Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the
tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain brought
on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we
stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded
with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They
strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words with
one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a noble-appearing
race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The men were heavily
bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and more gracefully
molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into loose knots upon
their heads. The features of both sexes were well proportioned—there
was not a face among them that would have been called even plain if
judged by earthly standards. They wore no ornaments; but this I later
learned was due to the fact that their captors had stripped them of
everything of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single robe of
some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to a
leopard’s skin. This they wore either supported entirely about the
waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the knee on
one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet
were shod with skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of
some shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before and behind nearly
to the ground. In some instances these ends were finished with the
strong talons of the beast from which the hides had been taken.
Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, were
rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were indeed
mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned more in
conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered
with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those
of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the
museums at home.
Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above
and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit less human
than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth which
reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin cloth of the
same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of some
mammoth creature of this inner world.
Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal—silver
predominating—and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles
in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among themselves as
they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I
perceived differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When
they addressed the latter they used what appeared to be a third
language, and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue rather
analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account