الفصل الفصل 8 · WE ENTER KUKUANALAND

. WE ENTER KUKUANALAND

All that afternoon we travelled along the magnificent roadway, which

trended steadily in a north-westerly direction. Infadoos and Scragga

walked with us, but their followers marched about one hundred paces

ahead.

“Infadoos,” I said at length, “who made this road?”

“It was made, my lord, of old time, none know how or when, not even the

wise woman Gagool, who has lived for generations. We are not old enough

to remember its making. None can fashion such roads now, but the king

suffers no grass to grow upon it.”

“And whose are the writings on the wall of the caves through which we

have passed on the road?” I asked, referring to the Egyptian-like

sculptures that we had seen.

“My lord, the hands that made the road wrote the wonderful writings. We

know not who wrote them.”

“When did the Kukuana people come into this country?”

“My lord, the race came down here like the breath of a storm ten

thousand thousand moons ago, from the great lands which lie there

beyond,” and he pointed to the north. “They could travel no further

because of the high mountains which ring in the land, so say the old

voices of our fathers that have descended to us the children, and so

says Gagool, the wise woman, the smeller out of witches,” and again he

pointed to the snow-clad peaks. “The country, too, was good, so they

settled here and grew strong and powerful, and now our numbers are like

the sea sand, and when