It assisted us, by comparison, to comprehend and appreciate the great depth of the basin -- it looked like a tiny martin-box clinging at the eaves of a cathedral.
After some little time spent in resting and looking and ciphering, we hurried on to the hotel.
By the path it is half a mile from the Volcano House to the lookout-house.

After a hearty supper we waited until it was thoroughly dark and then started to the crater.

The first glance in that direction revealed a scene of wild beauty.

There was a heavy fog over the crater and it was splendidly illuminated by the glare from the fires below.

The illumination was two miles wide and a mile high, perhaps; and if you ever, on a dark night and at a distance beheld the light from thirty or forty blocks of distant buildings all on fire at once, reflected strongly against over-hanging clouds, you can form a fair idea of what this looked like.
A colossal column of cloud towered to a great height in the air immediately above the crater, and the outer swell of every one of its vast folds was dyed with a rich crimson luster, which was subdued to a pale rose tint in the depressions between.