208 SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



be seen. It bore from where I was standing about northwest, 

 is several feet in circumference, about fifty yards from the top 

 of the crater, and one hundred yards from the bottom. 



Pursuing the same path I next came to the bed of lava, 

 which owes its origin to the same eruption as that just alluded 

 to ; this presented the most singular spectacle. Many of the 

 trees with which the whole country was formerly covered are 

 * still standing, overlooking the scene of desolation. The lava 

 was in that state which it generally assumes after it com- 

 mences to cool. Throughout its whole length and breadth it 

 was split and broken into pieces of various shapes and sizes ; 

 gases were escaping from several of the rents which smelt 

 strongly of sulphur, insomuch that I became aware of their 

 existence an hour or two previous to my reaching them. It was 

 from these fissures that the liquid mass made its appearance. 

 One of them is nearly three feet in width, another two feet, 

 and a third eighteen inches. From the summit of Mount 

 Popii a fine view of the stream may be obtained. It is about 

 three miles long, and from three to five hundred yards wide. 

 The appearance of the surface is uniform, being of a color 

 nearly black, and full of glittering crystals. The average 

 height above the adjacent ground is four feet. No one can 

 see all this, and yet question the theory of the igneous 

 fluidity of the centre of our globe. All combustible causes 

 that we are aquainted with are totally inadequate to produce 

 such an effect. 



It was my intention to have visited another crater, which 

 I was told to be still larger than any I had seen, except that 

 of Kilauea ; but having missed the path leading to it, and it 

 being also near sunset, I deemed it best to endeavor to reach 

 a house about two miles off, where Smith said I would find 

 good lodgings, and which I succeeded in reaching about dusk. 



