Akaza, the hierophant, was an interesting part of the picture as he stood at the mouth of this cavern. The white robe which he wore was made of paca wool, stiff and lustrous as silk, but thick and warm. It was embroidered with five-pointed and six-pointed silver stars, having diamonds in the center. On his thumb was a silver signet-ring. He wore bracelets of the same metal. At his waist was a sash of yellow silk, with double-key pattern outlined in silver. Over his shoulders was a purple cloth mantle, trimmed with a coarse blue tracery in lace pattern. The mouth of the cave faced due west, thus enabling Akaza to see the last glimmerings of daylight go out as the sun dropped, apparently, into the ocean or was swallowed up in the vaporous clouds or fog-banks each day. For many months Akaza had watched this process, and, since his return from the Yo-Semite, he had busied himself incessantly with astronomical calculations. “Pause here a moment,” he said to Yermah, after a hearty greeting. “One of the grandest symbols in nature stretches out before thee. Primordial substance is always represented by water flowing out of naught, or nothing.” He pointed toward the wide Pacific and looked at Yermah with a rapt expression. “As it flows, it gradually solidifies into mind, just as the earth was molten and then became solid.” Yermah stood inhaling the stiffening sea-breeze, and watching the waves cresting shoreward in ceaseless motion. “These waves scudding before the wind are exactly like our thoughts driven to a given point by force of will. It is to give further instruction on this matter of a fully controlled will that I have asked thee to give me attention to-day,” continued the old man, as he led the way into the cavern. There were swinging lamps, and a wide, open fireplace, so constructed that the smoke was emitted through a pointed-arch opening. With the charcoal fire and the swinging lamps, the interior was made quite comfortable. The stalactites, white and frosted, or discolored here and there from natural causes, made the walls and ceilings beautiful. Where an opening suggested partition, blankets, rugs and tapestries had been hung, and over the sanded floor were rush and grass mats in profusion. Around to the north, where the rocks still stand, the seals barked and roared as they do now, while the same species of birds came and went. An ingeniously arranged partial closing of heavy boards screened the occupants from the wind, but did not exclude the sunlight and fresh air. “This eight-spoked wheel represents the life of an initiate,” said Akaza. A round inlaid ivory wheel, supported by a porcelain tripod, was indicated. On its outer edge were the signs of the zodiac, chased in black, with a mother-of-pearl inlaying to indicate the spokes. A rough-edged parchment lay in the center, and Yermah’s quick eye saw that it was an orrery question, pertaining to Atlantis, drawn in colors.