Safely aboard the air ship we began ascending the wall as if passengers in a huge elevator, which in fact we were. Again the birds flew out, terrified at our approach, some falling dead from sheer fright, a few of which we secured on deck. Hugging this terrible escarpment we were enabled to examine its formation with accuracy. Large blocks of syenitic granite hung loose, ready to drop at any minute and we saw how for ages the cliff had been slowly disintegrating, and receding from the sea by action of storm and catyclism. Lightning had also played its part, and its handwriting was visible on every side. Ledges large enough to hold a house were loaded with nests and eggs of every color and size. We consulted about the feasibility of capturing some of these, by halting and climbing out after them, but concluded to let them go, as the danger was too great. It involved not only the risk in scrambling from the vessel to the ledge, but the additional chance of being smashed by a falling rock from above. Of course in our ascent we were careful to keep far enough away to obviate that possibility. When we had risen clear above Mount Horror we looked down into the fearful chasm that separated us from Mount Gurthrie. It was a sight never to be forgotten. To the south lay the unspotted ocean; but to the north the land sloped away rapidly, and beyond the highest elevations which, in themselves, were mountains of no mean height, but so far below as to seem trivial; beyond these, I say as far as the eye could reach, extended a beautiful country, with rivers, valleys, lakes and hills, with forest, plain, and mountain. The panorama was entrancing, and the effect on us profound. Hovering over the crater, which we found just as we expected, we looked down into a black abyss, so vast and awful, that we had no inclination to investigate it, although it was large enough for us to have descended bodily with the air ship. There was no smoke, nor were any sulphurous fumes emitted. Evidently the volcano had been extinct for ages; and we passed rapidly on upon our north bound course, glad enough to have dry land under us once again, and to descend to a lower and warmer level. We were soon down among the foothills, and traversing a well timbered country, rising from time to time to clear the elevations encountered. The panorama that now stretched away before us was one of ravishing beauty, and we took our places on deck with lighted cigars to enjoy it. I suggested that we name the new land "Torrenzia," but Torrence only declared that while people might call it what they pleased, the credit of the new world must go to the man who had first seen it.