS a whole, the tuffs are softer and crumble more readily than the lavas, yielding abundance of loose material which gathers in sloping taluses on the ¿anks of the valleys. These weathered ash beds form rich soils, and, where possible, are cultivated but even in the higher elevations, where there is little cultivation, they are clothed with luxuriant vegetation, and contrast strongly with the bare cliffs of lava.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.