The Lava Flow

" T E Vulcan cat en eruption ! " The news passes from /a mouth to mouth, excitement becomes general. The lava is threatening Ste Rose. No, it is running a new course, and advancing on Ste. Phillippe. It is not a serious eruption at all, only a small flow of no consequence. Rumours of disaster spread. Old • men shake their heads remembering past calamities. Young men gather in groups planning a way to see for themselves the actual state of affairs.

The Volcano in Reunion is an ever present danger, a part of the intimate family life of the island. In former days it was held to be the mouth of Hell, and particularly active when, a very bad man having died; even the Devil himself was vexed at having to provide accommodation for such an old reprobate. Then the little Imps could be clearly seen directing the lava flow, whilst the crater threw out red-hot stones and a heavy pall of smoke in a protesting menace as the bad man descended to his flaming home. Terror used to seize the onlookers at the appalling spectacle of his arrival to expiate his crimes on earth.

Bory de St. Vincent, writing in 1801, says that he met with endless opposition to his plan for ascending the Volcano, and visiting the crater. He records that one man said :

"He had heard from old inhabitants that the Volcano Wal the heritage of the Devil, that it was Vas mouth of Hell, that it was still more dangerous for us white men to ascend the mountain a3 no white man ever returned, the devils making slaves of them, using them to dig out the crater, to direct the flow of the lava, and to tend the subterranean fires ender the orders of black officers who made free use of the whip."

Even in a more enlightened age the dread of the Volcano as something evil still exists. It is a wicked thing, an emblem of all HIM is bad. An Indian employed on a sugar estate will, in a neat summing up of all the shortcomings of his erring wife, tell you " Eafin, Monsieur, elle nest pas une femme, c'est unc emanation du l'olcan"

As soon as it is known that the eruption is a really serious one, people flock from all parts, by carriage, on horseback, on foot, to observe it at closer range. And, verily, the sight is worth seeing, and one never to be forgotten, especially if seen after nightfall.

The main crater is just over eight thousand feet above sea level, and between three and four miles from the sea. The flow of lava is usually confined to a semi-circular enclosure formed by the walls of the crater ring about six miles in diameter. At times, however, lava has flowed far outside these liMits. Indeed, all this, the newer part of the island, is entirely volcanic in formation, and composed of more or less disintegrated lava.

The soil, like that of the slopes of Vesuvius, is extremely fertile, and young trees will be found growing in lava beds hardly yet cool, and not over two years old.

Whilst the crater is throwing out heated rocks, stones;

and a heavy pall of smoke, with, at intervals, deafening reverberatiOnsi the lava stream is seen running in a red streak from a fissure high up in the mountain. At first it runs very rapidly down the steep slope, a glowing mass. Then it dulls a bit and slackens somewhat, but quickly regains its speed as more and more 'molten lava pours out. Now it becomes a veritable river of fire, pouring down in a broad stream a hundred yards wide, dividing into smaller rivers as it meets with obstacles, then joining up again, moving ever downwards towards the sea. Mostly the destructive flood flows over old lava beds not doing much damage. At times it reaches a forest of Casuarina trees, or a vanilla plantation in its 'relentless march. As the molten stream- approaches them the trees shiver, and seem to wilt. Then, the sap running down with the heat, the top withers, and suddenly bursts into flames before the lava has reached the actual trunk. The tree burns downward from the top, and a moment after the lava reaches the trunk it too catches fire, and suddenly drops prone in the lava stream. This process is continued as the stream works its devastating march through the wood, tree' after tree disappearing in a relentless flood of fire, and leaving a glowing-red-hot waste behind. Its site will be desolate of vegetation for many a long month.

The lava stream runs on and approaches a small village. Little huts are burnt out, their very sites obliterated. Nothing, apparently, can save the village church and the statue of the Madonna. The Cure heads a procession of villagers interceding for the preser- vation of their Saint. The lava rolls up to the foOt of the statue, appears to hesitate, and then miraculously divides, leaving the statue and the church unharmed in an oasis surrounded by liquid fire. The statue is now doubly venerated as having been saved by the miraculous intervention of the Blessed Virgin.

Below the church the two streams join up again, and, a little farther on, cuts off from their homes a band of Indians employed at a neighbouring vanilla plantation. They will have to walk round the island to get back to the estate which is only a mile or so beyond the lava stream in front of them, a stream which has now reached the sea.

And now begins the biggest fight of all, fire against water.

Tons of molten lava plunge over the cliff into the sea. The sea hisses, boils, sends off dense clouds of steam, and retreats, only to come back again with an angry thunderous roar, and be met with more and mare lava. The lava cools rapidly, forming a projection from the shore. To this more and more lava is added, and by the time the battle between fire and water is ended some twenty yards or so will be added to the coastline. The battle is titanic, awe-inspiring, and, like the rapids on the Zambesi below the Victoria Falls, fills one with a sense 'of the insignificance of man in face of Nature in her angry moods.

After a few hours the Volcano becomes quiescent, but the sea continues its relentless attacks, gradually wearing away the new coast line.

But the face of the country is changed. All vegetation is again destroyed. The work of man• is wiped out. Nature is again supreme.

Yet man is not conquered. New crops of vanilla, new woods of Casuarina will soon be planted. The hope that the next eruption will be many years hence springs eternal in the minds of the planter. A. few more years of freedom from lava flows will amply cover the damage done. The soil is more fruitful- than ever..

"En avant, mss enfants."