On the other side of the Pacific the whole chain of the Andes, and the adjacent islands of Juan Fernandez and the Galapagos, form a vast volcanic area, which is actually now rising; and though there are few volcanic islands north of the zone of atolls, yet those that be indicate great internal activity, especially in the Sandwich Islands, where the volcanos of Owhyhee [Hawaii] are inferior to none in awful sublimity. That of Kirawah is on the flanks of Mowna Roa, which is itself a volcano. It was seen in high activity by Mr. Douglas in 1834; he describes it as a deep sunken pit, occupying five square miles, covered with masses of lava which had been in a state of recent fusion. In the midst of these were two lakes of liquid lava: in both there was a vast caldron in furious ebullition, occasionally spouting to the height of from 20 to 70 feet, whence streams of lava, hurrying along in fiery waves, were finally precipitated down an ignited arch, where the force of the lava was partly arrested by the escape of gasses, which threw back huge blocks, and literally spun them into threads of glass, which were carried by the wind like the refuse of a flax-mill. He says the noise could hardly be described—that of all the steam-engines in the world would be a whisper to it; and the heat was so overpowering, and the dryness of the air so intense, that the very eyelids felt scorched and dried up.[84] It may be observed that, where there are coral fringes, the land is either rising or stationary; for, were it subsiding, lagoons would be formed. On the contrary, there are many fringing reefs on the shores of volcanic islands along the coasts of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the West Indian islands, all of which are rising. Indeed, this occurrence, in numberless instances, coincides with the existence of upraised organic remains on the land. As the only coral formations in the Atlantic are fringing reefs, and as there is not one in its central expanse, except in Bermuda, it may be concluded that the bed of the ocean is not sinking; and with the exception of the Leeward Islands, the Canaries, the Azores, and the Cape de Verde groups, there are no active volcanos on the islands or on the coasts of that ocean. At present the great continent has few centres of volcanic action in comparison with what it once had. The Mediterranean is still undermined by fire, which occasionally finds vent in Vesuvius and the stately cone of Etna. Though Stromboli constantly pours forth inexhaustible showers of incandescent matter, and a temporary island now and then starts up from the sea, the volcanic action is diminished, and Italy has become comparatively more tranquil.