(528 
VOLCANO IN OWIIYIIEE. 
lava to rest and refresh ourselves, having taken nothing since the pre- 
ceding noon. About ten o’clock, Messrs. Bishop and Goodrich 
reached the place where we were sitting. They had heard by some 
travellers, that two or three days would elapse before Makoa would 
overtake them, and deeming it inexpedient to wait so long, had pro- 
cured a guide, and early this morning set out from Kapapalato follow 
the rest of the party. 
“ Having refreshed ourselves, we resumed our journey, taking a 
northerly direction toward the columns of smoke, which we could now 
distinctly perceive. Our way lay over a wide waste of ancient lava, 
of a black colour, compact and heavy, with a shining vitreous sur- 
face, sometimes entirely covered with obsidian, and frequently thrown 
up, by the expansive force of vapour, or heated air, into conical 
mounds, from six to twelve feet high, which were, probably, by the 
same power rent into a number of pieces, from the apex to the base. 
The hollows between the mounds and long ridges were filled with 
volcanic sand, and fine particles of olivin or decomposed lava. 
“ This vast tract of lava resembled in appearance an inland sea, 
bounded by distant mountains. Once it had certainly been in a fluid 
state, but appeared as if it had become suddenly petrified, or turned 
into a glassy stone, while its agitated billows were rolling to and fro. 
Not only were the large swells and hollows distinctly marked, but in 
many places the surface of these billows was covered by a smaller 
ripple, like that observed on the surface of the sea at the first spring- 
ing up of a breeze, or the passing currents of air which produce what 
the sailors call a cat’s-paw. The billows may have been raised by 
the force which elevated the mounds or hills, but they look as if the 
whole mass, extending several miles, had, when in a state of perfect 
fusion, been agitated with a violent undulating or heaving motion. 
“The sun had now risen in his strength, and his bright rays, reflect- 
ed from the sparkling sand, and undulated surface of the vitreous lava, 
dazzled our sight, and caused considerable pain, particularly as the 
trade-wind blew fresh in our faces, and continually drove into our 
eyes particles of sand. This part of our journey was unusually labo- 
rious, not only from the heat of the sun, and the reflection from the 
lava, but also from the unevenness of its surface, which obliged us 
constantly to tread on an inclined plane, in some places as smooth 
and almost as slippery as glass, wjiere the greatest caution was 
necessary to avoid a fall. Frequently we chose to walk along on the 
ridge of a billow of lava, though considerably circuitous, rather than 
pass up and down its polished sides. Taking the trough, or hollow 
between the waves, was found safer, but much more fatiguing, as w'e 
sunk every step ancle-deep into the sand.' The natives ran along 
the ridges, stepping like goats from one ridge to another. They, 
however, occasionally descended into the hollows, and make several 
marks with their feet in the sand at short distances, for the direction 
of two or three native boys with our provisions, and some of their 
companions, who had fallen behind early in the morning, not being 
able to keep up with the foremost party. 
Between eleven and twelve we passed a number of conical hills on 
our right, which the natives informed us were craters. A quantity of 
