246 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
the large abyss. They had been formed by the cooling 
of the lava on the sides and surface of the stream, while 
it had continued to flow on underneath. As the size 
of the current diminished, it had left a hard crust of 
lava of unequal thickness over the top, supported by 
walls of the same material on each side. Their interior 
was beautiful beyond description. In many places 
they were ten or twelve feet high, and as many wide 
at the bottom. The roofs formed a regular arch, hung 
with red and brown stalactitic lava, in every imagin¬ 
able shape, while the floor appeared like one continued 
glassy stream. The winding of its current and the 
ripple of its surface were so entire, that it seemed as 
if, while in rapid motion, the stream of lava had sud¬ 
denly stopped, and become indurated, even before the 
undulations of the surface had subsided. 
We traced one of these volcanic chambers to the 
edge of the precipice that bounds the great crater, and 
looked over the fearful steep, down which the fiery 
cascade had rushed. In the place where it had fallen, 
the lava had formed a spacious basin, which, harden¬ 
ing as it cooled, had retained all those forms which 
a torrent of lava, falling several hundred feet, might 
be expected to produce on the viscid mass below. In 
the neighbourhood we saw several large masses of 
basaltic rock, of a dark gray colour, weighing probably 
from one to four or five tons, which although they did 
not bear any marks of recent fire, must have been 
ejected from the great crater during some violent erup¬ 
tion, as the surrounding rocks in every direction pre¬ 
sented a very different appearance; or they might 
have been thrown out in a liquid state, combined with 
other matter that had formed a rock of a less durable 
