Igo CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
of a wavy outline, rising into pointed peaks, sinking 
into hollows; but from any point in this vast circum- 
ference the wall descends rapidly, and almost perpen- 
dicularly, to the water beneath. The sides are covered 
with a stunted vegetation, forming a smooth, sloping 
surface, which might deceive the spectator into the 
belief that he could walk down to the bottom. On 
the southern and south-western sides it assumes more 
the amphitheatre shape, perpendicular ranges of rock 
being piled one above another, circling around the 
south-eastern side in columns that call to mind the 
ruins of the Coliseum. 
The eastern wall divides the two craters —the 
“old” and the “new”; the latter blown out in the 
eruption of 1812, where before was solid mountain. It 
is a mere jagged escarpment, along which no one now 
dares climb. Before the rain and force of the violent 
winds had crumbled it so much, it was once scaled. 
It is said that Prince Alfred attempted it in 1861, on 
the occasion of his ascent of this volcano, but failed to 
accomplish it. It is so narrow that one can stride it, 
and so steep down either side that it makes the head 
swim to measure it from above. The northern brim 
is the lowest, and it is here that the lava poured out 
towards the Caribbean Sea at Morne Ronde; and be- 
yond is the higher peak, against which was forced the 
fiery flood, as seen by the wondering inhabitants of 
the coast. On the southern side the trees and shrubs 
seem blasted and blackened by sulphur fumes. The 
southern wall rises high, and in its dome-shaped sum- 
mit is excavated the cave, my home for nearly a 
week; its dark portal can be distinctly seen, though 
a mile away. 
