--I was up at four o'clock, to
gaze once more on the wondrous spectacle that lay before me. The
molten lava still flowed in many places, the red cloud over the fiery
lake was bright as ever, and steam was slowly ascending in every
direction, over hill and valley, till, as the sun rose, it became
difficult to distinguish clearly the sulphurous vapours from the
morning mists. We walked down to the Sulphur Banks, about a quarter of
a mile from the 'Volcano House,' and burnt our gloves and boots in our
endeavours to procure crystals, the beauty of which generally
disappeared after a very short exposure to the air. We succeeded,
however, in finding a few good specimens, and, by wrapping them at
once in paper and cotton-wool and putting them into a bottle, hope to
bring them home uninjured.
On our return we found a gentleman who had just arrived from Kau, and
who proposed to join us in our expedition to the crater, and at three
o'clock in the afternoon we set out, a party of eight, with two
guides, and three porters to carry our wraps and provisions, and to
bring back specimens. Before leaving the inn the landlord came to us
and begged us in an earnest and confidential manner to be very
careful, to do exactly what our guides told us, and especially to
follow in their footsteps exactly when returning in the dark.
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