The Litchfield County post., 1827-07-26

ken light meal they again resumed thelr task. We cannot go through an account cf all the difficulties and dangers which they en
 cuuntcred before they attained the summit the mountain, nor the perseverance and cor stancy which they displayed in surmOuntir the one and hraving the other. At the grea height at which they had now arrived, the guide Quintada was seized with 80 severe q pain in the head, accompanied with the vOm iting before mentioned, that he was unable tO proceed. and they were compelled to leave him where he then was until their descent.
 After ascending little higher they began to perceive noise like distant thunder, which they attributed to the rain in some other part of the mountain, and continued tOifng on for d considerable distance further, frequently stopping to rest, and violently afflicted with pains in the head and knees, a difficulty Of breathing, and the nausea already mention cd when they suddenly and to their great surprise. found themselves on the very\ brink of the crater.
 They had passed the whole day in the most profound and undisturbed solitude without having seen plant, bird or the most signlf- icant insect, in the midst of broken fragments ofrocks, and horrible precipices. in continual danger of perishing by a false step, an unse- cure hold or the slightest slip of the foot, and now their progress was suddenly and unex- pectedly arrested by the appearance of the object of all their labours and sutferln9L They were at first astounded by the noise and the showers ofstOnes perpetnaily ascend ing from the unfathomable depths ofthc crater, and involuntarily shrunk back from the awful and appalling spectacle. Here they were a. gain seized with the same deadly sickness from which they had already suffered so much, and it was some time before they were sufficiently recovered to consult their barom- eter and thermometer (the only instruments they had brought with them.) In the for rner they found that the column of mercury had risen more than fifteen inches, and that in the thermometer it varied from 33 to 59 degrees.
 Proceeding to examine the crater they ob- served that almost all the stones which were cast up by the frequent & almost uninterrupted eruptions fell back again within the crater, thus furnishing a supply of matter for subse- cuent eruntions, and that of the very small number that fell to the outside ofthe opening they were observed to descend almost inVari- ably on the south side, and that the noise and the roaring from time to time rose and subsl- uptl III IIldnUGT SUEUCNl iNC thS 'Do'''S VI the sea, now sending forth clouds of ashes & smoke accompanied with a noise like thun- der, and again moderated so as scarcely to he heard. The crater appeared to be nearly of the torm of funnel, the sides inclined ID the manner of that instrument and of an lm- mense depth, the mouth nearly circular, ana about mile in circumference covered With snow only on the north side on the south so narrow and unequal that it was difficult to walk on that side on the north the brink was broader, and more smooth and leVel' They were not able on account of the clouds to see more than the summit of OrlZaba and the snow capped Sierra situated near It.
 Having made these observations, and night coming on they began to retrace thelr steps, and descended to the spot where they had left their sick guide,intending to remain there all night and visit the summit again the fol- lowing day; but they found him so much worse than they had apprehended thatit was deemed necessary to convey him to some sit nation less elevated, and where he could receive assistance. So much was he weak ened by his exertions and illness that he was unable to walk, and our travellers began to descend. carving him with them, and strug- gling against the difficulties of the sandy soll' with the greatest perseverance, ana patience. About night they came to the limits ot Vegee- tation, ,and having joined the Indians proceed ed to Ameca where they arrived abOut O clock: and on the 22d concluded the expedl- ton by their arrival st Mexico, after three days excessive fatigue and difficulty. The highest point to which they attained was l7885 feet above the level ofthe sea.
 
 Female Heroism.-Kapiolani,a female chief of the higest rank Gin the Sandwich lslands) had recently embraced Christianity; and de- sirous of propagating it, and of undeceiving the natives as to their false gods,she resolved to climb the mountain, Ca volcanic mountain, with burning crater of prodigous extent) desceud into the crater, and thus by braylng the volcanic deities in their very hemes, (thc prevailing belief was that the gods ofthe Island resided in these fires,) convince the inhabitants of the Island that God IS God a. lone and that the false subordinate deities cx- isted only in the fancies of their weak adorers Thus determined, and accompanied ny missionary, she with her family ascended Pe- Ii (the mountain) At the edge Ofthe precl- pice that bounds the sunken plain many of her followers and companions lost courage,& turned back at the second, the rest earnest ly entreated her to desist from her dangerous enterprise, and forbear to tempt the power ful gods of the fires. But she proceeded,and on the very verge ofthe crater, caused the ve- ry hut we were now sheltered in, to be con structed for herself and people. Here she .,Sso ;loH many hU thnir pntreafipS tO