4 Account of a visit to Barren Island. [No. 1, 



easier ascent for a part of the way, and where a rocky shoulder at 

 about two-thirds of the height would offer a place to rest. Our as- 

 cent commenced at about 1\ p. M., and was certainly the most fatiguing 

 expedition many of us remember ever to have undertaken. The sky 

 was almost cloudless, and the heat consequently was great. The 

 lower third and more of the slope consisted of a powder of ashes 

 into which we sunk ankle-deep, and we often fell a step back for two 

 gained. A little higher, stones loosening when the foot stepped on 

 them and rolling down in long jumps, were dangerous to any one 

 following. 



Arrived at the rocks mentioned, their nature and the manner in 

 which the side of the cone bulged out in their neighbourhood, show- 

 ed that they marked the point from whence an effusion of lava of the 

 same kind, as we has seen below, had taken place from the side of the 

 cone, not reaching the mouth of the tube at the apex. The last third 

 of the way from the rocks upwards offered a firmer footing, the ashes 

 being cemented by sulphate of lime (gypsum) which, where it was 

 present, formed the white patches we had already observed from a 

 great distance when approaching the island. The ground now became 

 very hot, not however intolerably so, until about 30 feet from the apex 

 a few rocks again offered a convenient seat, not affected by the heat 

 of the ground. There the Aneroid barometer and the temperature 

 of the air were observed in the shade of an umbrella. 



About half way between these rocks and the highest point cracks 

 and fissures commenced to intersect the ground, widening higher up 

 to the breadth of several inches, where clouds of hot watery vapour 

 issued from them. They were filled with sulphur, often accompanied 

 with beautifully crystallised white needles of gypsum, and a sulphu- 

 rous smell also accompanied the vapour (sulphurous acid). This smell 

 was however not very strong and did not prevent us from penetrat- 

 ing the clouds, when we discovered that what had appeared from 

 below as the summit was in fact the edge of a small crater, about 

 90 or 100 feet wide, and 50 or 60 deep. At that depth it had a 

 solid floor of decomposed lava or tufa and volcanic sand. Its walls 

 were made up of rocks, in appearance like those of the older lava and 

 were highest on the north and south sides. Towards the west the 

 crater opened with a similar cleft, to that which had permitted us 



