Chap. XXVI. 
GIGANTIC FISSURE. 
521 
to the latitude of the place.) From tliis cloud rushed up a great 
jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 
feet high; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark 
smoke, and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us 
to the skin. This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the 
fissure, and a few yards back from the lip, there stands a straight 
hedge of evergreen trees, whose leaves are always wet. From 
their roots a number of little rills run back into the gulf; but 
as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapour, 
in its ascent, licks them up clean off the rock, and away they 
mount again. They are constantly running down, but never 
reach the bottom. 
On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a wliite 
rolling mass movmg away to the prolongation of the fissiu’e, which 
branches off near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock 
has fallen off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from the 
water below, and from it, I judged the distance which the water 
falls to be about 100 feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are 
perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. 
The edge of that side over wliich the water falls, is worn off two or 
three feet, and pieces have fallen away, so as to give it somewhat 
of a serrated appearance. That over which the water does not 
faU, is quite straight, except at the left corner, where a rent 
appears, and a piece seems inclined to fall off. Upon the whole, 
it is nearly in the state in which it was left at the period of its 
formation. The rock is dark brown in colour, except about ten 
feet from the bottom, which is discoloured by the annual rise of 
the water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the 
island we have a good view of the mass of water which causes one 
of the columns of vapour to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the 
rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece all the way to the bottom. 
Its whiteness gave the idea of snow, a sight I had not seen for 
many a day. As it broke into (ff I may use the term) pieces of 
water, aU rushing on in the same direction, each gave off several 
rays of foam, exactly as bits of steel, when burnt in oxygen gas, 
give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed like myriads 
of small comets rushing on in one direction, each of which left 
behind its nucleus rays of foam. I never saw the appearance 
referred to, noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the effect of tha 
