Part 16 (1/2)

And noe approached soe, which, froiven on Marco Polo's chart, Hartog declared to be the Ruby Mountains

As we approached the cliffs, a bold headland, which stood between us and a view of the coast beyond, assumed the appearance of a lion's head The resehty hand of Nature had hewn a colossus frouard the entrance into this land

Upon rounding this remarkable promontory, we found ourselves opposite a beach bordered by a broad line of surf, which indicated that the water here was very shallow for some distance from the shore Both the surf and the beach seemed to be alive with black children, so diminutive were the forms who disported themselves in the breakers, or ran up and down upon the sand with the eagerness and agility generally displayed by boys at the seaside As to the real ages of these people, however, ere not left long in doubt Four canoes put off froside They weretheir srown ns to them to come aboard, but they were evidently in doubt whether or not to accept our invitation We then threw out to thes of beads, at which they showed great satisfaction These little ent race Their bodies were se They wore no beards, but their hair was curly like the Kafirs, so it tied to the neck in a knot, and others letting it fall loose down to the waist All of theh their noses to carry fish bones, polished white Sos of huth, five, bolder than the rest, ventured aboard They did not appear to be afraid, and what astonished us e of us They o ashore, and one of them, who appeared to be a chief, atte him with a kind of hammer with a wooden handle, and at one end a black conch shell Janstins laughingly disaronist, which seeht thes and cloves, thinking to please theh they appeared surprised that we should offer theh, who had so aainordered the pinnace to be ainst treachery

But we had not come within musket shot of the beach when the water became so shallow that we could not take the boat any farther, whereupon a number of us stepped out into the shallows, up to our waists in mud and kelp, and with soreat force

On the beach we noticed fresh hureat stature They were twice as long as the footprints wea short distance into the woodsa vast nurass, so cramped that a man of ordinary size could not creep into themies We afterwards tried to penetrate somewhat farther into the wood, in order to ascertain the nature and situation of the country, when, on coes, none of theh; cah to attack us On the neck of each giant sat one of the pyguide a charger The pygreat fury, by which Janstins ounded, and one of theWe were all hard pressed, so I ordered a volley to be fired, which killed one of the giants, so that the others dragged the deadso far fro a very difficult path to travel, we deter what had occurred

Hartog, upon learning what had befallen us, resolved to make no further overtures of peace to these treacherous natives, who appeared to be more like wild beasts than men, and who, by their conduct, had placed themselves beyond all claireater intelligence than the giants, whom they used as ordinary men would use horses or beasts of burden It was for this reason that the little chief had attempted to drive Janstins into the sea with his conch-shell haiant who the afternoon so, as they thought, at a safe distance from the shi+p In order to convince them of the error of this, however, and to punish the ordered our brass bow-chaser to be loaded with grape, and fired areat consternation, and sent the their dead and wounded with thee of mountains which we could see not far distant from the coast, in order to ascertain the truth, or otherwise, of the existence of rubies in the valleys as set forth in Marco Polo's account of this country Although we had carefully looked for these gemies, we had not seen any, fro procured the rubies must have been of a different race, or possibly his own sailors Toward evening we observed a large bird in the sky, which Hartog, with the aid of his spy-glass, pronounced to be a white eagle

CHAPTER XLII

THE VALLEY OF SERPENTS

We now equipped an expedition to explore the Ruby Mountains, of which I was appointed leader Hartog wished to come with us, but I persuaded hi how the Spaniards had, on a former occasion, pirated the vessel, he could not deny

”You are right, Peter,” he said, e had argued the o, and, since I am captain of the 'Golden Seahorse', I clearly perceive h fair and foul”

Thethus concluded, I took command of the party for the shore In the forenoon ed for the beach in two pinnaces, well manned and armed In all the places where we had landed we had treated the blacks with kindness, offering thes of beads, and pieces of cloth, hoping by these means to win their friendshi+p, and to be allowed to explore the country; but, in spite of our friendly overtures, the blacks received us everywhere as eneiants We therefore deter useless efforts for peace, but to meet force with force Twelve es ere likely to encounter during a day's ht with us so frohts into the valleys below, for I did not place les and the pieces of fresh meat as a means to procure the rubies which it was said ashed down by torrential rains at certain seasons If rubies were to be obtained, I argued, it must be by a more practical method than that employed by Marco Polo's ive Polo's experiment a trial

After our recent brush with the natives these wild n of them on our way to theThe sides of these mountains are rocky, with no verdure of any kind upon therows in patches When we came to the top of one of these hills, we looked down a sheer cliff into the valley I never before saw any place so inaccessible to s, it appeared, could descend into those depths After exploring the mountains for the best part of an hour, however, we came to a position where it was possible, with caution, to descend for some distance, and by aid of our rope, one end of which we fastened to rocks or stubble as opportunity offered, we succeeded in reaching a cliff from which there was a drop of not more than two hundred feet This I calculated to be the entire length of the rope we had brought with us, by which I resolved to be lowered Bantu that the risk was too great; but I was detero back without being able to make some report of the valley we had undertaken to explore, and a descent by means of the rope seeest any other

I now knotted at one end of the rope a cradle in which I could sit

while being lowered, and so long as the rope held, of which there appeared to be no reason to doubt, for ht ithin its co ainst accident, I was let down from the top of the cliff to what looked like the dried-up course of a stream composed of pebbles and wash-dirt The whole valley presented the h cliffs by which it was surrounded rose like perpendicular walls, casting deep shadows, so that the sun's rays never penetrated to the floor, for which reason it was destitute of verdure, barren to the eye, and depressing to the senses As I descended it seeotten to an to explore the course of the streah it was noonday, was not greater than twilight, and I found so of what the bed of the strea on all fours I was able to for the wash-dirt I found a nuained at Aht that proreat value

I now became so absorbed in s was forgotten The greed of gain obsessed athered the precious stones into ed this desolate valley for the most beautiful spot on earth

But I was soon to learn how the wealth of the world is for ever encoers that ot not of A shout drew aze which drove all thoughts of ruby-hunting from my mind, and made self-preservation my only concern

The rope by which I had descended, relieved of ht, swayed like a serpent endoith life, and for this reason, perhaps, it was being fiercely attacked, about les which tore at the hemp with beak and claws I ran to the cradle; but I had barely come to it when the rope parted, a hundred feet ordown to where I stood scarcely able, as yet, to realize the extent of the disaster which had overtaken me A return to the shi+p for a fresh rope would occupy, I knew, six hours at the least, provided es, and I shuddered to think whatsuch a period of enforced solitude in this dreadful place I shouted to my comrades on top of the cliff, who answered me, but it was impossible to understand as said I noticed, however, that some had already set off on a return to the shi+p, as I conjectured, for a fresh rope; while others continued to watch me Thus I did not feel so deserted as I would otherwise have done, though I dreaded the weary hours before me, particularly when it should become dark, as would happen sooner here than above

And now, to add tosound which seemed to come from all around me, first from one quarter and then from another The air seemed to menace me with the hisses that were borne upon it Then, in spite of the gloo A nu out of the crevices of the rocks around, andtheh they paused, irresolute, at the sound ofcloser every th, black and veno One monstrous reptile of the constrictor species continued to watch ue darting in and out of itsme Endurance has its limits--I could bear no more Death or madness awaited les, the cause of my mishap, now proved my salvation They descended upon the serpents like bolts fro them off in their talons to the mountain tops, there to be devoured at their leisure The dark valley beca serpents, in the midst of which pandemonium I mercifully lost consciousness

When I ca was beside me It was pitch dark, but he carried a shi+p's lantern in his hand