26 Volcanic Character of the Island of Hawaii. 
much more pungent than that’exposed to the air. Along the 
bottom of the sulphur bank, they found a number of pieces 
~~ of tufa, extremely cellular and light. A thick fog now came 
over, which being followed by a shower of rain, obliged 
them to leave this interesting laboratory of nature, and return 
to their companions. 
They saw flocks of wild geese, which came down from the 
mountains and settled among the ohelo bushes: they were in- 
formed that they were numerous in the interior, but were nev- 
er seen on the coast. 
At sun-setting, stihousle the thermometer was as 69°, 'eX- 
pecting a cold night upon the mountain, they collected fuel, 
and removed from a dangerous place, which the natives had 
superstitiously chosen for them, upon the very edge of the 
crater. ‘The ground sounded hollow in every direction, fre- 
quently cracked, and in two instances actually gave way as 
they were passing over it, and exposed the persons, whose 
limbs sunk through the lava, to great danger and to some in- 
Mr. r: Tharston, who had been benighted at some Saas, 
found his way back, directed by the fire, but not without ex- 
wires great difficulty from the ‘ unevenness of the path, 
the numerous wide fissures in the lava.” They now par- 
took with cheerfulness of their evening repast, and afterwards, 
senidst the: > Lintlinacal the winds around, and the roaring of 
the furnace beneath, offered up their evening sacrifice of 
—_- ** Between nine and ten, the dark clouds and heav 
og, that, since the setting of the sun, had hung over the pe 
cano, gradually cleared away, and the fires of tthe hee dart- 
ing their fierce light across the midnight gloom, a a 
sight terrible and sublime beyond all they had yet se 
“The agitated mass of liquid lava, like a flood of nede 
metal, raged with tumultuous whirl, The lively flame that 
danced over its ae surface, tinged with sulphureous 
mineral red, cast a broad 
aling cht: on oo indented sides of the dens phen 
whose bellowing mouths, amidst ' rising flames and eddying 
streams of fire, shot up at frequent intervals, with loudest de- 
tonations, spherical masses of fusing lava, of bri ignit 
stones. ‘The dark, bold outline of the perpendicular and jutting 
around, formed a striking contrast with the luminous 
lake below, whose vivid rays, thrown on the rugged promopr 
