400 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



of crumbling, sharp-edged lava, under the equatorial sun, with heat 

 pouring over us from above and below, brought us to one of the 

 smallest of the fumaroles, where we encountered an invisible, almost 

 odorless gas; before we could stagger into clearer air, we were al- 

 most overcome and deathly sick, and dared not attempt any further 

 penetration, since we lacked gas-masks. The journey back to the 

 shore was a nightmare, and in the midst of tumbling down ravines 

 and creeping out again over rocks like heaps of broken glass, we 

 were attacked by severe cramps in legs and feet, and made the last 

 few yards practically on all-fours. 



All night we lay oflf-shore and watched the glorious sight. As 

 darkness came, the lava glowed deeper and deeper red, and from 

 the crest of the ridge between the two mountains a long tongue of 

 flame now and then shot up quivering against the sky. The whole 

 long slope was dotted and smeared with fiery spots, and the huge 

 mass of cloud that clung over the place reflected the furnace below 

 it. So far as we know, no other eruption has ever been recorded 

 from this northern end of Albemarle. 



Noon position: Lat. 0° 04/ S: Long. 91° 11' W. 



April 13th. No anchorage here, so again went slowly up and 

 down the coast all day, and towed trawls and nets, while a party went 

 ashore to get moving-pictures of the little fumaroles that could be 

 reached. At the tiny cove where landing was made, was a tide pool 

 about ten yards across, where two moray eels were caught on hook 

 with crab for bait. One (Murcena clepsydra) is a new record for 

 the Galapagos. The small black yellow-tailed angelfish (Pomacen- 

 trus arcifrons) were abundant, up to six-inch ones, and two schools 

 of fifty, and two hundred, Querimana ha/rengus were also in this little 

 tidal pond. The latter in defense formation were browsing on a rock, 

 as close to each other as possible, gradually working down the chosen 

 stone from the top, as a swarm of locusts might clear a field of grass. 

 Red crabs were everywhere, also the smaller black-and-white spotted 

 ones, and were quite fearless, sidling up and seizing the bait that lay 

 on the rocks beside us. Gobies covered every submerged piece of lava, 

 and we saw five or six Eupomacentrus beebei and a small Holocan- 

 thug passer. Several families of sea-lions, Galdpagos gulls, pelicans 

 and shearwaters were about. 



To-night at dusk the molten lava was creeping down the slope in 

 true Pompeiian fashion, and just over the shoulder of the moun- 

 tain there must have been the greatest display, judging by the intense 

 glow which was exasperatingly all that we could see. The bivouac 

 fires of a tremendous army seemed to be scattered over ten or twelve 

 miles of country, and as the hours passed the whole black incline 

 became daubed with slowly-writhing scarlet streams creeping to- 

 ward the sea. The sun set almost directly behind the ridge, and the 

 changing of scarlet sunset into the rose and scarlet of cloud and lava 

 was marvellous. It seemed as though a part of the sunset might have 

 become entangled on these ravaged shores, while the rest went on 

 its way over the rim of the earth. 



