At this spot the real business of the ascent begins, and we
tightened our girths, distributed the baggage as fairly as possible,
and made all secure before remounting.
We soon entered on vast uplands of pahoehoe which ground away the
animals' feet, a horrid waste, extending upwards for 7000 feet. For
miles and miles, above and around, great billowy masses, tossed and
twisted into an infinity of fantastic shapes, arrest and weary the
eye, lava in all its forms, from a compact phonolite, to the
lightest pumice stone, the mere froth of the volcano, exceeding in
wildness and confusion the most extravagant nightmare ever inflicted
on man. Recollect the vastness of this mountain. The whole south
of this large island, down to, and below the water's edge, is
composed of its slopes. Its height is nearly three miles, its base
is 180 miles in circumference, so that Wales might be packed away
within it, leaving room to spare. Yet its whole huge bulk, above a
height of about 8000 feet, is one frightful desert, at once the
creation and the prey of the mightiest force on earth.
Struggling, slipping, tumbling, jumping, ledge after ledge was
surmounted, but still, upheaved against the glittering sky, rose new
difficulties to be overcome.
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