On the other hand the too ſlow decompoſition of ſome of theſe volcanic ſtones, and the extreme dryneſs of ſome of the mountains, render many parts of the iſland unfit for cultivation. The action of the fire to which they have been expoſed at different periods after long intervals, as is atteſted by hiſtorical records, together with the ſhelter which they receive from the plants peculiar to thoſe ſituations, retarding in many places that gradual decompoſition which would otherwiſe have taken place, had they been left entirely bare.
No volcanic eruption had been known in this iſland, ſince that which broke out ninety-two years ago, till in the month of May, 1796, a new eruption took place on the ſouth-eaſt ſide of the peak, as I was informed by Citizen Gicquel, officer of marines, who ſpent ſome time at St. Croix on his return in the frigate La Régénérée from the Iſle de France.
I ſhall inſert the account which I received of this event from Citizen le Gros, Conſul of the French Republic.
"On the 21ſt day of May, 1706, the inhabitants of St. Croix heard ſome hollow reiterated ſounds, very like the diſtant report of cannon; in the night-time they felt a ſlight trembling of the
earth,
