the Val, and descended in cascades into the lower fertile regions, where they are spread out in sterile tracts amid the vineyards and orange-groves.*

The varied and picturesque scenery of Etna, the phenomena of volcanic action which are there so strikingly exhibited, as well as those which have taken place in periods long antecedent to human history and tradition, but of which the natural records remain, are described by Sir C. Lyell with that vigour and fidelity which characterize all the productions of his pen; and his works should be consulted by those who desire fully to comprehend the nature of some of the most interesting physical changes which are in progress on the surface of our planet.†

16. VOLCANO OF KILAUEA.-Of the existing volcanos, those of Kilauea and Mauna Loa, in Hawaii,‡ exhibit volcanic action in its most sublime and imposing aspect. The island of Hawaii, which is about seventy miles long, and covers an area of 4000 square miles, is a complete mass of volcanic matter, perforated by innumerable craters. It is in fact a hollow cone, rising to an altitude of 16,000 feet, having numerous vents over a vast incandescent mass, which doubtless extends beneath the bed of the ocean; the island forming a pyramidal funnel from the furnace beneath, to the atmosphere. Mauna Loa (great or long mountain) is the apex, and bears an enormous crater. Indeed Kilauea, or Kirauea, is but a lateral crater to Mauna Loa. The following account of a visit to the latter crater, by Mr. Ellis, affords a striking picture of the splendid but awful spectacle which this volcano at the time presented.

*See Captain Basil Hall's interesting description of a visit to the Val del Bove," Patchwork," vol. iii. p. 31.

"Principles of Geology," chap. xxvi. See also Daubeny's "Volcanos," 2nd edit. chap. 15.

Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, is well known, under the name of Owhyhee, as the scene of the murder of Captain Cook.

"After travelling over extensive plains and climbing rugged steeps, all bearing testimony of igneous origin, the crater of Kilauea suddenly burst upon our view. We found ourselves on the edge of a steep precipice, with a vast plain before us, fifteen or sixteen miles in circumference, and sunk from two hundred to four hundred feet below its

original level. The surface of this plain was uneven, and strewed over with large stones and volcanic rocks; and in the centre of it was the great crater, at the distance of a mile and a half from the precipice on which we were standing. We proceeded to the northern end of the ridge, where, the sides being less steep, a descent to the plain below seemed practicable; but it required the greatest caution, as the stones and fragments of rock frequently gave way under our feet, and rolled 'down from above. The steep which we had descended was formed of volcanic matter, apparently of light-red and grey vesicular lava, lying ir horizontal beds, varying in thickness from one to forty feet. In a few places the different masses were rent in perpendicular and oblique directions, from top to bottom, either by earthquakes, or by other violent convulsions of the ground. After walking some distance over the plain, which in several places sounded hollow beneath our feet, we came to the edge of the great crater. 'Before us yawned an im

mense gulf in the form of a crescent, about two miles in length from north-east to south-west, one mile in width, and 800 feet deep. The bottom was covered with lava, and the south-west and northern parts were one vast flood of burning matter. Fifty-one conical islands of varied form and size, containing as many craters, rose either round the edge or from the surface of the burning lake. Twenty-two constantly emitted either columns of grey smoke or pyramids of brilliant flame: and at the same time vomited from their ignited mouths streams of lava, which rolled in blazing torrents down their black indented sides into the boiling mass below (see Lign. 200). The existence of these conical craters led us to conclude, that the boiling cauldron of lava did not form the focus of the volcano, but that this liquid mass was comparatively shallow, and that the basin which contained it was separated by a stratum of solid matter from the great volcanic abyss, which constantly poured out its melted contents through these numerous craters into this upper reservoir. We were further inclined to this opinion from the vast columns of vapour continually ascending from the chasms in the vicinity of the sulphur-banks and pools of water; for they must have been produced by other fire than that which caused the ebullition in the lava at the bottom of the great crater; and also by noticing a number of small vents in vigorous action high up the sides of the great gulf, and apparently quite detached from it. The streams of lava which they emitted rolled down into the lake, and mingled with the melted, mass, which, though thrown up by different apertures, had perhaps been originally fused in one vast furnace. The sides of the gulf before us, although composed of different beds of ancient lava, were perpendicular for about 400 feet, and rose from a wide horizontal ledge of solid black lava, of irregular width, but extending completely round. Beneath this ledge the sides sloped gradually towards the burning lake, which was, as nearly as we could judge, three or four hundred feet lower. It was evident that the large crater had been recently filled with liquid lava up to this ledge, and had, by some subterranean channel, emptied itself into the sea, or upon the low land on the shore; and in all probability, this evacuation had caused the inundation of the Kapapala coast, which took place, as we afterwards learned, about three weeks prior to our visit. The grey and in some places apparently calcined sides of the great crater before us—the fissures which intersected the surface of the plain on which we were standing— the long banks of sulphur on the opposite sides of the abyss-the vigorous action of the numerous small craters on its borders-the dense columns of vapour and smoke that rose out of it, at the north and south ends of the plain, together with the ridge of steep rocks by which it was surrounded, rising three or four hundred feet in perpendicular height—

presented an immense volcanic panorama, the effect of which was greatly augmented by the constant roaring of the vast furnaces below."*

17. MR. STEWART'S VISIT TO KILAUEA.-In June, 1825, Mr. Stewart, accompanied by Lord Byron and a party from the Blonde frigate, went to Kilauea, and descended to the bottom of the crater.

"The general aspect of the crater," observes Mr. Stewart, may be compared to that which the Otsego Lake would present, if the ice with which it is covered in winter were suddenly broken up by a heavy storm, and as suddenly frozen again, while large slabs and blocks were still toppling, and dashing, and heaping against each other, with the motion of the waves. At midnight the volcano suddenly began roaring and labouring with redoubled activity, and the confusion of noises was prodigiously great. The sounds were not fixed or confined to one place, but rolled from one end of the crater to the other; sometimes seeming to be immediately under us, when a sensible tremor of the ground on which we lay took place; and then again rushing on to the farthest end with incalculable velocity. Almost at the same instant a dense column of heavy black smoke was seen rising from the crater directly in front, the subterranean struggle ceased, and, immediately after, flames burst from a large cone, near which we had been in the morning, and which then appeared to have been long inactive. Red-hot stones, cinders, and ashes were also propelled to a great height with immense violence; and, shortly after, the molten lava came boiling up, and flowed down the sides of the cone and over the surrounding scoriæ, in most

* Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. iv. See also Dana's account of the Hawaiian Volcanos, in his "Geology of the United States Exploring Expedition," 1849; and notices by Messrs. Coan, Weld, and others in the American Journal of Science, and the Journal Geol. Soc. 1856 and 1857; also Lyell's "Manual," p. 491; and De la Beche's "Geol. Observer," 2nd edit. p. 333, &c.

beautiful curved streams, glittering with a brilliancy quite indescribable. At the same time, a whole lake of fire opened in a more distant part. This could not have been less than two miles in circumference, and its aspect was more horribly sublime than anything I ever imagined to exist, even in the ideal visions of unearthly things. Its surface had all the agitation of the ocean; billow after billow tossed its monstrous bosom into the air; and occasionally those from different directions burst with such violence, as in the concussion to dash the fiery spray forty or fifty feet high. It was at once the most splendid and fearful of spectacles."

The following account, by M. Strzelecki,† of the volcanic phenomena in Hawaii is so highly interesting, that I am induced to insert it entire. "The volcano of Kirauea (Kilauea) lies on the N.W. side of Mauna Roa (Mauna Loa), about twenty miles from the summit of that mountain, and forty from the Bay of Hilo; its latitude is 19° 27'. Its present size surpasses that of every other known volcano, yet it now hardly displays more than one-third of its original magnitude. Its crater must have once been twenty-four miles in circumference, as evidenced by the still remaining ruins of its ancient walls; the highest point of which is 5054 feet above the level of the sea. The sunken furnace of Kirauea is now reduced to eight miles of circumference, the present crater being 4109 feet in height above the sea; which is, therefore, at least 950 feet below the brim of the ancient crater. The edge of this precipice falls perpendicularly 600 feet lower, to the boiling surface of igneous matter. The descent to this level is often precipitous, and winds among a thousand openings, which vomit forth hot vapours, from an area thickly strewed with tabular masses of smoking lava. Like the ice in a blocked-up channel, these tabular masses remain either standing on end, or heaped in horizontal or half-raised beds, and gaping with fissures over fearful cavities, resounding with noises similar to those of a stormy sea. Six of these were in violent agitation while I was exploring the crater. The surface of the fiery matter in all of them kept at about the same height, and rose, sank, and was agitated simultaneously, which seems to show that it belonged to one mass of liquid lava, filling the whole area of the interior of the crater, and that these cavities are mere openings, and the heaps of broken lava which block up part of the crater are a temporary

* Lord Byron's Voyage in the Blonde frigate. † New South Wales.