Montserrat Letter: Montserrat is coming back from the dead. A few years ago it nearly disappeared, they say. Not physically, of course, but certainly as a society.
The tiny British crown colony in the West Indies, most of whose inhabitants in the 17th century were white, Irish and had either fancied the settler life or were exiled here by Cromwell settlers, was on the brink of extinction in 1995 after the Soufriere volcano started erupting.
In later years, she - the Montserratians look on the volcano as feminine - poured out millions of tons of ash and rocks, covering the capital Plymouth and surrounding communities, and sweeping others away. Well over half the island has had to be declared an unsafe zone.
Many moved to the northern part of the 101sq km (39sq mile) island which was previously considered too infertile for the self-respecting farmer. Many fled to nearby Antigua and St Kitts, to Britain or to north America. The original population of 11,000, now mainly black, has fallen to 5,000 of whom a good proportion are not natives. (So many foreign experts have come here that Montserrat can claim the title, applied to the Falklands after the Argentine occupation was ended, of being a piece of land entirely surrounded by advice.)
Since the first eruption the island has cost the British exchequer hundreds of millions of pounds for relief supplies, new housing, the reconstruction of the infrastructure and the building of a new airport.
There certainly must have been quiet discussions in Whitehall about the feasibility of Operation Goodbye Montserrat, or total evacuation.
But what does a government do with a deserted Caribbean island, even a small one? It has to be looked after, if only to keep out drug dealers, mafiosi or the megalomaniacs who, on the pattern of Jonestown in the forests of Guyana, the Nazi Colonia Dignidad in Chile or the Branch Davidian sect in Texas, lust after the tiniest taste of supreme power over fellow beings. Like it or not, Britain is therefore committed, for the next few years or at least until the next terrestrial cataclysm, to rebuilding the society. A priority is to get more people back.
There is no great rush among exiled Montserratians to return to their beautiful but impoverished homeland from the delights of north London or Slough. The young in particular don't want to return. So the modest government target is to tempt the older people, especially those with useful skills. If 2,000 return in the next few years, the authorities will be reasonably happy.
And, on the ill wind principle, the volcanic eruption has brought some luck. On a visit here in 1969 this reporter found the friendliest of people, but very little for the visitor to do.
The potential for sub-aqua sports on the reefs was undeveloped; only one beach had golden rather than black sands, and that was virtually inaccessible.
There was interesting tropical flora and strange iguanas and other fauna, but few ways a walker could set out to see them among the mountains, waterfalls and forests.
Now Soufriere, still belching its sulphuric smoke, has become a real draw for the ecologically conscious and has given the island the unique selling property it previously lacked.
Since the time of the first volcanic activity the vulcanologists have been camped out and constantly on the watch. The British Geological Service maintains the Montserrat Volcano Observatory has a well-equipped office on a hill overlooking Soufriere, but at a safe distance of a few miles from the crater.
Under Dr Sue Loughlin, its director, the MVO is mounting a sophisticated visitor centre explaining the natural phenomena visible from the window. It should be inaugurated before this year is out and become a unique draw for the tourist curious about the world we live in.
At the same time, when roads and bridges are rebuilt, it should be increasingly feasible for visitors to visit the ruins of Plymouth, the Pompeii of the western hemisphere.
With suitable precautions it is possible to wander over what remains of the ravaged little town, viewing the topmost few feet of the spire of the buried St Patrick's Church, the upper floor of Barclays Bank or the canopy which covered the forecourt of the Texaco petrol station.
The great scar on the landscape left by the passage of volcanic matter from the crater of Soufriere to the sea is visible as though it was carved yesterday.
And, like all good islands, there are legends of buried treasure. When Barclays abandoned its Plymouth branch to the volcano it left a million Eastern Caribbean dollars, more than €300,000, in new notes in the vault. These were later rescued from their volcanic tomb and put to good use by people evidently familiar with the bank's keys and passwords. Little or none has been recovered.
The racial and religious tensions which once tormented the island have been relaxed, and in 1668 moved Governor Stapleton to outlaw "several odious distinctions used by the English, Scots and Irish reflecting on each other (English Dog, Scots Dog, Cavalier, Roundhead and many other opprobrious , scandalous and disgraceful terms)".
Today Montserratians await the new ecological dawn that they hope Soufriere is bringing them.