Hoiv Did I lie Cone Go Down? 



179 



black lava of which the cone had been composed, but all was a light reddish gray. 

 The funnel-like portion was composed of angular fragments of the same color, Ij'ing 

 apparently at the steepest angle they could hold. There was great uniformity of size 

 in these fragments, and the pile was absolutely clean from dust or gravel. When a 

 portion of the wall of this empty pit falls in, a black cloud of dust rises like smoke for 

 some time, as the fragments are ground by mutual attrition. I have noticed this, when 



Fig. 108. CRACKS ON THE NORTHWEST BRINK (iF HALEMATMAU, 1S9I. 



at table in the hotel dining room the southerl}' wind has brought the black sand into 



the windows and made our food gritty so as to compel the closing of the windows for 



some time. Nothing of this kind was here. The cone disappeared diiring a night, 



and its mass was vastly greater than any fall of portions of the walls ever has been 



known. I looked about the crater for signs of this dust but found none. Can we 



believe the cone melted and ran out of the comparatively small hole at the bottom 



when it had for many months resisted the melting moods of the lake around it ? The 



only indication that the lava was hotter than usual was this : as I left the Volcano just 



before the downfall, I was mounting my horse at eight o'clock in the morning and 



noticed a spatter cone on the edge of the lake so brilliant that it looked like an arc 



[557] 



