ight, unwilling to leave the spot.

"Occasionally, the embankment of the lake cracked off and fell
in, being immediately devoured by the hungry flood. These ledges
around Hale-mau-mau are very dangerous to stand upon. A whole
family came near losing their lives on one. A loud report beneath
their feet and a sudden trembling of the crust made them run for
life; and hardly had they jumped the fissure that separated
the ledge on which they were standing from more solid
footing--separated life from death--than crash went the ledge into
the boiling lake!

"Sometimes the lake boils over, like a pot of molasses, and then
you can dip up the liquid lava with a long pole. You get quite
a lump of it, and by quickly rolling it on the ground mold a
cylinder the size of the end of the pole, and about six inches
long. Or you can drop a coin into the lava to be imprisoned as it
cools.

"A foreigner once imbedded a silver dollar in the hot lava, and
gave the specimen to a native; but he immediately threw it on the
ground, breaking the lava, of course, and liberating the dollar,
which he pocketed, exclaiming: 'Volcano plenty enough, but me not
get dollar every day.'

"One of our party collected lava specimens from around
Hale-mau-mau, and tied them up in her pocket-handkerchief. Imagine
her astonishment on finding, later, they had burned through the
linen, and one by one dropped out.

"Terrible as old Pele is, she makes herself useful, and is an
excellent cook. She keeps a great many ovens heated for the use of
her guests, and no two at the same temperature, so that you may
select one of any heat you wish. In these ovens (steam-cracks) she
boils tea, coffee and eggs; or cooks omelets and meats. You wrap
the beef or chicken, or whatever meat you may wish to cook, in
leaves, and lay it in the steam-crack. Soon it is thoroughly
cooked, and deliciously, too.

"She also keeps a tub of warm water always ready for bathers.

"She doesn't mean to be laughed at, though, for doing this kind of
work, and doing it in an original kind of way. After she has given
you one or two sound shakings, which she generally does, you'll
have great respect for the old lady, and feel quite like taking
off your hat to her. With the shakings and the thunderings
under-foot, and now and then the opening of