Gazing

« Henry, the new hand aboard, was well acquainted with the Coast of Savaii and planned to anchor off a village on the east side that he recalled. By the lurid light they could see the remains of several settlements that had been wiped out by lava, and hundreds of thousands of coconut trees stripped of their fronds. The village Henry sought was deserted, dead. Everyone on the Snark was awake and gazing at the rail, awestruck by such colossal destruction. Whole valleys had been licked up. Each headland revealed greater devastation by liquid fire, which never stopped until it flooded into the hissing sea. »

Jack London in the South Seas. Four Winds Press, New York. p. 136