All that was remarkable was the adventure upon which they were bound, and nobody could possibly have guessed that.
Almost a mile lay between them and the point where the ascent of the mountain was to be begun.

The road which they were taking followed at the foot of the embankment which girt the island, and it led them at last to a stretch of arbourescent heath, piled with black basaltic rocks.

Here, where the light was dim like the glow from light reflected upon low clouds, they took their way among great branching cacti and nameless plants that caught at their ankles.

A strange odour rose from the earth, mineral, metallic, and the air was thick with particles stirred by their feet and more resembling ashes than dust.

This was a waste place of the island, and if one were to lift a handful of the soil, St.George thought, it was very likely that one might detect its elements; as, here the dust of a temple, here of a book, here a tomb and here a sacrifice.
He felt himself near the earth, in its making.