ad made no attempt
to approach it, being afraid that, if he did so, he would fall into the
hands of the inhabitants, and never more see his kith and kin. Asked
whether he believed it possible, after all those years, to find his way
back to the spot from which he had beheld the city, he replied in the
affirmative, provided that he could be carried thither and back again,
but not otherwise, the way being altogether too long and rough for his
old limbs to traverse unaided. Arrangements were accordingly made for
the construction of a litter for the accommodation of the old man, and
on a certain morning the expedition set out from Yacoahite, the party
now consisting of thirty men all told, including the old man, Busa, who
was to serve as guide, his eight bearers, and ten additional bearers to
assist in the transport of the white men's baggage.

As Busa had warned them, the way proved both long and difficult, leading
as it did up and down wild ravines, along the dry and stony beds of
mountain torrents, through rough and narrow passes, and by the edge of
dizzy precipices where a single false step would have meant a fall of
hundreds of feet through space; but after ten days of arduous travel the
journey was accomplished without accident, and without any very
startling adventure, the party arriving, late in a certain afternoon at
a "divide," from which they looked down upon a vast basin containing a
lake some thirty miles long by twenty broad, on the northern shore of
which stood a city which Busa had not misrepresented when he spoke of it
as a city of palaces. For a city it certainly was, covering an area of
ground about four miles long by three broad, and many of its buildings
seemed palatial, if one might judge by their lofty white walls and
glittering roofs, shining like gold in the rays of the declining sun.
Of course, it was not possible to judge very accurately the character of
the buildings, or to see much detail, for the city was some twenty miles
distant from the spot to which Busa had conducted the party, while the
rarefaction of the atmosphere rendered even the field-glasses of little
use. But that the city was actually there before their eyes was
indisputable, and it was a city consisting not of a mere agglomeration
of mud huts with thatched roofs, but of stately buildings of solid
masonry, possessing such architectural adornments as towers, pinnacles,
and domes, evidencing on the part of the inhabitants a condit