as
a powerful but somewhat clumsy and rather harmless neighbour, whereas
on other islands legend places the entrance to hell in the craters.

Quite a company of us marched through the forest, accompanied by the
cannonading of the volcano; we felt as if we were going to battle. We
traversed the plain and mounted the foot-hills; halfway up, we observed
an eruption, but we could see only the cloud, as the crater itself
was hidden by hills. Through thick bush, we came to a watercourse,
a narrow gully, formed by lava-streams. The rocks in the river-bed had
been polished smooth by the water, and though the natives walked over
them with ease, my nailed boots gave me great trouble, and I had to
cross many slippery spots on my hands and knees, which greatly amused
my companions. We passed many tree-ferns, whose dainty crowns seemed
to float on the surface of the forest--like stars, and often covered
the whole bush, so that the slopes looked like a charming carpet of
the loveliest pattern. This tree, the most beautiful of the tropical
forest, far surpasses the palm in elegance, whose crown too often
looks yellowish and unkempt.

For a few hours we followed the river, which led nearly to the edge of
the plateau. When the path branched off, I called a halt for lunch,
as we were not likely to find any water later on. We were now quite
near the craters, and while we ate our rice, we heard the roaring,
so that the boys grew nervous, till the joker of the company made
them laugh, and then the meal absorbed their attention. Still, they
occasionally sent furtive glances skyward, to see if any lava was
coming down upon us.

Having filled all our vessels with water, we marched on, and after a
short ascent, found ourselves on the great plain, 650 metres above
sea-level, about 12 kilometres in diameter, and shaped like a huge
dinner-plate, a chain of hills forming the rim. It would seem that the
whole plain was formerly one gigantic crater; now only two openings
are left, two craters 500 and 700 metres high, in the north-west of
the plain.

The ground consists of black, coarse-grained slag, which creaks when
walked on, and forms a fine black dust. Naturally the vegetation
in this poor soil is very scanty,--only bushes and reed-grass,
irregularly scattered in the valleys between little hillocks ranged
in rows. This arid desert-scene is doubly surprising to the eye,
owing to the sudden change from the forest to the bare plain.

In this