Also much strong drink was served, a kind of spirit distilled from grain, of which nearly all present drank more than was good for them.

After a few words to me about our journey, the Khania turned to Leo and talked to him for the rest of the evening, while I devoted myself to the old Shaman Simbri.
Put briefly, the substance of what I learned from him then and afterwards was as follows--Trade was unknown to the people of Kaloon, for the reason that all communication with the south had been cut off for ages, the bridges that once existed over the chasm having been allowed to rot away.

Their land, which was very large and densely inhabited, was ringed round with unclimbable mountains, except to the north, where stood the great Fire-peak.

The slopes of this Peak and an unvisited expanse of country behind that ran up to the confines of a desert, were the home of ferocious mountain tribes, untamable Highlanders, who killed every stranger they caught.

Consequently, although the precious and other metals were mined to a certain extent and manufactured into articles of use and ornament, money did not exist among the peoples either of the Plain or of the Mountain, all business being transacted on the principle of barter, and even the revenue collected in kind.
Amongst the tens of thousands of the aborigines of Kaloon dwelt a mere handful of a ruling class, who were said to be--and probably were--descended from the conquerors that appeared in the time of Alexander.