56 



HAWAII. 



[letter v. 



recollections of my life. During three hours, the bank of lava 

 which almost divided the lakes rose considerably, owing to the 

 cooling of the spray as it dashed over it, and a cavern of con- 

 siderable size was formed within it, the roof of which was hung 

 with fiery stalactites, more than a foot long. Nearly the whole 

 time the surges of the farther lake taking a southerly direction 

 broke with a tremendous noise on the bold, craggy cliffs which 

 are its southern boundary, throwing their gory spray to a height 

 of fully forty feet. At times an overhanging crag fell in, creating 

 a vast splash of fire and increased commotion. 



Almost close below us there was an intermittent jet of lava, 

 which kept cooling round what was possibly a blowhole, forming 

 a cone with an open top, which when we first saw it was about 

 six feet high on its highest side, and about as many in diameter. 

 Up this cone or chimney heavy jets of lava were thrown every 

 second or two, and cooling as they fell over its edge, raised it 

 rapidly before our eyes. Its fiery interior, and the singular 

 sound with which the lava was vomited up, were very awful. 

 There was no smoke rising from the lake, only a faint blue 

 vapour which the wind carried in the opposite direction. The 

 heat was excessive. We were obliged to stand the whole time, 

 and the soles of our boots were burned, and my ear and one 

 side of my face were blistered. Although there was no smoke 

 from the lake itself, there was an awful region to the westward, 

 of smoke, sound, and rolling clouds of steam and vapour whose 

 phenomena it was not safe to investigate, where the blowing 

 cones are, whose fires last night appeared stationary. We were 

 able to stand quite near the margin, and look down into the 

 lake, as you look into the sea from the deck of a ship, the only 

 risk being that the fractured ledge might give way. 



Before we came away, a new impulse seized the lava. The 

 fire was thrown to a great height; the fountains and jets all 

 wallowed together; new ones appeared, and danced joyously 

 round the margin, then converging towards the centre they 

 merged into one glowing mass, which upheaved itself pyra- 

 midally and disappeared with a mighty plunge. Then innu- 

 merable billows of fire dashed themselves into the air, crashing 

 and lashing, and the lake dividing itself recoiled on either side, 

 then hurling its fires together and rising as if by upheaval 

 from below, it surged over the temporary rim which it had 

 formed, passing downwards in a slow majestic flow, leaving the 

 central surface swaying and dashing in fruitless agony as if sent 

 on some errand it failed to accomplish. 



