302 THE CRUISE OF TEE " CACHALOT:' 



untroubled life, all unknowing of the fearful forces 

 beneath their feet. But now they found the founda- 

 tions of the rocks beneath breaking up ; that withering, 

 incessant shower of ashes and scoriae destroyed all their 

 crops ; the mild and delicate air changed into a heavy, 

 sulphurous miasma ; while overhead the beneficent face 

 of the bright-blue sky had become a horrible canopy of 

 deadly black, about which played lurid coruscations of 

 infernal fires. 



What they endured throughout those days and nights 

 of woe, could never be told. They fled from the home 

 they had reared with such abundance of loving labour, 

 taking refuge in a cave ; for not even the knowledge that 

 the mountain itself seemed to be in the throes of dis- 

 solution could entirely destroy their trust in those 

 apparently eternal fastnesses. Here their eldest son 

 died, worried to death by incessant terror. At last a 

 passing whaler, remembering them and seeing the con- 

 dition of things, had the humanity and courage to stand 

 in near enough to see their agonized signals of distress. 

 All of them, except the son buried but a day or two 

 before, were safely received and carried away, leaving 

 the terrible mountain to its solitude. 



As I listened, I almost involuntarily cast my eyes 

 upwards ; nor was I at all surprised to see far overhead 

 a solitary patch of smoky cloud, which I believe to have 

 been a sure indication that the volcano was still liable 

 to commence operations at any time. 



So far, we had not happened upon any pigs, or goats 

 either, although we saw many indications of the latter 

 odoriferous animal. There were few sea-birds to be 

 seen, but in and out among the dense undergrowth 

 ran many short-legged brown birds, something like a 

 partridge — the same, I believe, as we afterwards became 



