But that which formed steps under our feet became stalactites overhead. The lava, which was porous in many places, had formed a surface covered with small rounded blisters; crystals of opaque quartz, set with limpid tears of glass, and hanging like clustered chandeliers from the vaulted roof, seemed as it were to kindle and form a sudden illumination as we passed on our way.
Pero los que bajo nuestros pies servían de peldaños, en las otras paredes se convertían en estalactitas; la lava, porosa en algunos lugares, presentaba en otros pequeñas ampollas redondas: cristales de cuarzo opaco, ornados de límpidas gotas de vidrio y suspendidos de la bóveda a manera de arañas, parecían encenderse a nuestro paso.