Burning Mountain in Australasia. 271 



asunder having split, as it were, down, and sunk into a hol- 

 low, thus forming the convex surface of the heated rock. I 

 looked down this chasm to the depth of about fifteen feet. 

 The sides of the rock were of a white heat, like that of a lime 

 kiln, while sulphurous and steamy vapours arose from a depth 

 below, like blasts from the forge of Vulcan himself. I stood 

 on that portion of the rock which had been cleft from the part 

 above, and on hurling stones down into the chasm, the noise 

 they made in their fall seemed to die away in a vast abyss be^ 

 neath my feet. The area of the mountain over which the fire 

 is at present raging, may be about half an acre in extent. 

 There are throughout it several chasms varying in width, from 

 which are constantly emitted sulphureous columns of smoke, 

 the margins of these being beautiful efflorescent crystals of 

 sulphur, varying in colour from the deepest red orange, occa-», 

 sioned by ferruginous mixture, to the palest straw colour, 

 where alum predominated. The surface of the ground near 

 these clefts was too hot to permit me to stand any length of 

 time upon it ; neither were the vapours arising from them by 

 any means the most grateful to the lungs. A black tarry and 

 lustreous substance I observed on the edges of several of the 

 clefts. No lava or trachyte of any description was to be met 

 with ; neither did I see any appearance of coal. There is a 

 spring of excellent water on the ascent of the mountain by the 

 southern side, for which I would advise every future pilgrim 

 to these regions to keep a good look-out, for he will find a 

 draught of its cooling water not at all disagreeable after the 

 suffocating vapours from this subterranean fire. The height 

 of the burning part of Mount Wingen above the level of the 

 sea, calculating from Mr Cunningham's elevation of the ex- 

 treme summit of the neighbouring Liverpool range, may be 

 about 1500 feet. In my opinion, the action of combustion 

 in this mountain has been going on for a length of time, far 

 preceding the memory of man — far before the present genera- 

 tion of blacks — .and that it will continue to advance. Mate- 

 rials from beneath have from time to time been ignited, whe- 

 ther by electricity or by any other unknown cause, which, 

 struggling for vent, have burst forth by the expansive power 

 of heat and steam, and have shivered and split into huge mas- 



