At least it would have been the most desolate if I did not chance to have looked on it before, in the drawing-room of Ragnall Castle! There was no doubt about it.

Below was the black, melancholy lake, a large sheet of water surrounded by reeds.
Around, but at a considerable distance, appeared the tropical forest.

To the east of the lake stretched a stony plain.

At the time I could make out no more because of the uncertain light and the distance, for we had still over a mile to go before we reached the edge of the lake.
The aspect of the place filled me with tremblings, both because of its utter uncanniness and because of the inexplicable truth that I had seen it before.

Most people will have experienced this kind of moral shock when on going to some new land they recognize a locality as being quite familiar to them in all its details.