16^ ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



resounded, as if we had been travelling on empty 

 metallic vessels, or vaulted caverns. 



The baked clay, and other loose rocks, con- 

 sisted chiefly of large masses at the bottom of 

 the hill ; but, about the middle of the ascent, 

 these substances v^^ere in smaller fragments. To- 

 wards the top, blocks of half baked red clay, con- 

 taining many crystals of augite, were again met 

 with ; and, about the southern part of the sum- 

 mit, a rugged wall of the same occun-ed, giving 

 the mountain a castellated form of no small mag- 

 nificence. On reaching this summit, estimated 

 at 1500 feet elevation above the sea, we beheld a 

 beautiful crater, forming a basin of 500 or 600 feet 

 in depth, and 600 or 700 yards in diameter. It 

 was of a circular form, and both the interior and 

 exterior sides had a similar inclination. The bot- 

 tom of the crater was fdled with alluvial matter, to 

 such a height that it presented a horizontal flat of 

 an elliptical form, measuring 400 feet by 240. A 

 subterranean cavern penetrated the side of the cra- 

 ter at the bottom, from whence a spring of water 

 issued, which, after running a short distance to- 

 wards the south, disappeared in the sand. 



From this eminence we had a most interesting 

 prospect. Towards the north appeared Beerenberg, 

 now first seen free from clouds, rising in majestic 

 importance into the region of perpetual frost. At 

 the foot of the mount, on the south-cast side. 



