Page:Off For Hawaii.djvu/242

224 ourselves down one side of a gully and pulling ourselves up the other side.

The lava was like glass slag, dirty black in color, and it crunched under our feet like snow that is covered with frozen hail. In some places it stuck up in sponge-like forms, and coming to such a spot I broke a piece off, to have it stick into my fingers like so many needles.

"Jinks, but that is not pleasant!" I cried, and flung the lava away. My hand pained me for several hours afterward.

On and on we went, gradually climbing to a spot where the rim of the volcano crater raised itself several hundred feet above its surroundings. The view here was better than any we had yet had, and we halted for quarter of an hour to take in the sight.

"Dat is Hale-mau-mau—House of Everlasting Fire," said Lincoln Susu, as he pointed out a portion of the active volcano. The fire leaped and fell, with a groan and a hiss, sending the boiling lava on all sides. To one side of Hale-mau-mau was a towering rock, but the intense heat was slowly but surely eating it away, and some day, unless the volcano ceases operation, that mountain of stone will be completely devoured.

"Do you smell the sulphur?" remarked Oliver. "I do."