In spite of my
objection to stimulants, and in defiance of the law against giving
liquor to natives, I made a great tin of brandy toddy, of which all
partook, along with tinned salmon and dough-nuts. Then the men
piled faggots on the fire and began their everlasting chatter, and
Mr. Green and I, huddled up in blankets, sat on the outer ledge in
solemn silence, to devote ourselves to the volcano.
The sun was just setting: the tooth-like peaks of Mauna Kea, cold
and snow slashed, which were blushing red, the next minute turned
ghastly against a chilly sky, and with the disappearance of the sun
it became severely cold; yet we were able to remain there till 9.30,
the first people to whom such a thing has been possible, so
supremely favoured were we by the absence of wind.
When the sun had set, and the brief red glow of the tropics had
vanished, a new world came into being, and wonder after wonder
flashed forth from the previously lifeless crater. Everywhere
through its vast expanse appeared glints of fire--fires bright and
steady, burning in rows like blast furnaces; fires lone and
isolated, unwinking like planets, or twinkling like stars; rows of
little fires marking the margin of the lowest level of the crater;
fire molten in deep crevasses; fire in wavy lines; fire, calm,
stationary, and restful: an incandescent lake two miles in length
beneath a deceptive crust of darkness, and whose depth one dare not
fathom even in thought.
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