THE MUSEUM 



169 



warm depths below, of which you get 

 a whiff as you ride o%er. Here be- 

 gins the string of lava blocks which 

 have been set up to mark the path 

 across the lava surface, where in the 

 dull sameness it is easy to get lost and 

 hard to find oneself or to be found 

 when astray. Theie is not a level 

 spot anywhere; the surface shivers 

 under the horse's hoof in glassy splint- 

 ers with a crunching sound as though 

 one were going over spilt sugar. At 

 every turn the lava seems as though 

 frozen stiff in a wild rush to engulf the 

 incautious trespasser; here in such 

 weird shapes as Niagara takes on in 

 winter, there twisted like ropes and 

 cables. Everywhere are cracks and 

 crevasses. Besides the strange shapes 

 of the lava under foot which hold the 

 eye, there is yet nothing to see but 

 the next slope of the lava, the next 

 little valley into which the string of 

 the guide book shows the path to de- 

 scend, and the wider view is bounded 

 by the line of cliffs quivering through 

 the hot emanations of the crater. You 

 feel the heat, the glassy surface re- 

 flects the sun, no breeze dips down 

 into that hole as it sweeps overhead 

 about its own better business, and 

 there is a constantly growing impres- 

 sion that the eternal fires are smould- 

 ering not so far under that crusted 

 surface. At last the corral, beyond 

 which the horses may not go, is reach- 

 ed. Here is water, a need well ap- 

 preciated for the last mile or so over 

 that torrid plain. In Kalauea the well 

 borer would tap fire, not water, and 

 springs are replaced by vents puffing 

 out steam and brimstone. But a few 

 sheets of corrugated iron set on a 

 slant serve to condense the vapor 

 which settles at nightfall and to drip 

 it drop by drop into a bucket in the 

 shade so that it may be a trifle less 

 warm for tourists and horses. 



Beyond the corral the surface is 

 more rent and torn and twisted and 

 jagged. The lava is hot under foot ; 

 almost every little crack in the field is 

 edged wiih a crust of dirty yellow 



from the brimstone deposit; as you 

 step across a rift a sweltering gust of 

 sulphur and fused chemicals stings 

 the eyes and chokes the breathing. 

 To the sun's heat in that breathless 

 depth the earth is surely now contrib- 

 uting from its own hot store. You 

 step from the path to a fuming chim- 

 ney projecting from a glazed surface. 

 The moment's glance down that shaft 

 shows a trembling chasm of hot and 

 sulphur-coated rock. The guide puts 

 his stick into a rift in the lava or 

 drives it anywhere through the glassy 

 crust and brings it out ablaze after 

 just touching that fervent heat over 

 which you are walking with no more 

 than five or six inches of slag between. 

 Of course it's hot as you draw near 

 the shaft whereby the earth makes a 

 safety valve for its pent up forces at 

 work far below in the centre of the 

 globe. It is all very well to reassure 

 oneself with the statement there is no 

 danger, but even the men in the party 

 have ceased to wander oft for little 

 lateral trips of exploration and are 

 seemingly content to let Albert pio- 

 neer this part of the path if that is to 

 be called a path which is merely hot 

 rock and a series of guide stones. 



There is a throb and a quiver and a 

 fever dancing in the air ahead, and 

 seen through it the encircling cliff in 

 the distance seems to reel and bow. 

 It is not quite certain that the lava 

 underfoot is shaking, but there is a 

 tremble unmistakable and a grumbling 

 below. There is more sulphur in the 

 heated air; the air is hotter than it 

 has been. Soon we are standing at 

 the baked verge of a deeper abyss 

 within the pit, and place of evil va- 

 pors of metals reduced to a steam 

 that scars and scorches, a place of 

 dread subterranean noises, and Albert 

 announces "Halema'uma'u. " 



It is then that one may notice a 

 little bit of green dropping into the in- 

 ferno of swirling vapors, perhaps a 

 twig of ohelo such as pagan Hawaii 

 dropped into Pele's home of terror. 

 Anyway you chance to see Albert put 



