00 APPENDIX II 



meter under a bright sun stood at 40°, yet when the instrument was 

 laid at an angle of about fifteen degrees, the quicksilver rose to 63°, and 

 the blocks of lava felt sensibly warm to the touch. The wind was from 

 all directions, East and West, for the great altitude and the extensive 

 mass of heating matter completely destroy the Trade Wind. The last 

 plant that I saw upon the mountain was a gigantic species of the Compo- 

 sitae (Argyrofhyton Douglasii,^ Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 75), with a column 

 of imbricated, sharp-pointed leaves, densely covered with a sUky clothmg. 

 I gathered a few seeds of the plants which I met with, among them a 

 remarkable Ranunculus, which grows as high up as there is any soil. One 

 of my companions killed a young cow just on the edge of the wood, which 

 he presented me with, for the next day's consumption. Night arrived 

 only too soon, and we had to walk four miles back to the lodge across 

 the lava, where we arrived at eight o'clock, hungry, tired, and lame, 

 but highly gratified with the result of the day's expedition. 



" The following morning proved again clear and pleasant, and every 

 thing being arranged, some of the men were despatched early, but such 

 are the delays which these people make, that I overtook them all before 

 eight o'clock. They have no idea of time, but stand still awhile, then 

 walk a little, stop and eat, smoke and talk, and thus loiter away a whole 

 day. At noon we came up to the place where we had left the cow, and 

 having dressed the meat, we took a part and left the rest hanging on 

 the bushes. We passed to the left of the lowest extinct volcano, and 

 again encamped on the same peak as the preceding night. It was long 

 after dark before the men arrived, and as this place afiorded no wood, 

 we had to make a fire of the leaves and dead stems of the species of 

 Compositae mentioned before, and which, together with a small Juncus, 

 grows higher up the mountain than any other plant. The great difEerence 

 produced on vegeta,tion by the agitated and volcanic state of this mountain 

 is very distinctly marked. Here there is no line between the Phenogamous 

 and Cryptogamous Plants, but the limits of vegetation itself are defined 

 with the greatest exactness, and the species do not gradually diminish 

 in number and stature, as is generally the case on such high elevations. 



" The line of what may be called the Woody Country, the upper verge 

 of which the barometer expresses 21,450 inch. ; therm. 46° at 2 p.m., 

 is where we immediately enter on a region of broken and uneven ground, 

 with here and there lumps of lava, rising above the general declivity 

 to a height of three hundred to four hundred feet, intersected by deep 

 chasms, which show the course of the lava when in a state of fluidity. 

 This portion of the mountain is highly picturesque and sublime. Three 

 kinds of timber, of smaU growth, are scattered over the low knolls, with 

 one species of Rubus and Vaccinium, the genus Fragaria and a few 

 Gramineae, Filices, and some alpine species. This region extends to 

 bar. 20,620 inch. ; air 40°, dew-point 30°. There is a third region, which 

 reaches to the place where we encamped yesterday, and seems to be the 

 great rise or spring of the lava, the upper part of which, at the foot of 

 the first extinct peak, is bar. 20,010 inch. ; air 39°. 



1 Argyroxiphium sandwiceme. Hook. lo. PI. t. 75. 



