inated among the foothills of
a range of mountains of very moderate height stretching right athwart
the path of the explorers. Among those foothills the party pitched
their camp at the end of the day's journey.

The next day's march conducted them into country the character of which
was different from any hitherto traversed by them. It was exceedingly
rugged and broken, treeless, the soil covered with a short, rich grass,
which would have rendered it ideal as grazing country, dotted here and
there with small clumps of bush, some of which were fruit-bearing, while
at frequent intervals great outcrops of metamorphic rock were met with,
which time and weather had in many cases wrought into extraordinary
shapes.

It was near noon when the party entered a narrow ravine bordered on
either side by vertical sandstone cliffs of about a hundred feet high,
and here they came to a halt and pitched their camp; for no sooner had
they fairly entered the ravine than they found themselves confronted by
a splendid example of those extraordinary sculptured rocks which have
excited the wonder and admiration of the few travellers in South America
who have been fortunate enough to find them.

In the present case the sculptured rock consisted of a stretch of
sandstone cliff about two hundred and fifty feet in length by about a
hundred feet in height, practically vertical, the entire surface of
which was covered with panels presenting a series of pictures portraying
what appeared to be a genealogical record of certain customs and
ceremonies, mostly of a religious character, of some gone and forgotten
race of people. The work was executed in fairly high relief, and the
drawing of the figures, of which there were thousands on the entire
sculptured surface, evidenced artistic ability of a truly remarkable
character, including a considerable knowledge of perspective. The
panels portraying religious ceremonies indicated that the sun and fire
were, or symbolised, the principal deities worshipped; and there was
abundant evidence that human sacrifice was common. All this was, of
course, absorbingly interesting to Earle, as was the light which the
sculptures threw upon the personal appearance and costumes of the people
portrayed. If the artist--or artists, for there must have been
thousands of them to have produced such a magnificent and colossal piece
of work--could be believed, the departed race boasted some exceptionally
fine examples of ma