It seemed presumption to raise my gun against any of the inhabitants of this spot where man seemed so mean, so strangely out of place.

Once I paused to cut back with my knife the creepers that hid in inextricable tangle a solitary and exquisitely carved archway.
But the archway led nowhere, its god and temple alike had perished, and already the plants have begun their tireless work again.
"Between the stretches of wilderness our road often led us across rushing streams, difficult to ford at this season, or up rocky ravines, that shut in with their towering walls all but a patch of blue overhead.

Emerging from these we would find ourselves on naked ledges where the sun's rays beat until the air seemed that of an oven.

At such spots the plain below spread itself out as a crumpled chart, whilst always above us, domed in the blue of a sapphire-stone, towered the goal of our hopes, serene and relentless.

But such places were not many.