The remainder of the valley is [51] accessible from the rim of the crater, and its whole length can be examined from the ridge leading westward (W.N.W.) from Lanikai Peak. From the brink of the big precipice up to the base of the peak marking the beginning of the Somma ring, the bed of the stream is a trough cut into the upper surfaces of two or three lava flows, which are separated by low precipices, the flows being comparatively thin on their lower edges and not separated by heavy beds of ash. The cirque-like forms which characterize the drainage in the new ash on the leeward (western) side of the Soufrière are well developed on the slopes of the upper portion of the Lani-