We felt this; for no one
spoke except when betrayed into an involuntary burst of amazement. On
our hands and knees we crawled to the brink, and lying at full length,
and shading our faces with paper, looked down at the fiery breakers as
they dashed against the side of the basin beneath. The excessive heat,
and the fact that the spray was frequently dashed over the edge, put a
stop to this fool-hardiness; but at a more rational distance we stood
gazing, with our feelings of wonder and awe so intensely excited, that
we paid no regard to the entreaties of our guide to quit the spot. He
at last persuaded us of the necessity of doing so, by pointing to the
moon, and her distance above the dense cloud which hung, a lurid
canopy, above the crater. Taking a last look, we "fell in" in Indian
file, and got back to the house, with no further accident than a few
bruises, about ten o'clock. The walk had required caution, and it was
long after I had closed my eyes ere the retina yielded the impressions
that had been so nervously drawn on them. The next morning at nine, we
started on our return to the ship, sauntering leisurely along, picking
strawberries by the way, and enjoying all the satisfaction inherent to
the successful accomplishment of an undertaking. With health and
strength for any attempt we had been peculiarly favoured by the
weather, and had thus done more than any who had preceded us. Our
party, under these circumstances, was most joyous; so that,
independent of the object, the relaxation itself was such as we
creatures of habit and discipline seldom experience.

To make this narrative more intelligible, it will be necessary to
describe briefly the position and general features of this volcano,
which does not, like most others, spring from a cone, but has
excavated for itself a bed in the side of Mowna Roa, which rises
14,000 feet above the level of the sea; it is about sixteen miles
distant from the summit of the mountain, wherein is an enormous
extinct crater, from which this is probably the outlet; it is 4000
feet above the level of the sea, and twenty miles from the nearest
coast line. Several distinct levels in the present crater prove that
it has eaten its way to its present depth. On the most elevated of
these large trees now grow, evidences of many years' tranquillity;
lower down we come to shrubs, and lastly to the fern, apparently the
most venturesome of the vegetable kingdom; it seems to require nothing
but