five o'clock in the afternoon
The roofs , yawning as does the earth in regions where volcanic agencies prevail , were seamed with great cracks through which the raging sea of fire beneath was visible . But the grandest , saddest spectacle of all was that afforded by the Pavilion de Flore , to which the torch had been earliest applied and which was ablaze from its foundation to its lofty summit , burning with a deep , fierce roar that could be heard far away . The petroleum with which the floors and hangings had been soaked gave the flames an intensity such that the ironwork of the balconies was seen to twist and writhe in the convolutions of a serpent , and the tall monumental chimneys , with their elaborate carvings , glowed with the fervor of live coals . Then , still on their left , were , first , the Chancellerie of the Legion of Honor , which was fired at five o'clock in the afternoon and had been burning nearly seven hours , and next , the Palace of the Council of State , a huge rectangular structure of stone , which was spouting torrents of fire from every orifice in each of its two colonnaded stories . The four structures surrounding the great central court had all caught at the same moment , and the petroleum , which here also had been distributed by the barrelful , had poured down the four grand staircases at the four corners of the building in rivers of hellfire . On the facade that faced the river the black line of the mansard was profiled distinctly against the ruddy sky , amid the red tongues that rose to lick its base , while colonnades , entablatures , friezes , carvings , all stood out with startling vividness in the blinding , shimmering glow . So great was the energy of the fire , so terrible its propulsive force , that the colossal structure was in some sort raised bodily from the earth , trembling and rumbling on its foundations , preserving intact only its four massive walls , in the fierce eruption that hurled its heavy zinc roof high in air .