“As night came on we took our station on the north side of the very brink, where we supposed we should be able most securely and satisfactorily to watch the action of this awful laboratory during the absence of the light of the sun. Though the spot where we spread our blanket for a lodgment had been considered as the safest in the neighborhood, there was room for the feeling of insecurity which some who had preceded us have thus described. ‘The detachment of one small stone beneath, or a slight agitation of the earth, would have precipitated us, amid the horrid crash of falling rocks, into the burning lake.’ Had I thought the danger so imminent, I should have deemed it prudent to take a position somewhat further off. The mass which supported us had doubtless been shaken a thousand times, and was liable every hour to be shaken again; but being in the short curvature of the crater, like the key-stone of an arch, it could not easily be thrown from its position by any agitation that would naturally occur while this great safety-valve is kept open, or the numerous fissures round it, reaching to the very bowels of the mountain, convey harmlessly from unknown depths, gases and volumes of steam, generated where water comes in contact with intense volcanic heat. Our position was about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and one thousand above the surface of the lake below us. “The great extent of the surface of this lava lake; the numerous places in it where the fiery element was displaying itself; the conical mouths here and there discharging glowing lava overflowing and spreading its waves around, or belched out in detached and molten masses that were shot forth with detonations, perhaps by the force of gases struggling through from below the surface, while the vast column of vapor and smoke ascended up toward heaven, and the coruscations of the emitted brilliant lava, illuminating the clouds that passed over the terrific gulf, all presented by night a splendid and sublime panorama of volcanic action, probably nowhere surpassed, if ever equaled, and which to be imagined must be seen. Had Vulcan employed ten thousand giant Cyclops, each with a steam-engine of a thousand horse-power, blowing anthracite coal for smelting mountain minerals, or heaving up and hammering to pieces the everlasting rocks and hills, their united efforts would but begin to compare with the work of Pele here.