In Search of an Unknown Race — page 94: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

84 VAN. How this seemingly impassable barrier of mountain was to be surmounted Van could not conceive, nor was Martin any wiser than himself. His own previous entry into Itambez had been under very different circumstances. It will be remembered that Mr. Richard Briscoe and himself were the only survivors of the shipwreck on the coast of Peru. Making their way inland toward the nearest point of civilization, they had been taken prison- ers by a wandering and bloodthirsty tribe of Indians, who, having destined them for slaves, carried them into the interior, beyond the Peruvian boundaries. Fortunately, they were rescued by some friendly natives belonging within the province of Itambezi, and by them conducted through an apparently insurmount- able mountain pass, among the southern ranges. of the Cordilleras, to the city itself. But on the northern boundary there was no sign of break or pass excepting the terrible canyon, through which the Canuma, dividing the city, made its exit, and thence flowed between the table lands to the Canuma lake. The canyon itself was, of course, impassable. How— The silvery tinkle of a bell interrupted Van’s conjec- tures on this particular point, as, on the morning of the third day after leaving the lake, Quipo, the runner, commanded a halt on a gentle slope leading upward to the base of the mighty range whose sides showed no sign of human presence. Round a projecting spur camea train of small yellow- ish brown animals, suggestive of the western burro, or diminutive donkey, yet not in the least resembling them. Eomicghdooks.jco