THROUGH HAWAII. 
221 
rent into a number of pieces, from the apex to the base. 
The hollows between the mounds and long ridges were 
filled with volcanic sand, and fine particles of olivin, 
or decomposed lava. 
This vast tract of lava resembled in appearance an 
inland sea, bounded by distant mountains. Once it 
had certainly been in a fluid state, but appeared as if 
it had become suddenly petrified, or turned into a 
glassy stone, while its agitated billows were rolling to 
and fro. Not only were the large swells and hollows 
distinctly marked, but in many places the surface of 
these billows was covered by a smaller ripple, like 
that observed on the surface of the sea at the first 
springing up of a breeze, or the passing currents of air 
which produce what the sailors call a cat’s-paw. The 
billows may have been raised by the force which ele¬ 
vated the mounds or hills, but they look as if the whole 
mass, extending several miles, had, when in a state of 
perfect fusion, been agitated with a violent undulating 
or heaving motion. 
The sun had now risen in his strength, and his bright 
rays, reflected from the sparkling sand, and undulated 
surface of the vitreous lava, dazzled our sight and 
caused considerable pain, particularly as the trade- 
wind blew fresh in our faces, and continually drove 
into our eyes particles of sand. This part of our jour¬ 
ney was unusually laborious, not only from the heat 
of the sun and the reflection from the lava, but also 
from the unevenness of its surface, which obliged us 
constantly to tread on an inclined plane, in some places 
as smooth and almost as slippery as glass, where the 
greatest caution was necessary to avoid a fall. Fre¬ 
quently we chose to walk along on the ridge of a billow 
