ators of Hawaii, (Owhyee,) and its Vi ol i 
path Aedes down, I was quite surprised 10 fine Se ap 
of it so different from that of my former descent. In 
know, till then, that any part within the upper circumference, pre- 
sented such an aspect—at a single view, atlording the most conelu- 
sive proof of the kind of process going on, in the undermining of 
the surrounding mountain ; and of the manner in which the enor- 
mous fires beneath are fed, when old masses of matter upon which 
- they have been acting, become utterly reduced to scoria and ashes. 
~ After an almost perpendicular descent of eighty or a hundred feet, 
—in accomplishing which, we at times, hung from rock to rock,— 
path came upon an extent of gronnd, half a mile in length and 
a quarter broad, broken into abrupt hills and deep glens, and cover=— 
ed with grass, shrubbery, ‘and small trees. che whole declines 
gradually, several hundred feet, towards the crater, and constitutes a 
little valley, separated from it, by a succession of barren ills, and of 
Voleanic rock and sand. It had evidently been shattered into its pres- 
ent forms, and sunk from the level above, at no very remote peri 
in some convulsion, after its foundations had been sapped by the ele- 
ment still raging beneath. And it is not improbable, that, even now, 
the whole is suspended on some comparatively slender base, till an- 
other throe shall open for it a descent into a raging abyss, to be con- 
Verted, in its turn, into a mass of liquid fire. 
The scenery, here, was strikingly unique and romantic ; consisting, 
above and’ behind us, of the bare and perpendicular face of rocks, 
from which this section had been rent as it came down; and of a 
Succession of miniature mountains and ravines, thrown into every 
wild form, and still beautifully verdant with various growth. The 
path winding over and through these—though plain and seemingly 
safe—is, j in truth, the most dangerous that I have met with in the 
whole region. Jin many places, the bushes and grass skirting it, either 
partially or entirely conceal the most horrible pits and fissures, into 
Which, almost without knowing it, a single false step, or‘a slip, might 
plunge one to be heard of no more. — In several instances, when least 
reaming of danger, I have come upon some of these, with a sud- 
denness : and want of caution, that have made my blood curdle, as i 
ventured a gaze, into their yawning and unfathomable mouths. Once, 
in particular, the first intimation I had of bemg near any thing of the 
ind, was given by the heat of the steam issuing from it and striking 
against my face—my feet being already on the very brink. It was 
sufficiently lar ze to sae ihe stoutest maientire; of a depth to whieh 4 
Vou 
PERN 
ey 
