194 
KREISEVIG. 
was confined from the unsettled state of the 
atmosphere, yet, at intervals,, as the gusts of 
wind dispersed the clouds, we beheld, in the 
midst of a green and extensive morass below, 
three or four lakes, with steep and rocky banks, 
and, in different parts of the sides of the mountain 
on which we stood, vast bodies of smoke rising 
to a great height from the then concealed sources. 
The descent to the marsh was scarcely less fa¬ 
tiguing than the opposite ascent; but on reaching' 
the foot and looking to the more elevated parts 
of the hill, another picture presented itself. The 
range of mountains, which we had just crossed, 
for a considerable length of way were black and 
rugged beyond conception, and jagged upon the 
upper parts into the strangest figures that can be 
imagined. Columns of steam were ascending 
from various places on their sides, especially in 
the gulleys; some rising near the base of the 
hills, others almost adjoining the very summit; 
and the apertures, that gave birth to these co¬ 
lumns, also poured out a bolus of different colors, 
but more especially white, which was conveyed 
away by the streams of water, and either streaked 
the hills with party-colored lines, as it descended 
with them in their devious courses to the plain 
below, or formed large patches by a deposition of 
its substance in the hollows of the rock. As our 
guide was not sufficiently acquainted with the 
