Volcano of Kirauea . 
39 
caverns, which extend in every direction, frequently 
forming subterranean channels underneath the island, 
through which the overflowing lava escapes*, are often 
covered by a hollow arch which yields at once to the 
tread; so that I had frequently the misfortune of 
falling into them, in spite of all my precautions. Never¬ 
theless, the advantages which were met with from 
the fall repaid the bruises it cost: the interior of these 
caverns alone can furnish for examination the most 
interesting incrustations of sublimated minerals, or give 
an adequate impression of the wonderful power of the 
heat of this volcano, which in the bosom of a tumul¬ 
tuous furnace, seeming to produce nothing but terror and 
destruction on the most enormous scale, forms crystals 
whose perfection can hardly be appreciated without a 
microscope, and whose delicacy can scarcely bear a 
breath. 
Such, then, is the character of Kirauea; such its unu¬ 
sual vehemence, and so numerous and vast are the ori¬ 
fices which relieve it, and suffer it to eject nothing pre¬ 
maturely and without notice, while sublimating to 
the highest degree all the various substances which the 
assembled elements of volcanic fire embrace; such also 
are its productions, from the most delicate to the most 
gigantic, subject to the same laws, fabricated in the 
same mould; all going on at once, to the astonishment 
of man, who can only admire the unseen Hand which 
guides them: thus, while, for a certain object, the 
fierce and glowing waves continue beating, to the 
* “ was evident th ^t the crater had recently been filled 
with liquid lava up to this black ledge (400 feet from the bottom), 
and had, by some subterranean canal, emptied itself into the 
sea or upon the lowland near the shore ; and, in all probability, 
this evacuation had caused the inundation of the Kapftpala coast, 
which took place, as we afterwards learned, about three weeks prior 
to our visit.”— Elfis's Polynesian Rescarchei. 
