" Suddenly, just above, and in front of us, gory drops
were tossed in the air, and springing forwards we
stood on the brink of Hale-mau-mau^ which was about
thirty-five feet below us. I think we all screamed. I
know we all wept ; but we were speechless, for a new
glory and terror had been added to the earth. It is
the most unutterable of wonderful things. The words
of common speech are quite useless. It is unimagi-
nable, indescribable ; a sight to remember for ever ; a
sight which at once took possession of every faculty
of sense and soul, removing one altogether out of
the range of ordinary life. Here was the real ' bot-
tomless pit,' ' the fire which is not quenched,'
' the place of Hell,' * the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone,' ' the everlasting burnings,' * the
fiery sea whose waves are never weary.' ^ There were
groanings, rumblings, and detonations, rushings,
hissings, splashings, and the crashing sound of
breakers on the coast ; but it was the surging of fiery
waves upon a fiery shore. But what can I writ6 ?
Such words as jets, fountains, waves, spray, convey
some idea of order and regularity, but here there was

* Perhaps these Scripture phrases were suggested long before
the Bible was written, by the sight of some crater in active
eruption.
