AFRO-INDIAN REGIONS. 



471 



The Fourteenth day, I descended through the seeming snow-drifts, 

 the sea of clouds, into the warmer region below : and towards sun- 

 set, arrived for the second time at the Great Crater, as already men- 

 tioned. 



Upper portion of Mauna Hualalai. This mountain, situated to 

 the Westward of Mauna Roa, was not visited ; but was seen project- 

 ing high above the sea of clouds, and can hardly be less than eight 

 thousand feet in elevation. From its summit, " a hundred or more 

 craters" are said to be visible ; an indication of some new phase of 

 volcanic action. Not many years had elapsed, since a lava-stream 

 gushed out of the flank : on which occasion, " two children, seeing the 

 unknown substance spreading over the ground like tar, one said, ' she 

 would run away,' and escaped ; the other preferred to climb a tree, and 

 perished." 



Upper portion of Mauna Kea. On the morning when, an hour 

 after sunrise, Mr. Brackenridge, myself, and guides emerged from the 

 upper margin of the forest on Mauna Kea ; the ground was in various 

 places frozen ; a pool of water on the way, was covered with thin ice ; 

 and the whole open country above, often called the " plains," was 

 white with frost. As the frost melted, the ground was found to be in 

 great part covered with grasses and verdure ; the rock rarely making 

 its appearance through the soil ; yet there was a general aridity, 

 and the beds of the mountain-torrents contain running water a few 

 hours only after heavy falls of rain. The general absence of shrubs 

 was unexpected ; the Acacia heteroplnjlla, extending into the open 

 country in the form of a scattered low tree, and the Edwardsia trees 

 also growing isolated as in a park, contributing to the Australian 

 aspect. Inclining Northward, and continuing the ascent obliquely, 

 we reached some rising ground that afforded a very extensive view : 

 the atmosphere being clear, the eye ranged over the whole breadth of 

 the forest we had crossed, to the sea beyond, and the Bay of Hilo; a 

 sail in the offing was even made out by some of our party; and we 

 subsequently ascertained, that a schooner was at the time putting 

 back. We passed a tolerably distinct bed of "climpers," near the 

 remains of a cattle-pen, and not far from a conspicuous hillock that 

 had served us as a landmark since morning. Just above this hillock, 

 we encamped under the shelter of a projecting rock, in the very bed 

 of a mountain-torrent ; regarded as an eligible situation, provided no 

 rain falls on the higher part of the mountain during the night. 



