Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1860-08-14
Travelling over The Crater Of Foleano-sarrow
Escape.

man, in letter from the Sandwich Is
lands, furnished that paper with an IN
,eresling account Of an ascent by an
American of the greu, volcano OF Mauna
Lea. We make the following extracts:
Taking a large sick in my hand, with
which 10 les, the security OF the lava III
doubtful. looking places, started oil alone
10 explore Tie crater. As | thought OF
the first streams Of destruction which had
poured down the mountain side. and the
vas, Quantities OF matter which had been
disgorged from tins aperiure.i pictured
10 myself tremendous opening through
which he very bowels Of tile earth could
tie seen. expected TO stand upon the
brink and witness the surgIug Of fiery
waves Imagine, then, my disappoint-
nen,, whe. arrived al the wished for
spot. and beheld merely mass Of smo-
king ruins, comprising perhaps an era of
two or three miles. Is It possible though.
], that there is TO crater How Inslg-
nifcant the source O. these rivers Of death
which have flowed over the country be-
low | soon discovered that there EVIL
IDENTITY had been a we'll defined crater,
but il was now filed up in some places,
and in others merely arched over by
masses OF matter, which having been
elected, fell back, again into Il, AMI by
The overflow of the liquIhed matter which
had cooled over. The truth of his the
DRY was forced upon my mind a.terward,
In manner which iremtle 10 recall.
Invent slowly and carefully on; knew
I was treading Oh fearful ground. | was
shut III BIZ dense columns Of smoke. The
crust of The lava was rem, Ia every direc-
ton by the heat Of the fires below. The
dull, heavy sounds-much like distant
lhunder-which heard the night pIevi-
Gus. | now heard with startling nearness.
| could distinctly hear The rushing .splut-
lering and kissing Of the boiling, raging
caudrons below The mountain seemed
10 be shaken 70 its very base ly wonder
tai agencies The warm breath, sui
phurous odor, and blue smoke, which
each gaping fissure sent forth, told Of the
furnaces which giowed beneath. On and
on | went-ail sense of danger being
swallowed up in wonder. In some pla-
ces climbed over loose masses Of scorIa
and clinkers. Al times the heat was IN
tense, and the smoke and nOXious gases
almost suhocating Here aud there
saw great black looking pts, which was
unable to approach Oh account Of sickly
civilizations and the insecure footing
which the brittle crust afforded. From
these pits large quantities Of smoke were
driven up with great fury. These
judged TO be parts of the crater which
had no, been filed up and bridged over.
I ~, E.,- - .,t,l
certain their depth, but could not near
them strike The bottom. kept on until
reached ato4t the GENRE Of the crater
Ives and ears and thoughts were all
wrapt IN the wonders | was beholding.
was walking on a kind Of puffed-up
ridge of lahoihoi Il seemed 10 be bro
ken into flags OF several yards square
Bat tins was nothing unusual. | felt one
1t diem tctter under my feet. | Jumped
10 the next with the utmost agility, and
50 on for perhaps twenty leaps, and al
most every piece dropped from under my
feet, and fell to the depths below This
was, doubtless. merely thin bridge of
crust. over deep chasn. When | got
70 place which afforded comparatively
sure footing. | paused to look back upon
the danger had escaped. So uncertain
was the footing that | could not approach
near enough to see how deep the chasm
was. Dense masses Of smoke came curl
ing up from the angry abyss. | kept on
toward the opposite side, experiencing
great difficulty IL finding secure places
10 walk on.
The greatest part Of the day was pass
ed III exploring. although | suffered very