308 APPENDIX II 



traveller becomes aware that the lava is hollow and faithless beneath his 

 tread. Of all sensations in nature, that produced by earthquakes or 

 volcanic agency is the most alarming : the strongest nerves are unstrung 

 and the most courageous mind feels weakened and unhinged, when exposed 

 to either. How insignificant are the operations of man's hands, taken 

 in their vastest extent, when compared with the magnitude of the works 

 of God ! 



" On the black ledge, the thermometer, held in the hand, five feet 

 from the ground, indicated a temperature of 89, and when laid on the 

 lava, if in the sun's says, 115 ; and 112 in the shade ; on the brink of 

 the burning lake, at the South end, it rose to 124. Over some fissures 

 in the lava, where the smoke was of a greyish rather than a blue tinge, 

 the thermometer stood at 94. I remained for upwards of two hours 

 in the crater, suffering all the time an intense headache, with my pulse 

 strong and irregular,and my tongue parched, together with other symptoms 

 of fever. The intense heat and sulphurous nature of the ground had 

 corroded my shoes so much, that they barely protected my feet from 

 the hot lava. I ascended out of the crater at the South-west, or small 

 and, over two steep banks of scoriae and two ledges of rock, and returned 

 by the West side to my tent, having thus walked quite round this mighty 

 crater. The evening was foggy ; I took some cooling medicine, and lay 

 down early to rest. 



" Saturday, January the 25th. I slept profoundly till two A.M., 

 when, as not a speck could be seen on the horizon, and the moon was 

 unusually bright, I rose with the intention of making some lunar observa- 

 tions, but though the thermometer stood at 41, still the keen mountain- 

 breeze affected me so much, of course mainly owing to the fatigue and 

 heat I had suffered the day before, that I was reluctantly obliged to 

 relinquish the attempt, and being unable to settle again to sleep, I re- 

 plenished my blazing stock of fuel, and sat gazing on the roaring and 

 agitated state of the crater, where three new fires had burst out since 

 ten o'clock the preceding evening. Poor Honori, my guide, who is a 

 martyr to asthma, was so much affected by their exhalations (for they 

 were on the North bank, just below my tent), that he coughed incessantly 

 the whole night, and complained of cold, though he was wrapped in my 

 best blanket, besides his own tapas and some other articles which he 

 had borrowed from my Woahu man. The latter slept with his head toward 

 the fire, coiled up most luxuriously, and neither cold, heat, nor the roaring 

 of the volcano at all disturbed his repose. 



" Leaving the charge of my papers and collections under the special 

 care of one individual, and giving plenty of provision for twelve days 

 to the rest, consisting of one quarter of pork, with poe and taro, I started 

 for Kapupala soon after eight A.M. The path struck off for two miles 

 in a North- West direction, to avoid the rugged lava and ashes on the 

 West flank of Mouna Roa, still it was indescribably difficult in many places, 

 as the lava rose in great masses, some perpendicular, others lying horizontal, 

 in fact with every variation of form and situation. In other parts the 

 walking was pretty good, over grassy undulating plains, clothed with a 



