220 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
about four miles across. The travelling* over it was 
extremely fatiguing, as we sunk in to our ancles at 
every step. The sand was of a dark olive colour, fine 
and sparkling, parts of it adhering readily to the mag¬ 
net, and being raised up in heaps in every direction, 
presented a surface resembling, colour excepted, that 
of drifted snow. 
It was undoubtedly volcanic; but whether thrown out 
of any of the adjacent craters in its present form, or 
made up of small particles of decomposed lava, and the 
crystalline olivin we had observed so abundant in the 
lava of the southern shore, and drifted by the constant 
trade-wind from the vast tract of lava to the eastward, 
we could not determine. 
When we had nearly passed through it, we sat down 
on a heap of lava to rest and refresh ourselves, having 
taken nothing since the preceding noon. About ten 
o’clock, Messrs. Bishop and Goodrich reached the place 
where we were sitting. They had heard by some tra¬ 
vellers, that two or three days would elapse before 
Makoa would overtake them, and deeming it inexpe¬ 
dient to wait so long, had procured a guide, and early 
this morning set out from Kapapala to follow the rest 
of the party. 
Having refreshed ourselves, we resumed our journey, 
taking a northerly direction towards 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 
surface, 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 
