CHAKLES WILKES. 357 



ashes. Kilauea, on the contrary, is an immense 

 depression in the midst of a vast plain, with nothing 

 to warn you of a near approach but the signs which 

 I have before spoken of. 



"We now directed our course toward the cluster 

 of shanties erected on the brim of the crater by 

 Captain Wilkes's party, which we soon reached, 

 and found one occupied by Dr. Pickering, who came 

 round by the sea-shore. The remaining shanties 

 were in the possession of about fifty natives, who 

 had come from a town near the coast to take away 

 a large canoe which they had made in the neighbor- 

 ing wood some time previous. 



" After supper we proceeded in company with Dr. 

 Pickering to a place about half a mile to the east- 

 ward of the shanties, to obtain a view of a small 

 crater which was represented to be unusually active. 

 "We could not possibly have selected a more eligible 

 position. We stood on a pile of rocks which com- 

 manded a bird's-eye view of the fiery lake. It was 

 several thousand feet in circumference, and nearly 

 round in form. The color of its burning contents 

 was that of a cherry-red or deep crimson, and it 

 was in a state of terrific ebullition. Sometimes the 

 fiery fluid was ejected many feet into the air; at 

 other times it was seen to overflow the edges on the 

 circumjacent lava for many yards distant. We 



