THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. 



channel, emptied itself into the sea, or upon the low land on the 

 shore; and in all probability this evacuation had caused the 

 inundation of the Kapapala coast, which took place, as we after- 

 wards learned, about three weeks prior to our visit. The grey, and 

 in some places apparently calcined sides of the great crater before 

 us the fissures which intersected the surface of the plain on 

 which we were standing the long banks of sulphur on the 

 opposite sides of the abyss the vigorous action of the numerous 

 small craters on its borders the dense columns of vapour and 

 smoke that rose out of it, at the north and south ends of the 

 plain, together with the ridge of steep rocks by which it was 

 surrounded, rising 300 or 400 feet in perpendicular height 

 presented an immense volcanic panorama, the effect of which was 

 greatly augmented by the constant roaring of the vast furnaces 

 below." * 



134. This volcano was also visited in 1825 by Mr. Stewart, 

 accompanied by Lord Byron and a party from the " Blonde" 

 frigate, who descended to the bottom of the crater. Mr. Stewart 

 has left the following description of it : " The general aspect of 

 the crater," observes he, " may be compared to that which the 

 Otsego Lake would present, if the ice with which it is covered in 

 winter were suddenly broken up by a heavy storm, and as suddenly 

 frozen again, while large slabs and blocks were still toppling, and 

 dashing and heaping against each other, with the motion of the 

 waves. At midnight the volcano suddenly began roaring, and 

 labouring with redoubled activity, and the confusion of noises 

 was prodigiously great. The sounds were not fixed or confined to 

 one place, but rolled from one end of the crater to the other ; 

 sometimes seeming to be immediately under us, when a sensible 

 tremor of the ground on which we lay took place ; and then again 

 rushing on to the farthest end with incalculable velocity. Almost 

 at the same instant a dense column of heavy black smoke was 

 seen rising from the crater directly in front, the subterranean 

 struggle ceased, and immediately after flames burst from a large 

 cone, near which we had been in the morning, and which then 

 appeared to have been long inactive. Red-hot stones, cinders, 

 and ashes, were also propelled to a great height with immense 

 violence; and shortly after, the molten lava came boiling up, 

 and flowed down the sides of the cone and over the surrounding 

 scoriae, in most beautiful curved streams, glittering with a 

 brilliancy quite indescribable. At the same time, a whole lake of 

 fire opened in a more distant part. This could not have been less 

 than two miles in circumference, and its aspect was more horribly 



* Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. iv. 

 ]02 



