We had not proceeded far, before our path was intersected by a chasm at least thirty feet wide, and of greater depth than we could ascertain, at the nearest distance we dare approach. The only alternative was to return or follow its course until it terminated or became narrow enough to be crossed. We chose the latter, but soon met an equally formidable obstacle, in a current of smoke, so highly impregnated with a suffocating gas as not to allow of respiration. What a situation for a group of half a dozen men, totally unaware of the extent of peril to which they might be[76] exposed! The lava on which we stood was in many places so hot, that we could not hold for a moment in our hands the pieces which we knocked off for specimens. On one side lay a gulf of unfathomable depth, on the other an inaccessible pile of ruins, and immediately in front an oppressive and deadly vapor. While hesitating what to do, we perceived the smoke to be swept occasionally, by an eddy of the air, in a direction opposite to that in which it most of the time settled. And watching an opportunity, when our way was thus made clear, we held our breath and ran as rapidly as the dangerous character of the path would permit, until we had gained a place beyond its ordinary course. We here unexpectedly found ourselves also delivered from the other impediment to our progress; for the chasm abruptly ran off in a direction far from that we wished to pursue. Our escape from the vapor however was that which we considered the most important: and so great was our impression of the danger to which we had been exposed from it, that when we saw our way to the opposite side open, without any special obstacle before us, we felt disposed formally to return thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance. But before this was proposed most of our number had gone forward so far as to be out of call; and for the time the external adoration of the Creator, from the midst of one of the most horrible of his works, was reluctantly waived.