hey do elsewhere,
but like fine dots, softly, quietly, as if a negligent hand had
sprinkled them lightly about. And down by the water the breakers
roll, crickets cry, a flying-fox chatters and changes from one tree
to the other with tired wings, passing in a shapeless silhouette in
front of the moon. It is the peace of paradise, dreamlike, wishless;
one never tires of listening to the holy tropical night, for there
is secret life everywhere. In the quiet air the trees shiver, the
moonlight trembles in the bushes and stirs imperceptibly in the lawn;
and from the indistinct sounds of which the mind is hardly conscious
the fancy weaves strange stories. We see all those creatures that
frighten the natives under the roof of the forest, giants with crabs'
claws, men with fiery eyes, women that turn into deadly serpents,
vague, misty souls of ancestors, that pass through the branches and
appear to their descendants; all that we dream of in our northern
midsummer night wakes in tenfold strength here.

Suddenly, violent shocks shake the house, explosions follow, like
distant shots, and the thin, misty silver is changed to a red glow. The
volcano is in action,--a dull, reddish-yellow light mounts slowly up
behind the black trees, thick smoke rises and rises, until it stands,
a dark monster, nearly touching the zenith, its foot still in the
red glare. Slowly the fire dies out, the cloud parts, and it is dark
night again, with the silver of the moon brooding everywhere.

But the charm is broken by this warning from the primitive powers that
counterbalance each other behind the peace of the tropic night. By and
by, one grows accustomed to the uncanny neighbourhood of the volcano,
and only the more formidable eruptions attract notice. Sometimes,
while at work, I hear one of the boys exclaim, "Huh, huh!" to call
my attention to the fact that a particularly violent outbreak has
taken place; and, indeed, half the sky is a dirty red, the smoke
rises behind the trees as if from a gigantic bonfire, and the dull
detonations resound. The glowing lava flies high in the air, and comes
down in a great curve. One of these performances lasted several hours,
presaging a wonderful spectacle for my visit to the volcano, which
was set for the next day.

Several natives joined my party, evidently thinking it safer to go
to see the "fire" in my company than alone. Yet the Ambrymese in
general show remarkably little fear of the volcano, and regard it