Crater of the Great Volcano of Kirauea. 49 



* illimitable sea.' The smooth green sward, under a majestic 

 koa tree (an acacia), nearly encircled by thickets of a younger 

 growth, afforded a refreshing couch on which to take our lun- 

 cheon. We tarried, however, but for a moment, and then hur- 

 ried on to the grand object before us. 



" The nearer we approached the more heavy the column of 

 smoke appeared, and excited to intenseness our curiosity to be- 

 hold its origin. Under the influence of this excitement we has- 

 tened forward with rapid step^ regardless of the heat of a noon- 

 day sun, and the fatigue of a walk of thirty-six miles already 

 accomplished. A few minutes before 12 o'clock we came sud- 

 denly on the brink of a precipice 150 or 200 feet high, covered 

 wit]i shrubbery and trees. Descending this by a path nearly 

 perpendicular, we crossed a plain half a, mile in width, inclosed, 

 except in the direction we were going, by the cliff behind us, 

 and found ourselves a second time on the top of a precipice 400 

 feet high, also covered with bushes and trees. This, like the 

 former, swept off to the right and left, inclosing, in a semicir- 

 cular form, a level space, about a quarter of a mile broad, im- 

 mediately beyond which lay the tremendous abyss of our search, 

 emitting volumes of vapour and smoke, and labouring and groan- 

 ing as if in irrepressible agony, from the raging of the conflict- 

 ing elements withiv its bosom. We stood but a moment to 

 take this first distant gaze, then hastily descended the almost 

 perpendicular height, and crossed the plain to the very brink 

 of the crater. 



" There are scenes to which description, and even painting, 

 can do no justice, and in conveying any adequate impression of 

 which, they must ever fail. Of such, an eloquent traveller right- 

 ly says, ' The height, the depth, the length, the breadth, the 

 combined aspect, may all be correctly given, but the mind of the 

 reader will remain untouched by the emotions of admiration and 

 sublimity which the eye witness experiences.' That which here 

 burst on our sight, was, emphatically, of this kind, and to be- 

 hold it without singular and deep emotion, demands a familia- 

 rity with the more terrible phenomena of nature, which few 

 have the opportunity of acquiring. Standing at an elevation of 

 1500 feet, we looked into a horrid gulf, not less than eight 

 miles in circumference, so directly beneath us, that, in appearance 

 APRIL JUNE 1827. D 



