umbering more than a
hundred, and facing the river. They stood a hundred yards from the
water, and being at the top of the sloping bank were above the reach of
the most violent freshet that ever came down from the mountain-fed
sources of the mighty Xingu.

The ground in front of this novel town was cleared of all trees and
undergrowth, but for most of the space was covered with bright green
grass; the whole having the appearance of a well-kept lawn that had
been artificially sodded or strewn with seed, which flourished with the
luxuriance of every species of vegetation in that tropic country.

Not only in front, but on the sides and to the rear, for an extent of
more than a hundred acres, the earth had been cleared with equal
thoroughness and was growing abundant crops of cotton, tobacco, and
edibles peculiar to the region.

The houses were separated by a space of several rods, so that the town
itself extended a long way along the water. The dwellings, like those
of the Aryks, consisted of a single story, with the door in the middle
of the front, a window-like opening on each side of the same, roofed
over with poles, covered with earth, leaves and grass, that were
impervious to wind and storm.

It seemed to the astonished whites that the entire population had
gathered along the shore to receive them. Several strange sights
impressed them. The men were large, sinewy, bushy-haired and athletic.
Some sported bows and arrows, but the majority by far carried the
spears which the explorers held in such dread. There was no native, so
far as they could see, who was the equal in size and strength of
Ziffak, but they were so much the superiors of any natives encountered
since leaving the Amazon, that it was easy to understand how they were
the lords and masters of all the tribes with which they came in
conflict.

We have spoken of the Murhapa houses as being but a single story in
height. There was a single exception. In the middle of the town was a
broader and larger structure than the others. It was two stories high
and so much more marked in every respect that it was easy to decide
that it was the residence or palace of Haffgo, the king of these people.

Another singular feature was noticed by our friends as they stepped
from their canoe. Among the natives, who were mostly as dark of skin
as Africans, was a sprinkling so different that the inference was that
they belonged to some other race, or that nature was a