urred to me--being
familiar with the Old Testament--that Solomon went astray after strange
gods, the names of three of whom I remembered--"Ashtoreth, the goddess
of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god
of the children of Ammon"--and I suggested to my companions that the
figures before us might represent these false and exploded divinities.

"Hum," said Sir Henry, who is a scholar, having taken a high degree in
classics at college, "there may be something in that; Ashtoreth of the
Hebrews was the Astarte of the Phoenicians, who were the great traders
of Solomon's time. Astarte, who afterwards became the Aphrodite of the
Greeks, was represented with horns like the half-moon, and there on the
brow of the female figure are distinct horns. Perhaps these Colossi
were designed by some Phoenician official who managed the mines. Who
can say?"[1]

Before we had finished examining these extraordinary relics of remote
antiquity, Infadoos came up, and having saluted the "Silent Ones" by
lifting his spear, asked us if we intended entering the "Place of
Death" at once, or if we would wait till after we had taken food at
mid-day. If we were ready to go at once, Gagool had announced her
willingness to guide us. As it was not later than eleven
o'clock--driven to it by a burning curiosity--we announced our
intention of proceeding instantly, and I suggested that, in case we
should be detained in the cave, we should take some food with us.
Accordingly Gagool's litter was brought up, and that lady herself
assisted out of it. Meanwhile Foulata, at my request, stored some
"biltong," or dried game-flesh, together with a couple of gourds of
water, in a reed basket with a hinged cover. Straight in front of us,
at a distance of some fifty paces from the backs of the Colossi, rose a
sheer wall of rock, eighty feet or more in height, that gradually
sloped upwards till it formed the base of the lofty snow-wreathed peak,
which soared into the air three thousand feet above us. As soon as she
was clear of her hammock, Gagool cast one evil grin upon us, and then,
leaning on a stick, hobbled off towards the face of this wall. We
followed her till we came to a narrow portal solidly arched that looked
like the opening of a gallery of a mine.

Here Gagool was waiting for us, still with that evil grin upon her
horrid face.

"Now, white men from the Stars," she piped; "great warriors, Incubu,
Bougwan, and Macumazahn the wis