ran
from the cave's mouth, crying, "Fire, fire!" and I saw him no more.

AN EXECUTION IN BATRUGIA

My next voyage was not so prosperous. By violent storms lasting seven
weeks, during which we saw neither the sun nor the stars, our ship was
driven so far out of its course that the captain had no knowledge of where
we were. At the end of that period we were blown ashore and wrecked on a
coast so wild and desolate that I had never seen anything so terrifying.
Through a manifest interposition of Divine Providence I was spared, though
all my companions perished miserably in the waves that had crushed the
ship among the rocks.

As soon as I was sufficiently recovered from my fatigue and bruises, and
had rendered thanks to merciful Heaven for my deliverance, I set out for
the interior of the country, taking with me a cutlas for protection
against wild beasts and a bag of sea-biscuit for sustenance. I walked
vigorously, for the weather was then cool and pleasant, and after I had
gone a few miles from the inhospitable coast I found the country open and
level. The earth was covered with a thick growth of crimson grass, and at
wide intervals were groups of trees. These were very tall, their tops in
many instances invisible in a kind of golden mist, or haze, which proved
to be, not a transient phenomenon, but a permanent one, for never in that
country has the sun been seen, nor is there any night. The haze seems to
be self-luminous, giving a soft, yellow light, so diffused that shadows
are unknown. The land is abundantly supplied with pools and rivulets,
whose water is of a beautiful orange color and has a pleasing perfume
somewhat like attar of rose. I observed all this without surprise and with
little apprehension, and went forward, feeling that anything, however
novel and mysterious, was better than the familiar terrors of the sea and
the coast.

After traveling a long time, though how long I had not the means to
determine, I arrived at the city of Momgamwo, the capital of the kingdom
of Batrugia, on the mainland of the Hidden Continent, where it is always
twelve o'clock.

The Batrugians are of gigantic stature, but mild and friendly disposition.
They offered me no violence, seeming rather amused by my small stature.
One of them, who appeared to be a person of note and consequence, took me
to his house (their houses are but a single story in height and built of
brass blocks), set food before me, and by signs manifested th