;[L] and is employed to inform him of every
interesting phenomenon which takes place on the mountain. This man has
resided at the foot of it, and been principal guide, for thirty-three
years, and knows every inch of its territory.

As the lava had overflowed the usual footpath leading to that conical
eminence which forms the summit of the mountain and the exterior of
the crater, we were obliged to alight from our sagacious steeds; and,
trusting to our feet, walked over the ashes for about a quarter of a
mile. The path, or the ground rather, for there was no path, was now
dangerous to the inexperienced foot; and Salvador gallantly took me
under his peculiar care. He led me on before the rest, and I followed
with confidence. Our object was to reach the edge of a stream of
lava, formed of two currents united in a point. It was glowing with an
intense heat; and flowing, not with such rapidity as to alarm us, but
rather slowly, and by fits and starts. _Trickling_, in short, is the
word which expresses its motion: if one can fancy it applied to any
object on so large a scale.

At this time the eruption was at its extreme height. The column of
fire was from a quarter to a third of a mile high; and the stones were
thrown up to the height of a mile and a quarter. I passed close to a
rock about four feet in diameter, which had rolled down some time
before: it was still red-hot, and I stopped to warm my hands at it. At
a short distance from it lay another stone or rock, also red-hot, but
six times the size. I walked on first with Salvador, till we were
within a few yards of the lava--at this moment a prodigious stone,
followed by two or three smaller ones, came rolling down upon us with
terrific velocity. The gentlemen and guides all ran; my first impulse
was to run too; but Salvador called on me to stop and see what
direction the stone would take. I saw the reason of this advice, and
stopped. In less than a second he seized my arm and hurried me back
five or six yards. I heard the whizzing sound of the stone as it
rushed down behind me. A little further on it met with an impediment,
against which it bolted with such force, that it flew up into the air
to a great height, and fell in a shower of red-hot fragments. All this
passed in a moment; I have shuddered since when I thought of that
moment; but at the time, I saw the danger without the slightest
sensation of terror. I remember the ridiculous figures of the men, as
they scram