when
fortunately a happy thought suggested itself. In walking along I saw
far away the glow of some lava which had flowed to the shore at the
end of the sandy beach, and was probably cooling down at the water's
edge. Here, then, was a natural fire, which might serve us better than
any contrivance of our own, and toward this we at once proceeded. It
was about two miles away; but the beach was smooth, and we reached
the place without any difficulty.

Here we found the edge of that lava flood which seemed eternally
descending from the crater beyond. The edge which was nearest the
water was black; and the liquid fire, as it rolled down, curled over
this in a fantastic shape, cooling and hardening into the form which
it thus assumed. Here, after some search, I found a crevice where I
could approach the fire, and I laid the fish upon a crimson rock,
which was cooling and hardening into the shape of a vast ledge of
lava. In this way, by the aid of nature, the fish were broiled, and
we made our repast.

There was nothing here to invite a longer stay, and we soon returned
to the athaleb. We found the monster, gorged with food, asleep,
resting upon his hind legs, with his breast supported against the vast
carcass. Almah called it a jantannin. It was about sixty feet in
length and twenty in thickness, with a vast horny head, ponderous
jaws, and back covered with scales. Its eyes were of prodigious size,
and it had the appearance of a crocodile, with the vast size of a
whale. It was unlike a crocodile, however; for it had fins rather than
paws, and must have been as clumsy on the land as a seal or a walrus.
It lay on its side, and the athaleb had fed itself from the uncovered
flesh of its belly.

There was nothing here to induce us to stay, and so we wandered along
the beach in the other direction. On our right was the bay; on our
left the rocky shore, which, beginning at the beach, ran back into
the country, a waste of impassable rocks, where not a tree or plant
or blade of grass relieved the appalling desolation. Once or twice
we made an attempt to penetrate into the country, where openings
appeared. These openings seemed like the beds of dried-up torrents. We
were able to walk but a few paces for invariably we would come to some
immense blocks of rock, which barred all farther progress. In this
way we explored the beach for miles, until it terminated in a savage
promontory that rose abruptly from the sea against which the h