uld not believe me.

With the temperature in the sun during the day at 98 deg., most of the aches
of the men disappeared, and I had little trouble with them until after
sunset, when there was generally a considerable drop in the temperature.

We went on. We had a volcanic mountain to the left of us--half the crater
of a volcano formed of red lava and friable red-baked rock. In the
northern and central part of the mountain were masses of lava which had
been shot out of the mouth of the volcano and had solidified into all
kinds of fantastic forms, some sharply pointed, some red, others black.
On the east side of the crater was a dome covered with earth with an
underlying flow of lava. Then could be observed a circular group of huge
rocks, pear-shaped, with sharp points upward. While the volcano was
active these rocks had evidently stood on the rim of the then cylindrical
crater. The mountain behind those rocks was formed by high accumulations
of red volcanic sand, which in time had gradually, by the action of rain
and sun, consolidated into soft rock.

The plateau extending northward, which was disclosed in all its entirety
before me from the elevation of 1,600 ft. which we had reached, also
seemed to possess an extinct crater shaped like a crescent with steep
slopes and two rounded promontories on its side.

The sky that day was partly covered by transparent feathery clouds and by
dense mist near the horizon line to the east, but was quite clear to the
west. As usual, that evening we were again treated to fairly handsome
radiating white lines from the sun reaching half way up the sky vault,
but this time they were flimsy and not to be compared to the magnificent
displays we had observed before.

Our animals still sank in ochre-coloured sand, or stumbled on
conglomerate rocks of spattered lava pellets embedded in sandstone.
Capping the higher undulations we again found deposits of ashes.

[Illustration: Geometrical Pattern on the Surface of a flow of Lava.

(Caused by sudden contraction in cooling.)]

We travelled for long distances on a ridge at an elevation of 1,650 ft.
over a thick layer of sand and ashes mixed. Then campos spread before us,
and upon them here and there grew stunted vegetation, the trees seldom
reaching a greater height than 15 ft.

From our last high point of vantage the crater with fantastic rocks and
its continuation we had observed appeared to form a great basin. A
subsidiary vent was also