190 
VOYAGE TO THE 
place suddenly, the smoke and vapours were blown down 
into the crater, so that it was with some danger and great 
precipitation that we saved ourselves from their baneful 
effects. Nothing in the whole scene was more striking than 
the soft fire showers that seemed to rain down upon the 
burning plain. 
Sovra tutto ’1 sabbion d’un cader lento, 
Pioven di fuoco dilatate falde 
Come di neve in Alpe senza vento. 
Fatigued, but gratified, by our descent into the crater, 
probably the largest yet discovered in the world, we pre¬ 
pared to pass a second night at Kapiolani’s hut. But on 
this occasion the volcano was far from being as tranquil as 
before. In the middle of the night we were awakened by 
a violent earthquake; and soon afterwards a fresh crater 
opened in the gulf immediately below us, with tremendous 
noise, and flame, and stones, and smoke. The plain at the 
bottom was overflowed with fresh streams of lava in every 
direction, and a continual heaving even of the cool dark mass, 
and a tremulous motion of the side where we were, filled 
us with an involuntary dread, so that we slept no more, 
but prepared to leave the awful place with the first dawn 
of day. 
Accordingly, with the first rays of the sun, we began 
