334 Sketch of the Life of Mr. David Douglas, 



volcano, a distance of twenty-three miles, tied up in the large 

 leaves of Banana and Ti-tree. The morning was deliciously cool 

 and clear with a light breeze. Immediately on passing through 

 a narrow belt of wood, where the timber was large and its 

 trunks matted with parasitic ferns, I arrived at a tract of ground, 

 over which there was but a scanty covering of soil above the 

 lava, interspersed with low bushes and ferns. Here I beheld 

 one of the grandest scenes imaginable; Mouna Roa reared his 

 bold front, covered with snow, far above the region of verdure 

 while Mouna Roa was similarly clothed, to the timber region 

 on the south side, while the summit was cleared of the snow that 

 had fallen on the nights of the 12th and two following days. 

 The district of Hido, " Byron's Bay," which I had quitted the 

 previous day, presented, from its great moisture, a truly lovely 

 appearance, contrasting in a striking manner with the country 

 where I then stood, and which extended to the sea, whose surface 

 bore evident signs of having been repeatedly ravaged by volcanic 

 fires. In the distance, to the south-west, the dense black clqud 

 which overhangs the volcano, attests, amid the otherwise un- 

 sullied purity of the sky, the mighty operations at present going 

 on in that immense laboratory. The lava, throughout the whole 

 district, appeared to be of every colour and shape, compact, 

 bluish and black, porous, or vesicular, heavy and light. In some 

 places it lies in regular lines and masses, resembling narrow ho- 

 rizontal basaltic columns ; in others, in tortuous forms, or ga- 

 thered into rugged humps of small elevation ; while, scattered 

 over the whole plain, are numerous extinct, abrupt, generally cir- 

 cular craters, varying in height from one hundred to three hun- 

 dred feet, and with about an equal diameter at their tops. At 

 the distance of five miles from the volcano, the country is more 

 rugged, the fissures in the ground being both larger and more 

 numerous, and the whole tract covered with gravel and lava, &c., 

 ejected at various periods from the crater. The steam that now 

 arose from the cracks bespoke our near approach to the summit 

 and at two p- m., I arrived at its northern extremity, where find- 

 ing it nearly level, and observing that water was not far distant, 

 I chose that spot for my encampment. As however the people 

 were not likely to arrive before the evening, I took a walk round 

 the west side, now the most active part of the volcano, and sat 

 down there, not correctly, speaking, to enjoy, but to gaze with 

 wonder and amazement on this terrific sight, which inspired the 



