Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-14
which we now found ourselves,

WHICH Wo now 1OunO ourselves, that wound up from terrace to terrace. my eye lit upon the crowning wonder of the scene. For in the center of tho topmost platform or terrace, which may have inclosed eight or ten acres of ground, and almost surrounded by groves of orange trees, gleamed buildings of which had never seen the like. There were three groups of them, one in the middle and one on either side, and little to the rear, but, as afterwards discovered, the plan of all was the same. In the center was an cdi- fec constructed like an ordinary Zulu hut-that is to say, in tho shape of a beehive, only it was five times the size of any hut l ever saw, and built of blocks of hewn white marble, fitted together with extraordinary knowledge of tho principles and properties of arch build ing, and with so much accuracy and fin ish that 1t was often difficult to find the fronts of the massive blocks. From this center hut ran three covered passages leading to other buildings of an exactly similar character, only smaller, and each whole block was inclosed by marble
 wall about four feet in height Of course we were as yet too far oil to see all these details, but the general
 outline I saw at once, and it astonished
 mo considerably. Even old Indaba-zim- bi, whom the baboon-woman had been
 unable to move, deigned to show won
 der.
 ''Ohi' he said; this is place of mar vols. Who ever saw kraals built of
 white stone?"
 Stella watched our faces with an ex- pression of intense amusement, but
 said nothing.
 "Did your father build those kraals?"
 I gasped at length.
 My father! no, of course not" she answered. "How would 1t have been possible for one white man to do so, or 1 to have made this road? He found them
 as you see."
 "Who built them. then?" said again. Fl do not know. My father thinks that they are very ancient, for the l people who live here now do not know how to lay one stone upon another, and these huts are so wonderfully con- ] structed that, though they must have 1 stood for ages, not a stone of them has 1 fallen. But can show you the quarry 1 where the marble was cut; 1t is close l by, and behind it is the entrance to an ancient mine, which my father thinks 1 was & silver mine. Perhaps the people l who worked the mine built the marble huts. The world is old, and no doubt 1 plenty of people have lived in 1t and l been forgotten"
 l. Then we rode on in silence. have
 seen many beautiful sights in Africa, and in such matters, as in others, com ,parisons are odious and worthless, but i l do not think that I ever saw love- : !lier scene. It was no one thing-it was 1 the combination of tho mighty peak looking forth on the everlasting plains, ] the great cliffs, the waterfalls that .isparkled in rainbow hues, the rivers ] ,girdling the rich, cultivated lands, the
 gold-specked green of the orange trees, 1.-the flashing domes of the marble huts and a thousand other things. Then iover all brooded the peace ot evening, and the infinite glory of the sunset that filled heaven with changing hues of splendor, that wrapped the mountain and cliffs in cloaks of purple and of gold and lay upon the quiet face of the water like the smile of god.
 , Perhaps also the contrast and the memory of those three awful days and nights in the hopeless desert enhanced
 the charm, and perhaps the beauty of
 the girl who walked beside mo com
 .pleted 1t. For of this I am sure, that
 of all sweet and lovely things that l and the loveliest. An, it did not take mo long to find my fate. How long will
 it be before find her once again?