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I cannot figure it better than by asking you to imagine a gigantic mass of pumice-stone, somewhat flat on top, and shelving on all sides very gently to the water, lying afloat but steady on the sea. It was of the hue of pumice, and as clean as an egg-shell, without a grain of calcined dust or any appearance of scoriae that I could anywhere observe.
Then I pared it carefully on all sides to prevent the possibility of its former use being found out; I rubbed it with pumice stone, sand, and ochre, and finally I succeeded in imparting to my production such a queer, old-fashioned shape that I could not help laughing in looking at my work.
The water had assumed an appearance of inky blackness, and large masses of pumice were floating past, among which were numerous dead bodies of men, women, and children, intermingled with riven trees, fences, and other wreckage from the land, showing that the two great waves which had already passed under the vessel had caused terrible devastation on some parts of the shore.
When the etching is considered to have been pushed far enough, the plate must be withdrawn from the solution, and washed in plenty of water; it must then be forcibly rubbed with a cloth so as to remove all the albumen, and after it has been polished with a little pumice, the engraving is complete.
The lime or mortar here described, appears to be the terra puzzuolana or terras, a compound of lime and oxid of iron, which forms an indestructible cement, even under water; and the remarkably light stones ejected from the volcano, and used in the construction of their vault, were probably of pumice.
Here we saw the parent rock of the pumice fragments, an outcrop of yellowish brown stone, like fractured and hardened clay. The four-footed animals were sent back: one rides up but not down such places. Passing in the lower section the shell of a house where the Astronomer's Scientific men have usually a contempt for language: we find the same in Our Inheritanse, &c.
The little steps cut in the volcanic tufa or white pumice are soft and offer a grip to foothold.
The cloud was mixed with quantities of pumice and fragments of what appeared to be black glass. The roar of this huge vent was deafening and stupendous.
The first essential in this process is pure Lucca oil, which does not clagg; and the next, specially prepared pumice stone powder, which must be as fine as flour; and should there be any doubt about its being absolutely free from specks of grit, filter it through fine muslin or silk, and only use that which passes through, in water.
A few branches and the big blocks of pumice would suffice for temporary camouflage. Later they could make something better. Anything in the jeep which might be useful was cached along with the radiation suits in the passageway through the lava wall and in a surprisingly short time they were heading homeward. Kennon was not too displeased. Tomorrow they would be able to enter the ship.
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