"I have achieved my purpose, and joy banishes all my griefs, but only for a moment; suddenly I fell to the ground, and a stream of blood gushed from my mouth.
"On recovering, I found myself still close to the crater, and I then summoned all my strength to gaze and observe as much as possible. My pen cannot describe either the aspect of those regions, or the impressions they produced on me. Here seemed to be the gate of the nether world, enclosing darkness and horror. What terrible power must have been required to raise and shiver such enormous masses, to melt them and pile them up like towers, at the very moment of their cooling and acquiring their actual forms!
"A yellow crust of sulphur coats in several places the internal walls, and from the bottom rise several volcanic cones. The soil of the crater, so far as I could see, was covered with snow, consequently not at all warm. The Indians however affirmed that, at several points, a hot air issues from crevices in the rocks. Although I could not verify their statement, it seemed to me probable; for I have often observed similar phenomena in Popocatepetl.
"My original intention of passing the night on the crater had for overpowering reasons become impracticable. The twilight which, in this latitude, as every one knows, is extremely short, having already begun, it was necessary to prepare for our return. The two Indians rolled together the straw mats which they had brought, and bent them in front so as to form a sort of sledge. We sat down upon these, and stretching out our legs, allowed ourselves to glide down on this vehicle. The rapidity with which we were precipitated increased to such a degree, that our descent was rather like being shot through the air, than any other mode of locomotion. In a few minutes we dashed over a space which it had taken us five hours to climb."
There are several of the West Indian islands of volcanic origin; and three of them—St. Vincent, Martinique, and Guadaloupe—contain active volcanoes. The most remarkable is the volcano of Morne-Garou, in St. Vincent, the eruptions from which have been particularly violent. In 1812 the ashes which it threw out were so great in quantity, and projected to so vast a height, that they were carried to a distance of two hundred miles in the teeth of the trade-wind. From Mount Pelée, in Martinique, there was an eruption in August 1851. La Soufriere, the volcano in Guadaloupe, is said to have been cleft in twain during an earthquake. Its activity has long been in a subdued state; but it is remarkable for its deposits of sulphur.
CHAPTER VIII.
Hawaii, Sandwich Islands—Crater of Kilauea—Its awful Aspect—Fiery
Lake and Islands—Jets of Lava—Depth of Crater and Surface
of Lake—Bank of Sulphur—Curious Rainbow—Mouna-Kaah and
Mouna-Loa—Eruption of the Latter in 1840—Recent Eruption—Great
Jet and Torrent of Lava—Burning of the Forests—Great
Whirlwinds—Underground Explosions—Other Volcanoes in the Pacific.
Hawaii is well known in history as being the island where the celebrated navigator Captain Cook was killed. The name used to be written Owhyhee; but a better apprehension of the native pronunciation has led to its being altered into Hawaii. No one who visits it in the present day need be afraid of sharing the fate of poor Captain Cook; for the descendants of the savages who, in his time, inhabited the island, have now, through the labours of Christian missionaries, become a very decent sort of quiet, well-behaved Christian people.
Hawaii, which is the largest of a group called the Sandwich Islands, can boast of the greatest volcanic crater in the world. It is called sometimes Kirauea, sometimes Kilauea; for the natives seem not very particular about the pronunciation of their l and their r; but where one uses l another as pertinaciously employs r, while a third set use a sound between the two, as you may have heard some people do at home. Situated on the lower slopes of a lofty mountain called Mouna-Roa, or Loa (for there is the same dubiety about the l and the r here as in the former case), the crater of Kilauea is a vast plain between fifteen and sixteen miles in circumference, and sunk below the level of its borders to a depth varying from two hundred to four hundred feet—the walls of rock enclosing it being for the most part precipitous. The surface of the ground is very uneven, being strown with huge stones and masses of volcanic rock, and it sounds hollow under the tramp of the foot.
Towards the centre of the plain is a much deeper depression. Those who have ventured to approach it, and look down, describe it as an awful gulf, about eight hundred feet in depth, and presenting a most gloomy and dismal aspect. The bottom is covered with molten lava, forming a great lake of fire, which is continually boiling violently, and whose fiery billows exhibit a wild terrific appearance. The shape of the lake resembles the crescent moon; its length is estimated at about two miles, and its greatest breadth at about one mile. It has numerous conical islands scattered round the edge, or in the lake itself, each of them being a little subordinate crater. Some of them are continually sending out columns of gray vapour; while from a few others shoots up what resembles flame. It is, probably, only the bright glare of the lava they contain, reflected upwards. Several of these conical islands are always belching forth from their mouths glowing streams of lava, which roll in fiery torrents down their black and rugged sides into the boiling lake below. They are said sometimes to throw up jets of lava to the height of upwards of sixty feet. The foregoing woodcut can convey only an imperfect idea of this immense crater.