. Shows the exte 
SANDWICH ISLANDS, AND THE ASCENT OF MOUNA ROA. 
yards to the North of it. The latter, fifteen 
inchesdeep, and three feetin diameter, about 
thirteen feet North of a very large fissure, 
according to my thermometer, compared 
with that at Greenwich and at the Royal 
Society, and found without error, maintains 
a temperature of 65°. The same instru- 
ment, suspended freely in the above-men- 
tioned fissure, ten feet from the surface, 
expressed, by repeated trials, 158°; and 
an equal temperature was maintained when 
it was nearly level with the surface. When 
the Islanders visit this mountain, they in- 
variably carry on their cooking operations 
at this place. Some pork and a fowl that 
Thad brought, together with Taro-roots and 
Sweet Potatoes were steamed here to a 
nicety in twenty-seven minutes, having 
been tied up in leaves of Banana. On the 
sulphur bank are many fissures, which 
continually exhale sulphureous vapours, 
and form beautiful prisms, those deposited 
in the inside being the most delicate and 
varied in figure, encrusting the hollows in 
Masses, both large and small, resembling 
swallows’ nests on the wall of a building. 
When severed from the rock or ground, 
they emit a crackling noise by the contrac- 
tion of the parts in the process of cooling. 
The great thermometer, placed in the holes, 
Showed the temperature to be 195° 5’, after 
Tepeated trials which all agreed together, 
the air being then 71». 
I had furnished shoes for those persons 
Who should descend into the crater with 
me, but none of them could walk when so 
equipped, preferring a mat sole, made of 
tough leaves, and fastened round the heel 
and between the toes, which seemed indeed 
" answer the purpose entirely well. Ac- 
companied by three individuals, I proceed- 
a at one P, m. along the North side, and 
nded the first ledge over such rugged 
Ie as bespoke a long state of repose, 
eee and flanks being clothed with 
ure of considerable size: thence we 
"Scénded two hundred feet to the level 
Platform that divides the great and small 
Volcanoes. On the left, a perpendicular 
rock, three hundred feet above the level, 
nt of the volcano to have 
169 
been originally much greater than it is at 
present. The small crater appears to have 
enjoyed a long period of tranquillity, for 
down to the very edge of the crust of the 
lava, particularly on the East side, there 
are trees of considerable size, on whic 
counted from sixty to one hundred and 
twenty-four annual rings or concentric lay- 
ers. The lava at the bottom flowed from 
a spot, nearly equidistant from the great 
and small craters, both uniting into a river, 
from forty to seventy yards in breadth, and 
which appears comparatively recent. A 
little South of this stream, over a dread- 
fully rugged bank, I descended the first 
ledge of the crater, and proceeded for three 
hundred yards over a level space, composed 
of ashes, scorie, and large stones that have 
been ejected from the mouth of the vol- 
cano. The stream formerly described is 
the only fluid lava here. Hence, to arrive 
at the black ledge, is another descent of 
about two hundred and forty feet, more 
difficult to be passed than any other, and 
this brings the traveller to the brink of the 
black ledge, where a scene of all that is 
terrific to behold presents itself before his 
eyes. He sees a vast basin, recently in a 
state of igneous fusion, now, in cooling, 
broken up, somewhat in the manner of the ` 
great American lakes when the ice gives 
way, in some places level in large sheets, 
elsewhere rolled in tremendous masses, 
and > E rod thant nd diff; t ah 
sometimes even being filamentose, like fine 
hair, but all displaying the mighty agency 
still existing in this immense depository of 
subterraneous fire. A most uncomfortable 
feeling is experienced when the traveller 
becomes aware that the lava is hollow and 
faithless beneath his tread. Of all sensa- 
tions in nature, that produced by earth- 
quakes or volcanic agency is the most a- 
larming: the strongest nerves are unstrung, 
and the most courageous mind feels weak- 
ened 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, 
