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Show 246 ITS PROGRESS. temperature ~ and the ascent and fall of the dark solid matter was a direct confirmation of the other two. The young island having thus attracted attenti?n, Vice-admiral Hotham directed Commander Swm .. burne, of the sloop Rapid, to examine it. The commander discovered the island at four P. M. on the 18th of July. It was then about forty miles distant, and had the appearance of a column of white smoke. Advancing about thirt.Y mi~es, he. sa~, at . fifteen minutes past eight, bnght hght mmglmg with the smoke. The column then became black; but immediately " eruptions of lurid fire" shot up; and then the whiteness of the smoke returned. The same succession of appearances continued till five in the morning of the 19th, when they again steered for the island. Whether Commander Swinburne did or did not see the very first eruption, he must hav~ been near the time of the commencement, for early m the morning he saw, in the intervals of the eruptions, only a small hillock, a few feet above the level of the sea ; but as the discharges of dust, and stones, and steam were frequent, the progress of the island could not be seen. At the distance of one mile north the depth was one hundred and thirty fathoms ; and when the commander took his boat and rowed towards it, twenty yards of the weather-side, there were eighteen fathoms wa~er. }"'or t~o or three miles round, the sea was discoloured with dust and cinders · but at the distance of only twelve yards, the sea ~as but one degree above its ordinary tem-perature. . The island then appeared 1n the form of a crater or cup, seventy or eighty yards in diameter, twenty feet high in some places, six in others, and broken on the south-west. Through the break was seen muddy water in a state of violent agitation ~ from I ( VOLCANIC AC'fiON. 247 which hot stones, and cinders, and immense volumes of steam were incessantly ascending. That was but the tranquil state of the volcanic action; . for, at short intervals, the crater bet:!ame filled W'Ith stones, cinders, and dust, which were volley~d upward~ to the height of several hundred feet With loud nmse ; and when they again fell down ~nd converted the surface of the surrounding sea mto steam, the nois~ was still louder. So powerful w~s ~hat steam as 1t rose, that it carried the dust Wit.h It, so that the whole· had a brown colour, and a sohd appearance ; but the steam became white as it ascen~ed, and the mud fell down in showers. These volleymgs and descents were so constant that one was often up before the other had fallen · and amid the columns ligh~nings ~vere continually flashing, and thunders roarmg, as tf all the sublime and the terrible in nature had been collected at that one little spot. Co~mander Swinburne's description is so cucumstanhal, that we shall give part of it in his own words:- '' Renewed eruptions of hot cinders and dust we~e," says h~, "quickly succeeding each other, whtle !orked . hgh~ning and rattling thunder darted about 1~ all dtrectwns within the column, now darke~ ed wtth dust, and greatly increased in volume, and dtstorted by sudden gusts and whirlwinds. The latter were most. frequent on the lee-side, where they often made Imperfect water-spouts of curious shapes. On one occasion, some of the steam reached .the boat ; it smelt a little of sulphur, and the mud 1t left became a gritty, sparkling dark brown powder when dry. None of the stones or cinders t~rown out appeared to be more than half a foot in d~ame~er, and many of them much smaller." Durmg the whole time the wind was steady at· nor~h-we.st, and the weather was serene, so that the actwn, Vt?lent as it was within its range, was very· confined. 1n that. Confined as it was,. how.ever, it1 |