CHAPTER IX. 



AT last, after eight days of white fog, the morning sun 

 rose clear and warm over sea and land, revealing for the 

 first time the beauty of our surroundings. About twenty 

 miles to the north-east towered a huge volcano, round 

 whose shoulders and base dense masses of trailing mist, 

 wreathed in fantastic forms, clung white and cloud-like, 

 slowly to dissipate under the melting rays of the rising sun. 

 The eastern sky, tinged with greenish hue, cast a softened 

 light and colouring upon its solid outlines, and, as cloud 

 after cloud ascended slowly, a mountain mass of dusky 

 heights, with Titanic features and rugged beauty, disclosed 

 itself to our admiring gaze. But high above all rose the 

 cone of the volcano, from which volumes of smoke and 

 steam issued continually, the vapour rivalling in whiteness 

 the irregular streaks of snow which marked its sides like 

 veins of marble. Castellated peaks and tumbled masses of 

 rock in every form lay sharply outlined before us. The 

 coast-line was composed of bold and jagged cliffs, at whose 

 base were huge masses of detached rock standing on end, 

 like giants on guard, while others lay recumbent, forming 

 natural monoliths of form grotesque and gigantic size. 



A better day for hunting could not be desired, and, after 

 so long a period of inactivity, our spirits and anticipations 

 were equally high; the latter, however, were not to be 

 realised, three otters only being seen all day, every one of 

 which, in some incomprehensible way, managed to escape. 

 The mid-day sun was very powerful, producing a curious 

 mirage, making both sight and aim very deceptive. The 

 horizon looked like land in the sky, and clouds might easily 



