Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
The building within the enclosure was of great size, its different parts
appearing to have been constructed at various periods, and each with
utter disregard to uniformity, resulting in a conglomeration of
connecting buildings and towers, no two of which were alike, though the
whole presented a rather pleasing, if somewhat bizarre appearance. The
building stood upon an artificial elevation about ten feet high,
surrounded by a retaining wall of granite, a wide staircase leading to
the ground level below. About the building were shrubbery and trees,
some of the latter appearing to be of great antiquity, while one
enormous tower was almost entirely covered by ivy. By far the most
remarkable feature of the building, however, lay in its rich and
barbaric ornamentation. Set into the polished granite of which it was
composed was an intricate mosaic of gold and diamonds; glittering stones
in countless thousands scintillated from façades, minarets, domes, and
towers.
The enclosure, which comprised some fifteen or twenty acres, was
occupied for the most part by the building. The terrace upon which it
stood was devoted to walks, flowers, shrubs, and ornamental trees, while
that part of the area below, which was within the range of Tarzan’s
vision, seemed to be given over to the raising of garden truck. In the
garden and upon the terrace were naked blacks, such as he had seen in
the village where he had left La. There were both men and women, and
these were occupied with the care of growing things within the
enclosure. Among them were several of the gorilla-like creatures such as
Tarzan had slain in the village, but these performed no labor, devoting
themselves, rather, it seemed, to directing the work of the blacks,
toward whom their manner was haughty and domineering, sometimes even
brutal. These gorilla-men were trapped in rich ornaments, similar to
those upon the body which now rested in a crotch of the tree behind the
ape-man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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