THROUGH HAWAII. 209 
It was from these wider portions that the smoke and 
vapours arose. 
As we descended into this valley, the ground sounded 
hollow, and in several places the lava cracked under 
our feefc Towards the centre it was so hot that we 
could not stand more than a minute in the same place. 
As we drew r near one of the apertures that emitted 
smoke and vapour, our guide stopped, and tried to 
dissuade us from proceeding any further, assuring us 
he durst not venture nearer for fear of Pele, the deity 
of the volcanoes. We told him there was no P616 of 
which he need be afraid; but that if he did not wish 
to accompany us, he might go back to the bushes at 
the edge of the valley, and await our return. He im¬ 
mediately retraced his steps, and we proceeded on, 
passing as near some of the smoking fissures, as the 
heat and sulphureous vapour rising from them would 
admit. We looked down into several, but it was only 
in three or four that we could see any bottom. The 
depth of these appeared to be about fifty or sixty feet, 
and the bottoms were composed of loose fragments of 
rocks and large stones, that had fallen in from the top 
or sides of the chasm. Most of them appeared to be 
red-hot; and we thought we saw flames in one, but 
the smoke was generally so dense, and the heat so 
great, that we could not look long, nor see very dis¬ 
tinctly the bottom of any of them. Our legs, hands, 
and faces, were nearly scorched by the heat. Into one 
the small fissures we put our thermometer, which 
had stood at 84°; it instantly rose to 118°, and, pro¬ 
bably, would have risen much higher, could we have 
held it longer there. 
After walking along the middle of the hollow for nearly 
2 E 
