1]6 CONCLUSION OF THE VOYAGE. 



highest part of the island. At an elevation of a 

 little more than 3000 feet, we reached the ridg'e 

 forming- the margin of a circular crater, rather 

 more than a mile in diameter, and 700 feet deep. 

 The outer slope is ^adual, but the inner walls 

 are steep, deeply furrowed by small ravines and 

 watercourses, and covered with grass, fern and 

 heath-hke hushes. The bottom contains a con- 

 siderable extent of swampy meadow land, a 

 shallow lagoon, and a small hill with a crater also 

 partially filled T\ith water. The view here is 

 magnificent, enhanced, too, at times by the rolling 

 volumes of mist overhead, at one moment admitting 

 of a peep at the blue sky above, in the next 

 concealing the rim of the crater and increasing in 

 idea the height of its wall-like sides. The caldeira, 

 I may add in conclusion, is said to have been formed 

 during the last eruption of Fayal in 1672, but this 

 statement appears to be very doubtful. 



We resumed our homeward voyage on October 

 5th, and on November 9th, the Rattlesnake was 

 paid off at Chatham, after having been in commis- 

 sion upwards of four years. 



