1871.] 295 [Grayson. 



reaching the summit of the ridge I proceeded on my course up the 

 mountain, making my way the best I could over the rough ground. I 

 had become very much heated and out of breath, there was no shade 

 to invite repose, the scenery around looked dry, hot and wild in the 

 extreme. I met with but few solitary birds, such as the little ground 

 dove, mocking bird and little wren, and these had a gloomy, listless 

 look, conformable to the sombre solitudes, which could call forth no 

 song from these silent creatures; indeed, scarcely any animal life 

 could be seen ; sometimes a small blue lizard basking on the rocks, or 

 a solitary grasshopper started from the grass, was all the living 

 things to be encountered in my rambles of that day. In my route 

 up the mountain, and upon an adjacent ridge, I beheld a large and 

 isolated rock, which had so strange an appearance that I was led to 

 examine it more closely. At a distance it looked like a part of a 

 broken wall of some vast ruin. A mile or so of tedious walking 

 brought me to it, when I found it to be about sixty feet high, forty or 

 fifty feet in length, and only about ten feet thick at base, standing 

 perpendicular upon its edge and perhaps welded to a solid mass of 

 the same formation below the surface of the earth where it stood. 

 On examining its rough exterior I found it to be glazed over the en- 

 tire surface, as if but recently taken seething from some huge melting 

 furnace; the whole mass had the appearance of a large block of 

 dull, yellowish porcelain, equally as hard and flinty ; in places a slight 

 tinge of pink was perceptible. 



"From this point an extended view of the wild scenery lay before 

 me with its broken and rent forms of gulches, fissures, ridges and 

 rude heaps of black rocky scoria. The lava paths could be dis- 

 tinctly traced, running to the sea. Some very curious forms are 

 produced in the jagged rocks that stand like sentinels along the 

 rock-bound shore. One of these is the "Old man of the rocks," at 

 the extreme southeast point of our little bay. These rocks are ex- 

 ceedingly sharp and rough, extending some distance into the sea, and 

 making a very dangerous reef. Upon one of these isolated rocks is 

 the colossal figure of a robust man in a sitting position, with arms 

 folded and head thrown back, gazing forever upon the eternal sea, 

 whilst the breakers are dashing furiously against its pedestal. 



"While resting near these rocks, my eyes suddenly rested upon a 

 dark speck to the northwest. I was soon satisfied after a second 

 look, that it was a sail, and apparently heading towards the Island 

 with a good breeze. The smoke which I had raised and now spread 



