The General Lie Of The
Country Made Me Very Anxious To Find Out Whether A Much-Broken
Ridge Lying Among
The mountains is or is not a series of tufa cones
of ancient date; and, applying for a good horse
And Aino guide on
horseback, I left Ito to amuse himself, and spent much of a most
splendid day in investigations and in attempting to get round the
back of the volcano and up its inland side. There is a great deal
to see and learn there. Oh that I had strength! After hours of
most tedious and exhausting work I reached a point where there were
several great fissures emitting smoke and steam, with occasional
subterranean detonations. These were on the side of a small, flank
crack which was smoking heavily. There was light pumice
everywhere, but nothing like recent lava or scoriae. One fissure
was completely lined with exquisite, acicular crystals of sulphur,
which perished with a touch. Lower down there were two hot springs
with a deposit of sulphur round their margins, and bubbles of gas,
which, from its strong, garlicky smell, I suppose to be
sulphuretted hydrogen. Farther progress in that direction was
impossible without a force of pioneers. I put my arm down several
deep crevices which were at an altitude of only about 500 feet, and
had to withdraw it at once, owing to the great heat, in which some
beautiful specimens of tropical ferns were growing. At the same
height I came to a hot spring - hot enough to burst one of my
thermometers, which was graduated above the boiling point of
Fahrenheit; and tying up an egg in a pocket-handkerchief and
holding it by a stick in the water, it was hard boiled in 8.5
minutes.
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