y
the tribesmen, who, by the way, called themselves the "Children of
Thomas," were able to accumulate considerable wealth. All their disputes
were referred to their "father," and he also was judge of offences and
crimes. Some were punished by imprisonment, whipping, and loss of goods,
other and graver transgressions by expulsion from the community, a fiat
which to one of these favoured natives must have seemed as heavy as the
decree that drove Adam from the Garden of Eden.

Old Mr. Carson leaned upon his daughter's arm and contemplated the scene
with pride.

"I have done all this, Allan Quatermain," he said. "When renouncing
civilization, I wandered here by chance; seeking a home in the remotest
places of the world, I found this lonely spot a wilderness. Nothing
was to be seen except the site, the domes of the marble huts, and the
waterfalls. I took possession of the huts. I cleared the path of garden
land and planted the orange grove. I had only six natives then, but by
degrees others joined me, now my tribe is a thousand strong. Here we
live in profound peace and plenty. I have all I need, and I seek no
more. Heaven has prospered me so far--may it do so to the end, which for
me draws nigh. And now I am tired and will go back. If you wish to see
the old quarry and the mouth of the ancient mines, Stella will show them
to you. No, my love, you need not trouble to come, I can manage. Look!
some of the headmen are waiting to see me."

So he went; but still followed by Hendrika and Indaba-zimbi, we turned,
and, walking along the bank of one of the rivers, passed up behind the
marble kraals, and came to the quarry, whence the material of which they
were built had been cut in some remote age. The pit opened up a very
thick seam of the whitest and most beautiful marble. I know another
like it in Natal. But by whom it had been worked I cannot say; not
by natives, that is certain, though the builders of these kraals had
condescended to borrow the shape of native huts for their model. By
the way, the only relic of those builders that I ever saw was a highly
finished bronze pick-axe which Stella had found one day in the quarry.

After we had examined this quarry we climbed the slope of the hill
till we came to the mouth of the ancient mines which were situated in a
gorge. I believe them to have been silver mines. The gorge was long and
narrow, and the moment we entered it there rose from every side a sound
of groaning and bark