Let my litter be brought." The litter was brought and the king entered it with labouring breath.
Passing through the north gate of the Great Place, the party ascended a slope of the hill that lay beyond it till they reached a flat plain some hundreds of yards in width.

On this plain vegetation grew scantily, for here the bed rock of ironstone, denuded with frequent and heavy rains, was scarcely hidden by a thin crust of earth.

On the further side of the plain, however, and separated from it by a little stream, was a green bank of deep soft soil, beyond which lay a gloomy valley full of great trees, that for many generations had been the burying-place of the kings of the Amasuka.
"This is the house of the god," said the king.
"A strange house," answered Owen, "and where is he that dwells in it ?" "Follow me and I will show you, Messenger; but be swift, for already the sky grows dark with coming tempest." Now at the king's command the bearers bore him across the sere plateau towards a stone that lay almost in its centre.

Presently they halted, and, pointing to this mass, the king said:-- "Behold the god!" Owen advanced and examined the object.

A glance told him that this god of the Amasuka was a meteoric stone of unusual size.