the sight of this mountain, drawing ever
nearer, vividly recalled his terrors and caused him to desire to efface
the bad impression he knew he had made on us, to whom he looked for
safety. Among other things he told us that the hole we saw was the door
of the House of the Motombo.

I nodded my head, but did not answer, for the presence of this murderous
king made me feel sick. So he went away again, looking at us in a humble
and deprecatory manner.

Nothing further happened until we reached the remarkable wall of rock
that I have mentioned, which I suppose is composed of some very
hard stone that remained when the softer rock in which it lay was
disintegrated by millions of years of weather or washings by the water
of the lake. Or perhaps its substance was thrown out of the bowels of
the volcano when this was active. I am no geologist, and cannot say,
especially as I lacked time to examine the place. At any rate there it
was, and there in it appeared the mouth of a great cave that I presume
was natural, having once formed a kind of drain through which the lake
overflowed when Pongo-land was under water.

We halted, staring dubiously at this darksome hole, which no doubt was
the same that Babemba had explored in his youth. Then the Kalubi gave
an order, and some of the soldiers went to huts that were built near the
mouth of the cave, where I suppose guardians or attendants lived,
though of these we saw nothing. Presently they returned with a number of
lighted torches that were distributed among us. This done, we plunged,
shivering (at least, I shivered), into the gloomy recesses of that great
cavern, the Kalubi going before us with half of our escort, and Komba
following behind us with the remainder.

The floor of the place was made quite smooth, doubtless by the action of
water, as were the walls and roof, so far as we could see them, for it
was very wide and lofty. It did not run straight, but curved about in
the thickness of the cliff. At the first turn the Pongo soldiers set up
a low and eerie chant which they continued during its whole length, that
according to my pacings was something over three hundred yards. On we
wound, the torches making stars of light in the intense blackness, till
at length we rounded a last corner where a great curtain of woven grass,
now drawn, was stretched across the cave. Here we saw a very strange
sight.

On either side of it, near to the walls, burned a large wood fire that
gave