Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/436

430 430 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. a level space, composed of ashes, scoriae, and large stones that had been ejected from the mouth of the volcano. The stream formerly described is the only fluid lava here. Hence, to arrive at the black ledge, is another descent of about two hundred and forty feet, more difficult to be passed than any other, and this brings the traveler to the brink of the black ledge where a scene of all that is terrific to be- hold presents itself before his eyes. He sees a vast basin, recently in a state of igneous fusion, now, in cooling, broken up, somewhat in the manner of the Great American lakes when the ice gives way, in some places level in large sheete, elsewhere rolled in tremendous masses, 1 and twisted into a thousand different shapes, sometimes even being filamentose, like fine hair, but all displaying a mighty agency still existing in this immense depository of subterraneous fire. A most uncomfortable feeling is experienced when the traveler becomes aware that the lava is hollow and faithless beneath his tread. Of all sensation in nature, that produced by earthquakes or volcanic agen- cies is the most alarming: the strongest nerves are unstrung, and the most courageous mind feels weakened and unhinged, when exposed to either. How insignificant are the operations of man's hands, taken in their vastest extent, when compared with the magnitude of the works of God ! On the black ledge, the thermometer held in the hand five feet from the ground indicated a temperature of 89, and when laid on the lava, if in the sun's rays, 115. and 112 in the shade; on the brink of the burning lake, at the South end, it rose to 124. Over some fissures in the lava, where the smoke was of a greyish rather than a blue tinge, the thermometer stood at 94. I remained for upwards of two hours in the crater, suffering all the time an intense head-ache, with my pulse strong and irregular, and my tongue parched, together with other symptoms of fever. The intense heat and sulphurous nature of the ground had corroded my shoes so much that they barely protected my feet from the hot lava. I ascended out of the crater at the South- West, or small end, over two steep banks of scoriae and two ledges of rock, and returned by the West side to my tent, having thus walked quite around this mighty crater. The evening was foggy; I took some cooling medicine, and lay down early to rest. Saturday, Januai-y 25ih. I slept profoundly till two A. M., when, as not a speck could be seen in the horizon, and the moon was un- usually bright, I rose with the intention of making some lunar ob- servations, but though the thermometer stood at 41, the keen moun- tain-breeze affected me so much, of course, mainly owing to the fatigue and heat I had suffered the day before, that I was reluctantly obliged to relinguish the attempt, and being unable to settle again to sleep, I replenished my blazing stock of fuel, and sat gazing on the roaring and agitated state of the crater, where three new fires had