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“Under us, and stretching away before us, was a heaving sea of molten fire of seemingly limitless extent…At unequal distances all around the shores of the lake were nearly white-hot chimneys or hollow drums of lava, four or five feet high, and up through them were bursting gorgeous sprays of lava-gouts and gem spangles, some white, some red and some golden - a ceaseless bombardment, and one that fascinated the eye with its unapproachable splendor. The more distant jets, sparkling up through an intervening gossamer veil of vapor, seemed miles away; and the further the curving ranks of fiery mountains receded, the more fairy-like and beautiful they appeared.”

-- Mark Twain, Hawaii, 1866

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