about nine o'clock
The eruption was witnessed , from a distance , by only one trained observer , Roger Arnoux , and a translation of his record is , in part , as follows : `` Having left St. Pierre at about five in the evening -LRB- May 7 -RRB- I was witness to the following spectacle : Enormous rocks , being clearly distinguishable , were being projected from the crater to a considerable elevation , so high , indeed , as to occupy a quarter of a minute in their flight . `` About eight o'clock of the evening we recognized for the first time , playing about the crater , fixed fires that burned with a brilliant white flame . Shortly afterwards , several detonations , similar to those that had been heard at St. Pierre , were noted coming from the south , which confirmed me in my opinion that there already existed a number of submarine craters from which gases were being projected , to explode when coming in contact with the air . `` Having retired for the night , at about nine o'clock , I awoke shortly afterwards in the midst of a suffocating heat and completely bathed in perspiration ... . I awoke again about eleven thirty-five , having felt a trembling of the earth ... but again went to sleep , waking at half-past seven . My first observation was of the crater , which I found sufficiently calm , the vapors being chased swiftly under pressure of an east wind . `` At about eight o'clock , when still watching the crater -LRB- M. Arnoux was the only man who saw the beginning of the eruption and lived to tell the tale -RRB- , I noted a small cloud pass out , followed two seconds after by a considerable cloud , whose flight to the Pointe de Carbet -LRB- beyond the city -RRB- _ occupied less than three seconds _ , being at the same time already in our zenith , thus showing that it developed almost as rapidly in height as in length .