560 GIGANTIC FISSUEE. 



to the latitude of the place.) From this cloud rushed up a great 

 jet of vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 

 feet high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark 

 smoke, and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us 

 to the skin. This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the 

 fissure, and a few yards back from the lip there stands a straight 

 hedge of evergreen trees, whose leaves are always wet. From 

 their roots a number of little rills run back into the gulf, but, 

 as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapor, 

 in its ascent, licks them up clean off the rock, and away they 

 mount again. They are constantly running down, but never 

 reach the bottom. 



On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a white 

 rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of the fissure, which 

 branches off near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock 

 has fallen off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from the 

 water below, and from it I judged the distance which the water 

 falls to be about 100 feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are 

 perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. 

 The edge of that side over which the water falls is worn off two 

 or three feet, and pieces have fallen away, so as to give it some- 

 what of a serrated appearance. That over which the water does 

 not fall is quite straight, except at the left corner, where a rent 

 appears, and a piece seems inclined to fall off. Upon the whole, 

 it is nearly in the state in which it was left at the period of its 

 formation. The rock is dark brown in color, except about ten 

 feet from the bottom, which is discolored by the annual rise of 

 the water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the 

 island we have a good view of the mass of water which causes one 

 of the columns of vapor to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the 

 rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece all the way to the bottom. 

 Its whiteness gave the idea of snow, a sight I had not seen for 

 many a day. As it broke into (if I may use the term) pieces of 

 water, all rushing on in the same direction, each gave off several 

 rays of foam, exactly as bits of steel, when burned in oxygen gas, 

 give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed like myri- 

 ads of small comets rushing on in one direction, each of which left 

 behind its nucleus rays of foam. I never saw the appearance re- 

 ferred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the effect of the 



