176 



THE OCEAN. 



Submarine Volcano. 



again forming themselves into festoons of white fea- 

 thery smoke, in the most fanciful manner imaginable, 

 intermixed with the finest particles of falling ashes, 

 which at one time assumed the appearance of innu- 

 merable plumes of black and white ostrich feathers 

 surmounting each other; at another, that of the 

 light wavy branches of a weeping willow. 



"During these bursts, the most vivid flashes of 

 lightning continually issued from the densest part of 

 the volcano ; and the cloud of smoke now ascend- 

 ing to an altitude much above the highest point to 

 which the ashes were projected, rolled off in large 

 masses of fleecy clouds, gradually expanding them- 

 selves before the wind in a direction nearly hori- 



