disappeared. At the same moment a river of glowing lava issued from
the side of the bank we had climbed with so much difficulty yesterday,
and slowly but surely overflowed the ground we had walked over. I woke
Tom, and you may imagine the feelings with which we gazed upon this
startling phenomenon, which, had it occurred a few hours earlier,
might have caused the destruction of the whole party. If our
expedition had been made to-day instead of yesterday, we should
certainly have had to proceed by a different route to the crater, and
should have looked down on the lake of fire from a different spot.

I cannot hope that in my attempt to give you some idea of Kilauea as
we beheld it, I shall be successful in conveying more than a very
faint impression of its glories. I feel that my description is so
utterly inadequate, that, were it not for the space, I should be
tempted to send you in full the experiences of previous visitors, as
narrated in Miss Bird's 'Six Months in the Sandwich Islands,' and Mr.
Bodham Whetham's 'Pearls of the Pacific.' The account contained in the
former work I had read before arriving here; the latter I enjoyed at
the 'Volcano House.' Both are well worth reading by any one who feels
an interest in the subject.

It would, I think, be difficult to imagine a more interesting and
exciting mode of spending Christmas Eve than yesterday has taught us,
or a stranger situation in which to exchange our Christmas greetings
than beneath the grass roof of an inn on the edge of a volcano in the
remote Sandwich Islands. They were certainly rendered none the less
cordial and sincere by the novelty of our position, and I think we are
all rather glad not to have in prospect the inevitable feastings and
ceremonies, without which it seems to be impossible to commemorate
this season in England. If we had seen nothing but Kilauea since we