488 Capt. CanMICUAEL’s Description of 
ing in violent gusts at the time, rendered it the more difficult to 
maintain that strict equilibrium of body, the slightest bias from 
which, either to one side or the other, would precipitate any of us 
in an instant to the depth of several hundred feet. We got safely 
over it, however, though with some trepidation, and in a manner 
as various, I believe, as the number of our party would admit of. 
A short way beyond this ridge vegetation ceases ; not so much, 
however, owing to the elevation of the ground, as to the total 
want of any kind of soil wherein plants could fix their roots. 
From this point to the summit, a distance of about a mile and a 
half, the whole is a mass of scoria, fragments of cellular lava, and 
all sorts of volcanic refuse, constantly slipping under your feet, and 
rendering the toil of ascending excessive. For nearly a mile we 
walked along a ridge of blue lava, which seems to have been at 
one time covered over, but afterwards left exposed by the gradual 
recession of the loose matters which covered it. In grain and co- 
lour it resembles the veins which intersect the island mass; but 
as disposed on the slightest stroke to break into small amorphous 
fragments. 
The crater is nearly a mile in isle Ti i its border is irre- 
gular, the south side being two or three hundred feet higher than 
the north, by which we ascended. At the bottom of it there isa 
pool of water about 150 yards in diameter, to which the descent 
by the north side is gradual and easy. dts depth appears to be 
inconsiderable, as we could discover the bottom more than half 
way across; and its border is covered with rounded fragments of 
cellular lava, which float about at the humour of the breeze. 
The water is pure, and untainted with any mineral solution. 
From the peak we could see the distant ocean on all sides over 
the cloud which still shrowded the lower part of the dome ; but 
no part of the low land can be seen at any time, being covered by 
the 
