Natural History. 415 



up stones and sand to a considerable height, but it subsided in 

 the afternoon of the same day. On Saturday, the 15th, the 

 volcano burst forth again in the same place, though not with 

 so much violence ; the shocks of the earthquakes were also 

 more mild, but considerable damage had already been done in 

 the districts of Ginetes, Varzea, and Morteyros. On Sunday 

 morning early, accompanied by some friends, I rode to the 

 west end of the island to observe this phenomenon, and was 

 much gratified at seeing one of the most awful and sublime 

 spectacles that nature can present to human observation. 1 

 took my station on the brink of a steep precipice, impending 

 over the sea-shore, at the nearest possible distance from the 

 volcano, which was raging with immense fury, throwing up 

 stones and sand to a height of upwards of a thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea, attended with a hollow thundering 

 noise, like a distant cannonade, and accompanied with some 

 smart shocks of earthquakes. The mephitic vapour was at times 

 so strong, as to affect the breathing, even to danger of suffo- 

 cation, as the wind blew direct on shore from the N.N.W. The 

 sea was agitated around the volcano, to a considerable distance, 

 and boiling like an immense cauldron, the diameter of which 

 appeared to be about 500 feet; the stones (some of which 

 were apparently above a ton weight), being thrown up nearly 

 perpendicular, several hundred yards, fell with tremendous 

 noise in every direction about the volcano, and kept the sea 

 in a continual foam. The appearance of the clouds, rising in 

 a spiral form, and spreading several leagues to the southward, 

 attracted particular notice, from the water-spouts which formed 

 from the black denser clouds, and drew up the water in a 

 variety of directions, — at one time I counted eleven water- 

 spouts in full action ; occasionally the clouds burst over us 

 with light rain, charged with ashes and small scoria, drawn up 

 from the volcano ; the smell of sulphur was so strong as greatly 

 to incommode the inhabitants of Ponta Delgada, a distance 

 of nearly twenty miles. On Tuesday, the 18th of June, 1 re- 

 turned to the same spot, accompanied by Captain Tillard, of 

 His Majesty's ship Sabrina, Mr. Nicholes, purser of that ship. 



