my companions, who had found the way we had come
up and after some slips and sprains, and considerable
bruising, we all reached the bottom safely, and were
glad to be off the volcano, and, landing on Banda
Neira, feel ourselves on terra firma once more.
For a few days I could scarcely walk or move my
arms, but this lameness soon passed away; not so
with the impressions made on my mind by those
dangers: and even now, when I am suddenly aroused
from sleep, for a moment the past becomes the present,
and I am once more on the tongue of land, with
a frightful gulf on either hand, or I am saving myself
by grasping that fern.
According to the statements of the officials, many
years ago a gentleman had the hardihood to attempt
to ascend this mountain alone. As he did not return
at the expected time, a party of natives was sent to
search for him, and his dead body was found some
distance beneath the summit. The rocks to which he
had intrusted himself had probably given way, and
the only sensation that could have followed was one
of falling and a quick succession of stunning blows,
and life was gone. Governor Arriens assured me
that the band of loose stones was the most dangerous
place he had ever crossed, though he had climbed
many nearly perpendicular walls, but always where
the rocks were fixed and could be relied on for a
footing and a hold. If the ascent and descent were
not so difficult, sulphur might be gathered in such
quantities at the summit crater that it would form
an important article of export. The authorities informed
me that much was obtained in former times,