VOLCANO OF CARTAGO. 



365 



In that wild region there was a charm in seeing any- 

 thing that was familiar to me at home, and I should 

 perhaps have become sentimental, but they were hard 

 and tasteless. As we rose we entered a region of 

 clouds ; very soon they became so thick that we could 

 see nothing ; the figures of our own party were barely 

 distinguishable, and we lost all hope of any view from 

 the top of the volcano. Grass still grew, and we as- 

 cended till we reached a belt of barren sand and lava ; 

 and here, to our great joy, we emerged from the region 

 of clouds, and saw the top of the volcano, without a 

 vapour upon it, seeming to mingle with the clear blue 

 sky ; and at that early hour the sun was not high enough 

 to play upon its top. 



Mr. Lawrence, who had exerted himself in walking, 

 lay down to rest, and the doctor and I walked on. The 

 crater was about two miles in circumference, rent and 

 broken by time or some great convulsion ; the frag- 

 ments stood high, bare, and grand as mountains, and 

 within were three or four smaller craters. We ascend- 

 ed on the south side by a ridge running east and west 

 till we reached a high point, at which there was an im- 

 mense gap in the crater impossible to cross. The lofty 

 point on which we stood was perfectly clear, the atmo- 

 sphere was of transparent purity, and looking beyond 

 the region of desolation, below us, at a distance of per- 

 haps two thousand feet, the whole country was covered 

 with clouds, and the city at the foot of the volcano was 

 invisible. By degrees the more distant clouds were 

 lifted, and over the immense bed we saw at the same 

 moment the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This was 

 the grand spectacle we had hoped, but scarcely expect- 

 ed to behold. My companions had ascended the vol- 

 cano several times, but on account of the clouds had 



