$20 POLYNESIA^ RESEARCHES. 
it, but in others it was ten or twelve feet across. 
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 feet. Towards the centre, it 
was so hot that we could not stand more than a 
minute in the same place. As we drew 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 Pele, 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 immediately 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 distinctly the bottom of 
any of them. Our legs, hands, and faces, were 
nearly scorched by the heat. Into one of 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. 
