152 MAUN A LOA. 



houses, and building stone walls. Dr. Judd, the sergeant, and Brooks, 

 descended into the crater : they made the descent on the east bank 

 among large blocks of lava, and reached the bottom in about an hour. 

 There they were surrounded by huge clinkers, and ridges running 

 generally north and south in lines across the crater; between these 

 was the pahoihoi, or smooth lava. They passed over these obstruc- 

 tions to the southwest, and found in places many salts, among which 

 were sulphate of soda, and sulphate of lime. Four-fifths of the way 

 across was a hill, two hundred feet high, composed of scoria and 

 pumice, with fissures emitting sulphurous acid gas. To the west was 

 a plain full of cracks and fissures, all emitting more or less steam and 

 gas. 



They found the west wall perpendicular : its lower strata were 

 composed of a gray basalt. For three-fourths of the distance up, it 

 had a dingy yellow colour. Above this, there are a number of thin 

 layers, apparently dipping to the southwest, with the slope of the 

 mountain. 



They also visited many steam-cracks on the northeast side, from 

 which fumes of sulphurous acid gas were emitted ; no hydrogen was 

 found in the gas, which extinguished flame without producing ex- 

 plosion. 



Specimens of sulphate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, sulphate of 

 ammonia, and carbonate of lime, were found in beautiful crystals by 

 Dr. Judd, but it was found difficult to preserve any of them in a sepa- 

 rate form, as they were all intermingled in their formation. 



Half-past two o'clock having arrived, Dr. Judd began his return to 

 the bank where he had descended, and reached it after walking an hour 

 and a half; it required another hour to ascend. When they returned, 

 they appeared exhausted with their day's trip : overloaded as they 

 were with specimens, the ascent was more arduous. 



This evening, at sunset, we had a beautiful appearance of the shadow 

 of the mountain, dome-shaped, projected on the eastern sky : the 

 colour of a light amethyst at the edges, increasing in intensity to a 

 dark purple in the centre ; it was as distinct as possible, and the vast 

 dome seemed to rest on the distant horizon. The night was clear, with 

 moonlight, the effect of which on the scene was beautiful : the clouds 

 floating below us, with the horizon above them, reminded us of the ice- 

 bergs and ice-fields of the xintarctic : the temperature lent its aid to the 

 deception. 



Lieutenant Budd, with a party, joined me this day, bringing with him 

 the transit-level, from the ship. Towards evening I had another attack 

 of mountain-sickness, with much tendency of blood to the head. My 



