THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 215 



path. Sometimes the roof would fall in with clinking sounds, 

 revealing a deep, dark cavern. Having thus broken into one 

 cell of considerable size, which proved easy of entrance, we 

 crawled in for shelter from the intense heat of the sun's rays. 

 Our conversation, naturally directed by the strange surround- 

 ing, led Carson into the narrative of an adventure in a lava 

 tunnel and cave which made a deep impression on my imag- 

 ination. I will strive^to tell his story, preserving rather the 

 spirit than the language. The exhibition, as he described 

 it, is seen in a small way, in the crystallizations of sulphur 

 and cooling metals, and in the dark tubes of certain optical 

 instruments. 



"In a sharp, deep valley of Albemarle we had broken in 

 the roof of such a bubble ; but the cavern was much deeper 

 than this, and as we looked in we saw that we had opened 

 the way into a tunnel about fifteen feet in width, and extend- 

 ing either way as far as we could see from our position. 

 By the light which entered from above we made out the floor 

 aS about twenty feet beneath us, and that the walls were cu- 

 riously marked with columnar forms. Brown, my compan- 

 ion, who had dabbled in the sciences, proposed that we should 

 take an under-ground view of volcanic action and appear- 

 ances. 



" So, on the following day, provided with a couple of 

 lamps, a coil of knotted line, and a couple of waist-lines and 

 iron poles for staves, we proceeded on our exploration. We 

 descended with the knotted rope around our bodies, and 

 stuck our feet in the rough side, lighted in our way by a 

 single lamp. We carefully watched for any side openings 

 which might confuse us or lead us astray in returning, but 

 we saw none, and felt safe. It soon became evident that the 

 tunnel had not been formed by a rent of the mass after cool- 

 ing, but rather by the molten lava's having drained away, 

 after a crust had formed upon it. This may account for the 



