Previous to its abandonment the valley, which is about seventeen English miles in length, and half as many in width, was for the most part devoted to the cultivation of grains and fruits. For the convenience of those dwelling on either side it became necessary to bridge the little river. Those substantial piers of stone and iron, attest to the dimension and stability of the structure of nearly two centuries ago. Where the river empties into the lake was another and more imposing bridge, and there we perceive a number of great white piers, like ghostly sentinels, keeping watch over the ruins of a once populous city, extending from the bridge to far along the eastern and western shores of the lake. The name of the city was Pētûs[a:][a:] Tylû. In your language Pētûs[a:][a:] signifies pearl. Hence, Pētûs[a:][a:] Tylû signifies City of Pearls, so named because of certain pearl-bearing mollusks inhabiting the lake and river. In Pētûs[a:][a:] Tylû were magnificent temples and institutions of learning, and its private residences, were surpassingly beautiful. Its various industries flourished and prosperity smiled upon a cultivated and opulent community. Suddenly an ominous oppressiveness weighted the atmosphere, and, nature aghast, was as silent as death. Then from toward the south came a seismic wave, the ground trembled, heaved and burst asunder into yawning fissures, towering temples crashed to the ground in fragments, and public buildings and private dwellings were shaken from their foundations in ruinous masses. Fire added to the horror of the catastrophe and no one attempted to stay the conflagration. Terror-stricken, all who survived the sudden disaster strove to escape from the deadly peril to a place of safety. At intervals, during two days and nights, the appalling shocks continued, and it was estimated that fully one-third of the population of Pētûs[a:][a:] Tylû, and the valley perished outright, or died from injuries, terror and exposure. After the subsidence of the seismic disturbances the survivors returned to look after their dead, and, peradventure, to find some remnants of their belongings; but so effectually had fire and destructive elements done their work, that but few of their dead were recovered, and only the ruins of their beautiful city remained. Ever since that dread visitation, at intervals in this locality slight seismic shocks have occurred, and no one has been found adventurous enough to attempt to dwell in it.