The next morning, leaving our horses, we set out on foot towards the crater.  A mass of smoke alone rested on the summit of the mountain. The road was very rough, vegetation in many places destroyed, and in general we found ourselves passing over masses of lava, with deep crevices in some places and huge masses in others, while here and there the crust was so thin that it gave way beneath our feet.  The heat was very great; but we found a red berry growing on a low bush, which was very refreshing.  At length, after some hours of toil, we found ourselves standing on the summit of a cliff, while below us appeared a vast plain full of conical hills, and in the centre of it a mass of liquid lava like a wide lake of fire.  It was what we had come to see-- the crater of Kilauea.  Below the cliff, inside the basin, was a ledge of considerable width of solid lava.  We looked about for a path by which we could reach the plain.  At last we found a steep bank where the cliff had given way.  By this we now descended with the help of sticks, with which we had been provided.  The descent was difficult and dangerous in the extreme, as the lava gave way before us, and huge masses went rolling and tumbling away, some in front and some behind us, as we slid down the steep bank.  The appearance of the ground was such that we, with reason, hesitated on trusting ourselves to it.  Old Surley, too, smelled at it, and examined it narrowly, as if very doubtful about running over it.  Still, our guides assured us that other Englishmen had been there; and where others had been we knew that we could go.  At last we reached the bottom, and walked on, with our staffs in hand feeling the way.  More than once I felt the ground cracking under my feet.  It was not hot, but it struck me--suppose it is only a crust, and one of us were to slip through into the boiling caldron beneath!  I own that I more than once wished myself back again on cool and solid ground.  To go through the ice is disagreeable enough, but to slip down under this black cake would be horrible indeed.  Not five minutes after this idea had crossed my mind, I heard a cry.  It was Jerry's voice.  I looked round--his head and shoulders only were appearing above the ground, and his arms stretched out wide on either side, while with his fingers he tried to dig into the lava, to prevent himself from slipping further.