Marsh.] 422 [April. 



" We rode about half way, or a little above the observatory, 

 on horseback, and much of this distance was among huge piles 

 of old lava, thrown out in 1859. A fine winding road, with 

 curbstones and stone water-ways, had been made up to the ob- 

 servatory, and was undoubtedly considered a very permanent 

 work ; but much of it is now buried hundreds of feet beneath 

 the lava. 



" Leaving our horses at the foot of the great cone, we com- 

 menced the ascent on foot. It was fearfully steep, steeper than 

 anything but lava could remain without sliding. The lumps of 

 lava, which were about the size of a man's head, were as hard 

 and almost as sharp as broken glass 



" As the steam and smoke were coming out of the great crater 

 at the top, and more or less at the sides, we did not think 

 it worth while to ascend it, as nothing could be seen by doing 

 so. But we \'isited a small crater at the base of it, and, on 

 looking down, could see what seemed a huge puddling furnace 

 of melted iron, and which roared like a blast furnace. On 

 sticking the end of my cane into a little hole near this opening 

 it immediately^ took fire. The surface of the mountain for a 

 long distance around was quite hot. 



" The great crater seemed on the outside like a huge pile of 

 ashes some four or five hundred feet high ; and the column of 

 steam and smoke was like that from the pipe of a locomotive 

 half a mile in diameter. 



" From the top we descended on the opposite or south side 

 some 1.500 feet, to a stream of lava which had broken through 

 four days before. The descent was through loose tufa quite 

 recently thrown out, and so steep that we almost slid doAvn 

 with it, going several yards at every step. 



" We found the lava boiling up out of the side of the mountain 

 like a huge spring of molten iron. 



" It ran from this source down the mou.ntain in three or four 

 streams, each about the size of a good mill-stream. 



" One of these was quite sluggish, at least on the top, but the 

 others were regular torrents of liquid fire. By watching my 

 opportunity when the wind blew strong, I managed to get near 

 enough to the issuing lava to thrust my cane into it. Hun- 

 dreds of tons must have issued per minute. 



" Passing thence around the head of the flowing lava, we 

 crossed on the east side of the mountain an immense surface 



I 



