ossible, too, that the great wave of molten matter
travelling from north-east to south-west, upon encountering some
obstacle, had its run interrupted and had cooled down, while the upper
portion of it, from the impetus received, curled over the summit of the
arrested solidified rock below.

In fact, there was plenty of evidence to show that while the lower
stratum cooled down other sheets of lava flowed above it, forming many
successive layers. In the eastern part, where they were at an angle of
40 deg., these had cracked considerably in cooling. The central part of the
great wave was entirely made up of vertically fissured strata. The lower
half of the mass of rock showed markedly that it was an anterior wave to
the upper.

There was a wide gap formed by the volcanic crack between this and the
continuation of the undulations to the south-west, which got lower and
lower. Perhaps before the crack occurred that hill was like the others on
the east and west of it, padded with red earth. It must have become
barren by the great shock which caused the surface of the earth to
divide, and which no doubt shook the surface deposits down. In examining
its north-eastern neighbour it could be seen that it actually tumbled
over when the subsidence occurred, leaving a gap a few hundred metres
wide.

A short distance beyond, on the S.S.E., was an interesting table-land
sloping to the north-east, on the north side of which could be observed
yet one more beautiful semicircular extinct crater. The rim, or lip of
lava of this crater, had fissured in such a peculiar way as to give the
appearance of a row of rectangular windows. The sections of the crater
which remained standing showed two conical buttresses above massive
cylindrical bases. From the crater started a huge, deep crack, 30 to 50
ft. deep and 20 to 100 ft. wide, which farther down became the actual bed
of the stream. On both sides of this crack was a deep deposit of red
earth and sand, the stratum below this being a solid mass of lava. The
crater on the north-east side of the mountain had an inclination to the
north, but was quite vertical on the south side.

Beautiful crystals were to be found in abundance on this mound, as well
as great quantities of marble chips and crystallized rock in various
forms.

On the side of this strange mound of rock I found some curious shallow
caves, formed by great fissures in the rock. The vertical outer walls of
these caves were painted w