260 VOLCANIC ACTION. 



or cup, seventy or eighty yards in diameter, twenty 

 feet high in some places, six in others, and broken 

 on the south-west. Through the break was seen 

 muddy water in a state of violent agitation ; from 

 which hot stones, and cinders, and immense vo- 

 lumes of steam, were incessantly ascending. 



That was but the tranquil state of the volcanic 

 action ; for, at short intervals, the crater became 

 filled with stones, cinders, and dust, which were 

 volleyed upwards to the height of several hundred 

 feet with loud noise; and when they again fell 

 down and converted the surface of the surround- 

 ing sea into steam, the noise was still louder. So 

 powerful was that steam as it arose, that it carried 

 the dust with it, so that the whole had a brown 

 colour, and a solid appearance ; but the steam be- 

 came white as it ascended, and the mud fell down 

 in showers. These volleyings and descents were 

 so constant that one was often up before the other 

 had fallen ; and amid the columns lightnings were 

 continually flashing, and thunders roaring, as if 

 all the sublime and the terrible in nature had been 

 collected at that one little spot. Commander 

 Swinburne's description is so circumstantial, that 

 we shall give part of it in his own words : 



"Renewed eruptions of hot cinders and dust 

 were," says he, " quickly succeeding each other, 

 while forked lightning and rattling thunder darted 

 about in all directions within the column, now 

 darkened with dust, and greatly increased in vo- 

 lume, and distorted by sudden gusts and whirl- 

 winds. The latter were most frequent on the lee- 

 side, where they often made imperfect water spouts 

 of curious shapes. On one occasion, some of the 

 steam reached the boat ; it smelt a little of sulphur, 



