ASCENT OF THE GUADELOUPE SOUFRIERE. 341 
JHE SOUFRIERE OF PUADELOUPE, 
some Titan had rent the solid rock asunder — so deep 
that we could not see the bottom of the dark abyss 
until we stood upon a narrow bridge of rock that 
spanned the central space. The southern end is a 
perpendicular wall, running down into depths the eye 
cannot penetrate. From a fissure near its base arose 
blue fumes which stained the face of the cliff a long 
way up, as though away down in the earth’s center, 
where the Vulcans are at work, there burned a very 
hot coal fire. 
We crossed the bridge and scaled the opposite cliff, 
and were greeted, at the top, with loud blasts and 
