Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/442

436 436 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. West mountain-breeze sprung up, and the stars, especially Canopus and Sirius, shone with unusual brilliancy. Never, even under a trop- ical sky, did I behold so many stars. Sheltered by a little brush- wood, I lay down on the lava beside the fire, and enjoyed a good night's rest, while my attendants swarmed together in a small cave, which they literally converted into an oven by .the immense fire they kindled in it. Wednesday, January the 29th. The morning rose bright and clear, - but cold, from the influence of a keen mountain-breeze. As the man who carried the provisions was still missing, the preparation of break- fast occupied but little time, so that accompanied by the bird-catcher and Cutty-sark, I started at half-past six for the summit of the moun- tain, leaving the others to collect fuel and to look for water. Shortly before day-break the sky was exceedingly clear and beautiful, espe- cially that part of the horizon where the sun rose, and above which the upper limb of his disc was visible like a thread of gold, soon to be quenched in a thick haze, which was extended over the horizon. It were difficult, nay, almost impossible, to describe the beauty of the sky and the glorious scenes of this day. The lava is terrible beyond description, and our track lay over ledges of the roughest kind, in some places glassy and smooth like slag from the furnace, compact and heavy like basalt; in others, tumbled into enormous mounds, or sunk in deep valleys, or rent into fissures, ridges, and clefts. This was at the verge of the snow not twenty yards of the whole space could be called level or even. In every direction vast holes or mouths are seen, varying in size, form and colour, from ten to seventy feet high. The lava that has been vomited forth from these openings presents a truly novel spectacle. From some, and occasionally, indeed, from the same mouth, the streams may be seen, pressed forward transversely, or in curved segments, while other channels present a floating appearance; occasionally the circular tortuous masses resemble gigantic cables, or are drawn into cords, or even capillary threads, finer than any silken thread, and carried to a great distance by the wind. The activity of these funnels may be inferred from the quantity of slag lying round them, its size, and the distance to which it has been thrown. Walking was rendered dangerous by the multitude of fissures, many of which are but slightly covered with a thin crust, and everywhere our progress was exceedingly labourious and fatiguing. As we continued to ascend, the cold and fatigue disheartened the Islanders, who required all the encouragement I could give to induce them to proceed. As I took the lead, it was needful for me to look behind me continually, for when once out of sight, they would pop themselves down and neither rise nor answer to my call. After resting for a few moments at the last station, I proceeded about seven miles further, over a similar kind of formation, till I came to a sort of low ridge, the top of which I gained soon after eleven P. M., the thermometer indicating 37, and the sky