and myriads of beings, like us of upright form, the
nations that will be born when all the existing dominant races on the
globe and the civilizations they represent have perished as utterly as
those who sculptured the stones of old Tiahuanaco--from this theatre
of palms prepared for a drama unlike any which the Immortals have yet
witnessed--I hurried away; and then slowly conducted her along the
Atlantic coast, listening to the thunder of its great waves, and pausing
at intervals to survey some maritime city.

Never probably since old Father Noah divided the earth among his
sons had so grand a geographical discourse been delivered; and having
finished, I sat down, exhausted with my efforts, and mopped my brow, but
glad that my huge task was over, and satisfied that I had convinced her
of the futility of her wish to see the world for herself.

Her excitement had passed away by now. She was standing a little apart
from me, her eyes cast down and thoughtful. At length she approached me
and said, waving her hand all round: "What is beyond the mountains over
there, beyond the cities on that side--beyond the world?"

"Water, only water. Did I not tell you?" I returned stoutly; for I had,
of course, sunk the Isthmus of Panama beneath the sea.

"Water! All round?" she persisted.

"Yes."

"Water, and no beyond? Only water--always water?"

I could no longer adhere to so gross a lie. She was too intelligent, and
I loved her too much. Standing up, I pointed to distant mountains and
isolated peaks.

"Look at those peaks," I said. "It is like that with the world--this
world we are standing on. Beyond that great water that flows all round
the world, but far away, so far that it would take months in a big boat
to reach them, there are islands, some small, others as large as this
world. But, Rima, they are so far away, so impossible to reach, that it
is useless to speak or to think of them. They are to us like the sun and
moon and stars, to which we cannot fly. And now sit down and rest by my
side, for you know everything."

She glanced at me with troubled eyes.

"Nothing do I know--nothing have you told me. Did I not say that
mountains and rivers and forests are nothing? Tell me about all the
people in the world. Look! there is Cuzco over there, a city like no
other in the world--did you not tell me so? Of the people nothing. Are
they also different from all others in the world?"

"I will tell you that if you will first