2 56 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
northern part, to the western cliffs. As we ad¬ 
vanced, these became more and more perpendi¬ 
cular, till they presented nothing but the bare and 
upright face of an immense wall, from eight to 
ten hundred feet high, on whose surface huge 
stones and rocks hung, apparently so loosely as 
to threaten falling, at the agitation of a breath. 
In many places, a white curling vapour issued 
from the sides and summit of the precipice; and 
in two or three places, streams of clay-coloured 
lava, like small waterfalls, extending almost from 
the top to the bottom, had cooled, evidently at a 
very recent period. At almost every step, some¬ 
thing new attracted our attention; and, by stop¬ 
ping, sometimes to look up, not without a feeling 
of apprehension at the enormous masses above 
our heads; at others, to gain, by a cautious ap¬ 
proach to the brink of the gulf, a nearer glance 
at the equally frightful depth below—at one time 
turning aside to ascertain the heat of a column 
of steam; at another, to secure some unique or 
beautiful specimen—we occupied more than two 
hours in proceeding the same number of miles. 
“ At that distance from our entrance on the 
ledge, we came to a spot on the western side, 
where it widened many hundred feet, and ter¬ 
minated next the crater, not, as in most other 
places, perpendicularly, but in an immense heap 
of broken slabs and blocks of lava, loosely piled 
together, as they had fallen in some convulsion 
of the mountain, and jutting off to the bottom in 
a frightful mass of ruin. Here, we had been 
informed, the descent into the depth of the craterf 
could be most easily made; but, being without al 
guide, we were entirely at a loss what course to* 
take, till we unexpectedly descried the gentle- 
