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[Page 2]
This torrent took its course over the estate of a Mr. Grant, who was himself nearly overtaken & destroyed by it. This devastation it occasioned has been great & 30 unfortunate wretches (chiefly aged & children) were most miserably scalded to death: The estate I have little doubt will be ultimately benefitted by this dreadful occurrence; to understand the causes it is necessary to consider the changes which have been produced by the late Eruption.
Owing to the beds of the 2 great Rivers Wallibou & Rabacca being totally filled up & obliterated, their waters, which originated in the storm Souffreire, have emp-tied themselves into the old Crater which has consequently become a vast boiling lake: the capacity of this immense bason was sufficient, with the aid of the rapid evaporation produced by the double action of Solar & subterranian heat, to contain the water poured into it from these Courses, as soon however as the rainy season commenced, interrupting the process of evaporation, & increasing the supply of water, an overflow was the inevitable result, & had been for a considerable time apprehended. A portion of this redundant water at the same time in all probability poured over the narrow ridge which divides the old from the new Crater, & making its way into the burning cavities of the mountain produced the terrific Earthquake already mentioned, by its sudden conversion into steam: this I conceive the most probable solution of the phonomenon which has excited much alarm, & appeared to many difficult to be accounted for.
You may form some conception of the immense bulk of matter ignited during the memorable Eruption of April & May last, from the circumstance of the approach to the Souffreire hitherto difficult in the extreme, being rendered almost sufficiently plain accessible for a coach & six, the deepest ravines being filled to the brim, & the most abrupt precipices rendered perfectly smooth.
I know not whether the iron sand of our shores (of wh. I enclose a small specimen) has been examined with a view to the discovery of Ha[tina] . Doctor Woollaston has ascertained the presence of Hattina in the