178 . Letter XT. 
which streams ran to the lake. Spiral columns of blue smoke 
curled up here and there across the plain, each indicating the 
position of a native village. Then turning slightly round, we 
looked over the sea, and there the southern islands of the 
group lay—some appearing faintly, others with clear bold out- 
lines, against the sky. Over each, like a white and snowy 
crown, there floated a pile of cloud ; but otherwise the sky was 
clear. . 
What a contrast, the scene before us and that beside us! 
The one so fair and peaceful—the other so black and ter- 
rible. 
Turning reluctantly from: these scenes—so different, yet each 
so worthy of notice—we began to retrace our steps. The 
ground everywhere in the vicinity of the volcano was covered 
with shining substances like spun glass, very beautiful but very 
brittle. Some way down the active cone, there is a great mass 
of lava piled up in a curious twisted fashion, apparently having 
been forced out at some time from the side of the cone, when it 
has been unusually active. 
Taking a shorter and rougher route backward, we came first 
to a round open,plain, surrounded partly by a steep cliffand hay- 
ing a smooth floor of brown scoria. Then we marched along a 
ridge which gradually descended from the volcano to Port 
Resolution, passing here and there beds of soft hot clay and 
jets of sulphurous steam, and lastly, hot springs which issue 
from the ground just on the shores of the bay. Crossing over 
in a canoe, we reached the mission house, very tired and as 
black as sweeps, from the volcanic dust, but thoroughly satis- 
fied with what had been accomplished. 
I will conclude this letter with a few remarks about the pe- 
culiarities of this volcano. The first is the extraordinary regu- 
larity of its eruptions. A hundred years ago, Cook tells us it 
was acting exactly as it does now—an eruption taking place 
every five or six minutes. 
