242 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
three or four inches deep in the bank, were of an 
orange yellow, generally in single or double tetra¬ 
hedral pyramids, and full an inch in length. A 
singular hissing and cracking noise was heard 
among the crystals, whenever the outside crust of 
the sulphur was broken and the atmospheric air 
admitted. The same noise was produced among 
the fragments broken off, until they were quite 
cold. The adjacent stones and pieces of clay 
were frequently incrusted, either with sulphate of 
ammonia, or volcanic sal ammoniac. Consider¬ 
able quantities were also found in the crevices of 
some of the neighbouring rocks, which were much 
more pungent than that exposed to the air. Along 
the bottom of the sulphur bank we found a num¬ 
ber of pieces of tufa, or clay-stone, extremely light 
and cellular, and which appeared to have been 
fused. It seemed as if sulphur, or some other 
inflammable substance, had formerly occupied the 
cells in these stones. A thick fog now came on, 
which, being followed by a shower of rain, obliged 
us to leave this interesting laboratory of nature, 
and return to our companions. On the eastern 
side of the crater, we saw banks of sulphur, less 
pure, yet apparently more extensive, than those 
we had visited ; but their distance from us, and 
the unfavourable state of the weather, prevented 
our examining them. On our way to the sulphur 
banks, we saw two flocks of wild geese, which 
came down from the mountains, and settled among 
the ohelo bushes, near the pools of water. They 
were smaller than the common goose, had brown 
necks, and their wings were tipped w T ith the same 
colour. The natives informed us there were vast 
flocks in the interior, although they were never 
seen near the sea. 
