"Fly! fly!" cried our guides; "the mountain is going to vomit forth its fiery breath."  Not a moment did we delay.  Down the side of the cone we sprung--none of us looked back.  Thicker and thicker came forth the smoke.  Rivulets of lava began to flow, streaming down the cone into the lake below; some came towards the causeway, leaping down its sides.  On we went, every instant dreading a fall through the thin crust.  Ashes came forth and fell around us, and then huge masses of rock came down with loud splashes into the fiery plain.  Some went even before us, and were buried deep in the ground over which we had to tread.  The roar of the mountain continued.  Down we sprung; a blow from a stone would have killed us--a false step would have sent us into the fiery pool, to the instant and utter annihilation of our mortal frames.  I felt as if I could not cry out.  An unspeakable dread and horror had seized me.  At length the plain of lava was regained.  No one was hurt; yet the danger was not past.  Still the lava streamed forth.  It might overflow the banks of the lake, for aught we could tell.  Ashes and masses of rock fell in showers around us.  We fled like Lot and his family, nor stopped till we reached the cliff.  Then it was searched in vain for a way to mount to the summit.  We did now look back to see if the lava was following us, but the glowing lake lay as calm as before.  The outburst seemed to have subsided.  Now and then a jet of lava and fire came forth, and a puff of smoke, but both soon ceased.  At last, walking round under the cliff, we found a practicable way to the top.  We were saved, and grateful for our escape, while our curiosity was amply satisfied.  We were suffering much from thirst, when what was our surprise to come upon a pool of clear water, with reeds growing round it, though in the very neighbourhood of hot basins of sulphur, and of cones spouting forth wreaths of smoke!  We expected to find the water hot, instead of which, it was deliciously cool and refreshing.  On ascending the cliff, we found that it was too late to descend the mountain that night, so our guides led us to a hut built to afford accommodation for travellers.  It stood overlooking the cones and the lake of fire, and never shall I forget the extraordinary appearance of that scene, as we watched it during the greater part of the night, or the magnificent spectacle which gladdened our eyes when the glorious sun rose from out of his ocean bed, and lighted up the distant snow-capped peak of the lofty Mouna Roa, which is 14,000 feet above the level of the sea.