ON TERIU FTRMA ONCE MORE. 



235 



my companions, wlio had found the way we had come 

 up, and after some slips and sprains, and considerable 

 bruising, we all reached tlie bottom safely, and were 

 glad to be off the volcano, and, landing on Ban da 

 Neir% feel ourselves on terra fitma once more. 



For a few days I could scarcely walk or move ray 

 arms, but this lameness soon passed away ; not so 

 with the impressions made on my mind by those 

 dangers : and even now, when I am suddenly aroused 

 from sleep, for a moment the past becomes the pres- 

 ent, and I am once more on the tongue of land, with 

 a frightful gulf on either hand, or I am saving myself 

 by grasping tliat fern. 



According to the statements of the officials, many 

 years ago a gentleman had the hardihood to attempt 

 to ascend this mountain alone. As he did not retm*n 

 at the ex]>ected time, a party of natives was sent to 

 search for Jiini, and his dead body was found some 

 distance beneath the summit. The rocks to which he 

 had intrusted himself had probably given way, and 

 the only sensation that could have followed was one 

 of falling and a quick succession of stunning blows, 

 and life was gona Governor Arriens assured me 

 that the band of loose stones was the most danger- 

 ous place he had ever crossed, though he had climbed 

 many nearly perpendicular walls, but always where 

 the rocks were fixed and could be relied on for a 

 footing and a hold. If the ascent and descent were 

 not so difficult, sulphur might be gathered in such 

 quantities at the summit crater that it would form 

 an impoi'tant article of export. The authoiities in- 

 formed me that much was obtained in former times, 



