robbed the scene of much of its
brilliancy; still it was truly sublime, as a feeble attempt at
description will show. This immense caldron, two and three quarter
miles in circumference, is filled to within twenty feet of its brim
with red molten lava, over which lies a thin scum resembling the slag
on a smelting furnace. The whole surface was in fearful agitation.
Great rollers followed each other to the side, and, breaking,
disclosed deep edges of crimson. These were the canals of fire we had
noticed the night before diverging from a common centre, and the
furnaces in equal activity; while what had appeared to us like jets of
gas, proved to be fitful spurts of lava, thrown up from all parts of
the lake (though principally from the focus near the N.E. edge) a
height of thirty feet. Most people probably would have been satisfied
with having witnessed this magnificent spectacle; but our admiration
was so little exhausted, that the idea continually suggested itself,
"How grand would this be by night!" The party who had encountered the
difficulties of the walk the night before, were convinced that no
greater ones existed in that of to-day; and therefore, if it continued
fine, and we could induce the guide to accompany us, the project was
feasible. The avarice of one of these ultimately overcame his fears,
and, under his direction, we again left the house at 5 P.M., and,
returning by our old track, reached the hill above the crater about
the time the sun set, though long after it had sunk below the edge of
the pit. Here we halted, and smoking our cigars lit from the cracks
(now red-hot) which we had passed unnoticed in the glare of the
sunlight, waited until it became quite dark, when we moved on; and,
great as had been our expectations, we found them faint compared with
the awful sublimity of the scene before us. The slag now appeared
semi-transparent, and so extensively perforated as to show one sheet
of liquid fire, its waves rising high, and pouring over each other in
magnificent confusion, forming a succession of cascades of unequalled
grandeur; the canals, now incandescent, the restless activity of the
numerous vents throwing out great volumes of molten lava, the terrible
agitation, and the brilliancy of the jets, which, shooting high in the
air, fell with an echoless, lead-like sound, breaking the otherwise
impressive stillness; formed a picture that language (at least any
that I know) is quite inadequate to describe.