IN THE CEATEE. 249 



the foot of the cliff! Down this we hurried, half sliding, 

 till, breathless with excitement and our exertions, we stood 

 upon the bottom. This consisted of a plain about seven 

 hundred yards in diameter, piled round the edges with the 

 rocks broken from the cliffs, which towered up half a mile 

 on every side, except upon the west, where there was a 

 deep depression, or gorge. Varying a trifle from the 

 centre of the plain, Avas a little hill, about two hundred 

 feet in height, broken by deep fissures, incrusted with sul- 

 phur, deposited from the vapory exhalations which rise 

 from the openings. We found a few plants scattered over 

 the bottom of the crater, which served in a measure to 

 relieve the chaotic, life-forsaken aspect of that rock- walled 

 caldron.* 



Within those amphitheatral walls Nature enacts, Avith- 

 out a spectator, her grandest and most thrilling scenes. It 

 was indeed a strangely wild and chaotic scene, when the 

 rain, that had been threatening, broke over our heads in a 

 fearful storm of thunder and hail. Heavy clouds drifted 

 over the edge of the crater, and, settling within, shut out 

 the sun and hid from view the upper portion of the sur- 

 rounding walls. We were seated upon some rocks, par- 

 taking of our breakfast, which consisted of bread, steamed 

 over the fissures exhaling vapors heated almost to the 

 boiling-point, Avhen a low growl of thunder, and the deep 

 rumbling of loosened rocks, told us that a fearful storm 

 was gathering round the volcano. The rain and hail 

 forced us to the shelter of some shelving ledges. The 

 storm increased ; the thunders growing louder and rolling 

 heavily along the cliffs, while the rocks were constantly 



* The following is a list of plants found within the crater; several 

 of these species were also observed growing without, just at the base of 

 the scoria-cone : Lunula Per2tvia7ia, Valeriana plantagina, V. Bonplandi- 

 ana, Calcdium longifolium, Diplostcphium rupesire, Scnccio crica/olhcs, 

 Pernettya parifolia, also a species of Festuca, and Lupinus. 



