Bife on #e 



ming nature, while a million faint sparks flashed 

 from the stones (porphyry and rhyolite) as the 

 wave passed over. But the effect on me became 

 constant. Every muscle was almost immovable. 

 I could climb only a few steps without weak- 

 ening to the stopping-point. I breathed only by 

 gasps, and my heart became violent and feeble 

 by turns. I felt as if cinched in a steel corset. 

 After I had spent ten long minutes and was only 

 half-way up a slope, the entire length of which 

 I had more than once climbed in a few minutes 

 and in fine shape, I turned to retreat, but as 

 there was no cessation of the electrical colic, I 

 faced about and started up again. I reached the 

 top a few minutes before 6.30 P. M., and shortly 

 afterward the sun disappeared behind clouds and 

 peaks. 



I regret that I failed to notice whether the 

 electrical effects ceased with the setting of the 

 sun, but it was not long after the disappearance 

 of the sun before I was at ease, enjoying the 

 magnificent mountain-range of clouds that had 

 formed above the foothills and stood up glorious 

 in the sunlight. 



90 



