a series of worn flat slabs of stone that were placed
on a gentle slope below the level of a watercourse which in some past
age had been cut out of the solid rock; "if those are not tables once
used to wash the 'stuff,' I'm a Dutchman."

At the edge of this vast hole, which was none other than the pit marked
on the old Dom's map, the Great Road branched into two and circumvented
it. In many places, by the way, this surrounding road was built
entirely out of blocks of stone, apparently with the object of
supporting the edges of the pit and preventing falls of reef. Along
this path we pressed, driven by curiosity to see what were the three
towering objects which we could discern from the hither side of the
great gulf. As we drew near we perceived that they were Colossi of some
sort or another, and rightly conjectured that before us sat the three
"Silent Ones" that are held in such awe by the Kukuana people. But it
was not until we were quite close to them that we recognised the full
majesty of these "Silent Ones."

There, upon huge pedestals of dark rock, sculptured with rude emblems
of the Phallic worship, separated from each other by a distance of
forty paces, and looking down the road which crossed some sixty miles
of plain to Loo, were three colossal seated forms--two male and one
female--each measuring about thirty feet from the crown of its head to
the pedestal.

The female form, which was nude, was of great though severe beauty, but
unfortunately the features had been injured by centuries of exposure to
the weather. Rising from either side of her head were the points of a
crescent. The two male Colossi, on the contrary, were draped, and
presented a terrifying cast of features, especially the one to our
right, which had the face of a devil. That to our left was serene in
countenance, but the calm upon it seemed dreadful. It was the calm of
that inhuman cruelty, Sir Henry remarked, which the ancients attributed
to beings potent for good, who could yet watch the sufferings of
humanity, if not without rejoicing, at least without sorrow. These
three statues form a most awe-inspiring trinity, as they sit there in
their solitude, and gaze out across the plain for ever.

Contemplating these "Silent Ones," as the Kukuanas call them, an
intense curiosity again seized us to know whose were the hands which
had shaped them, who it was that had dug the pit and made the road.
Whilst I was gazing and wondering, suddenly it occ