[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

276 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

violent to touch one’s hearing only. Then there was
silence ; the cloud rose, and beside it we saw the stars
in the pure sky, and heard the surf beat peacefully,
consolingly, as if there were no volcano and no
glowing lava anywhere near.

While we were standing on the brink as if
fascinated, the silver moon rose behind us, spread
a broad road of light on the quiet sea, played round
us with her cool light, shone on the opposite wall of
the crater, and caressed the sulphurous cloud. It was
a magical sight, the contrast of the pure moonlight
and the dirty glare of the volcano ; an effect indescrib-
ably grand and peculiar, a gala performance of nature,
the elements of heaven and hell side by side.

At last we left. Behind and above us thundered
the volcano, below us lay the desert, silvery in the
moonlight, in quiet, simple lines; far away rolled the
sea, and in the silence the moon rose higher and
higher, and our shadows followed us as we traversed
the plain and gained the friendly shade of the palm
grove.