wild, untamable ferocity, mingling involuntarily with our contemplation of the gloomy pile. Next comes an object scarcely less grand, conveying, it may be, even a deeper impression of majesty and might than the Matterhorn itself—the Weisshorn, perhaps the most splendid object in the Alps. But beauty is associated with its force, and we think of it, not as cruel, but as grand and strong. Further to the right the great Combin lifts up his bare head; other peaks crowd around him; while at the extremity of the curve round which our gaze has swept rises the sovran crown of Mont Blanc. And now, as day sinks, scrolls of pearly clouds draw themselves around the mountain crests, being wafted from them into the distant air. They are without colour of any kind; still, by grace of form, and as the embodiment of lustrous light and most tender shade, their beauty is not to be described."[1]
VOLCANOES.
Cotopaxi.
Volcanoes belong to a totally different series of mountains.
It is practically impossible to number the volcanoes on our earth. Humboldt enumerates 223, which Keith Johnston raised to nearly 300. Some, no doubt, are always active, but in the majority the eruptions are occasional, and, though some are undoubtedly now extinct, it is impossible to distinguish those which are only in repose from those whose day of activity is over. Then, again, the question would arise, which should be regarded as mere subsidiary cones, and which are separate volcanoes. The slopes of Etna present more than 700 small cones, and on Hawaii there are several thousands.
In fact, most of the very lofty volcanoes present more or less lateral cones.
The mountain, commencing as a chasm, gradually builds itself up into a cone, often of the most beautiful regularity, such as the gigantic peaks of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Fusiyama, and hence it is that the crater is so often at, or very near, the summit.
Perhaps no spectacle in Nature is more imposing or magnificent than a volcano in activity. It has been my good fortune to have stood at the edge of the crater of Vesuvius during an eruption; to have watched the lava seething below, while enormous stones were shot up high into the air. Such a spectacle can never be forgotten.
The most imposing crater in the world. is probably that of Kilawea, at a height of 1,200 metres on the side of Mouna Loa, in the island of Hawaii. It has a diameter of 2,500 metres, and is elliptic in outline, with a longer axis of 5 kilometres, and a circumference of 11. The interior is a great lake of lava, the level of which is constantly changing. Generally it stands about 250 metres below the edge, and the depth is about 450 metres. The heat is intense, and, especially at night, when the clouds are coloured scarlet by the reflection from the molten lava, the effect is said to be magnificent. Gradually the lava mounts in the crater until it bursts through the side, or runs over the edge, after which the crater remains empty, sometimes for years. A lava stream flows down the slope of the mountain like a burning river, at first rapidly, but, as it cools, scoriæ gradually form, and at length the molten matter covers itself
- ↑ "Mountaineering in 1861."
