and by the time I arrived it stood higher than my waist--a
beautiful, shaggy, golden pit.

"I jumped upon its rim and clung to it tightly. I could feel it growing
beneath me, as I sat. After a moment I climbed upon its top surface and
started to walk towards the point where I knew the scratch to be.

"I found myself now, as I looked about, walking upon a narrow, though
ever broadening, curved path. The ground beneath my feet appeared to be
a rough, yellowish quartz. This path grew rougher as I advanced. Below
the bulging edges of the path, on both sides, lay a shining black plain,
ridged and indented, and with a sunlike sheen on the higher portions of
the ridges. On the one hand this black plain stretched in an unbroken
expanse to the horizon. On the other, it appeared as a circular valley,
enclosed by a shining yellow wall.

"The way had now become extraordinarily rough. I bore to the left as I
advanced, keeping close to the outer edge. The other edge of the path I
could not see. I clambered along hastily, and after a few moments was
confronted by a row of rocks and bowlders lying directly across my line
of progress. I followed their course for a short distance, and finally
found a space through which I could pass.

"This transverse ridge was perhaps a hundred feet deep. Behind it and
extending in a parallel direction lay a tremendous valley. I knew then I
had reached my first objective.

"I sat down upon the brink of the precipice and watched the cavern
growing ever wider and deeper. Then I realized that I must begin my
descent if ever I was to reach the bottom. For perhaps six hours I
climbed steadily downwards. It was a fairly easy descent after the first
little while, for the ground seemed to open up before me as I advanced,
changing its contour so constantly that I was never at a loss for an
easy downward path.

"My feet suffered cruelly from the shaggy, metallic ground, and I soon
had to stop and rig a sort of protection for the soles of them from a
portion of the harness over my shoulder. According to the stature I was
when I reached the bottom, I had descended perhaps twelve thousand feet
during this time.

"The latter part of the journey found me nearing the bottom of the
canon. Objects around me no longer seemed to increase in size, as had
been constantly the case before, and I reasoned that probably my stature
was remaining constant.

"I noticed, too, as I advanced, a curious alteration in the form