Volcanic Charttcter of the Island of Hawaii. 13 
arch thus formed, into the plain below, as we observed, in sev- 
eral places, the course of unbroken streams, fromthe top of the | 
cliff, to the bed of smooth lava, that covered the beach for sev- 
eral miles. The space at the bottom, een the ancient 
rocks and more recently formed lava, was from six to twelve 
feet. On the one side, the lava rose perpendicular and smooth, — 
showing distinctly the variously coloured strata, of which it 
Was composed; some of a bright scarlet, others brown and 
pur le. ‘The whole mass appeared to have undergone, since 
its formation, the effects of violent heat. he cracks and hol- 
lows, horizontally between the different strata, or obliquely 
through them, were filled with lava, of a florid red colour, and 
much less porous than the general mass. It must have been 
brought to a state of most perfect liquefaction, as it had filled 
e that was more than half an inch wide. It 
appeapetlaslity @ lazed, and in some places we could discover 
small round nebbiet from thé size of a hazel nut to that of a 
hen’s egg, of the same colour, and having the same polish, yet 
seeming to have remained solid, while the liquid a with 
which they were mixed, had been forced by subterranean fire, 
into all the fissures of the ancient rock. 
pile on 
trast, but nota teen aneectinl & scene. It a Seni oot 
dark purpie, or ae Mesto colour, ae in the rays of the 
sun, as if glaze t with a beautiful vitreous varnish. 
breaking any ‘idirtachie of it, we Sunil them very porous, and 
considerably lighter than the ancient lava, on the other side. 
ts forms bafiled description, and were equal to the con- 
ons of the most fertile imagination. The archway thue 
Sea extended for about half a mile, occasionally i interrupt- 
ed by an opening in the pes of lava, as eit by <— project- 
or elevation in 
afl sublime and fori“ must vir 2s ch eS when 
this burning stream rolled in one wide sheet, a fiery cascade, 
from the lofty steep, down upon the smoking plain. With 
what consternation and horror must it have filled the afflicted 
inhabitants of the surrounding villages, as they beheld its irre- 
sistible and devastating course, im impressed as they were, with the 
abode in the volcanoes, and was in person visiting them with 
thunder, oe tees ‘and liquid fire, the imstru- 
ments of her po and vengeance: © As we passed along this 
