r that
our name should be spoken. In short, Mr. Quatermain, we do not make our
lives, we must take them as we find them. Have you done your breakfast?
Let us go out, and I will show you our home."

I rose and went to my sleeping-place to fetch my hat. When I returned,
Mr. Carson--for after all that was his name, though he would never allow
it to be spoken--had come into the hut. He felt better now, he said, and
would accompany us on our walk if Stella would give him an arm.

So we started, and after us came Hendrika with Tota and old Indaba-zimbi
whom I found sitting outside as fresh as paint. Nothing could tire that
old man.

The view from the platform was almost as beautiful as that from the
lower ground looking up to the peak. The marble kraals, as I have said,
faced west, consequently all the upper terrace lay in the shadow of the
great peak till nearly eleven o'clock in the morning--a great advantage
in that warm latitude. First we walked through the garden, which was
beautifully cultivated, and one of the most productive that I ever saw.
There were three or four natives working in it, and they all saluted
my host as "Baba," or father. Then we visited the other two groups of
marble huts. One of these was used for stables and outbuildings, the
other as storehouses, the centre hut having been, however, turned into
a chapel. Mr. Carson was not ordained, but he earnestly tried to convert
the natives, most of whom were refugees who had come to him for shelter,
and he had practised the more elementary rites of the church for so long
that I think he began to believe that he really was a clergyman. For
instance, he always married those of his people who would consent to a
monogamous existence, and baptized their children.

When we had examined those wonderful remains of antiquity, the marble
huts, and admired the orange trees, the vines and fruits which thrive
like weeds in this marvellous soil and climate, we descended to the next
platform, and saw the farming operations in full swing. I think that it
was the best farm I have ever seen in Africa. There was ample water
for purposes of irrigation, the grass lands below gave pasturage for
hundreds of head of cattle and horses, and, for natives, the people were
most industrious. Moreover, the whole place was managed by Mr. Carson on
the co-operative system; he only took a tithe of the produce--indeed, in
this land of teeming plenty, what was he to do with more? Consequentl