Pa 
Volcano of Kirauea. = S98 
myself with my pencil on a rough piece of blotting paper, 
brought by one of the party to wrap round the more delicate 
specimens we might collect. Lord Byron and his servant 
ascended the cone several feet, but found the heat too great 
to remain longer than to detach with their sticks, a piece or 
two of recent lava burning hot. 
So highly was our admiration excited by the scene, that 
we forgot the danger to which we might be exposed should 
any chang re take place in the currents of destructive ae 
which exist ina greater or less degree in every 
crater, till Mr. Davis, after two or three EE eat intima- 
aside te gue See "fatal to every one of us. We felt 
the truth of the assertion, and notwithstanding the desire we 
had of visiting a similar cone covered with a beautiful in- 
crustration of sulphur, at the distance of a ex hundred yards 
m where we then were, we hasti th est 
course fro angerous a spot. The a ascent to the leden 
was not less difficult than the descent had been, and for the 
last few yards was almost perpendicular ; but we all succeed- 
ed in gaining its top in safety, not 2 from the path where 
we had in the morning descended the r cliff, 
We reached the hut about 2 o’clock, pee exhausted with 
fatigue, thirst and hunger, and had immediate reason to con- 
gratulate ourselves on a most narrow escape from suffering 
and extreme.danger, if not from death. On turning reund, we 
perceived the whole chasm to be filling with thick sulphurous 
smoke, and within half an hour, it was so completely choked 
with it that not an object below us was visible. Even in the 
unconfined region above, the air became so oppressive as to 
make us think seriously of a precipitate retreat, This con- 
tinued to be the case for the greater part of the afternoon. 
A dead calm took place both within and without the crater ; 
and from the diminution of noisc, and the various signs of 
action, the voleano itself seemed to be resting from its la- 
b 
rs. 
Towards evening the smoke again rolled off to the south, 
before a fresh breeze, and every thing assumed its ordinary 
aspect. At this time Lieut. Malden, notwithstanding his in- 
‘isposition, succeeded in getting sufficient data to calculate 
