In Search of an Unknown Race — page 151: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VAN. 139 CHAPTER XXL A STARTLING DISCOVERY. Mipnicut in Itambez! The glowing shield of the moon was showing its face over the mountain crests, bathing them in a sheen of silver that swept down the green slopes into the valley and city below, as the queen of night rose higher in the blue black of the arching sky. Street, courtyard and dwelling alike were flooded with an almost noonday splendor without its glare ; yet such was the silence, that it was like a city of the dead. On the river side close to the great stone bridge which spans the swift-flowing Canuma, a little company were assembled—a most unusual sight at such an hour. Drawn up to the edge of the granite walled embank- ment was a Jalsa or raft, of narrower build than those usually seen in South American waters, and slightly rounded at bothends. Near the bow and stern were two quite commodious cabins with arching roof. In one of these a number of necessaries as for a prolonged voyage were being placed by a couple of lithe, olive-complex- ioned men, whose peculiar dress and cast of features showed that they belonged to one of the river tribes of the Itambezi provinces. Four others stood silently apart, awaiting orders from the master or helmsman, who, stationed at thestern, held the shaft of the long steering oar in his muscular hands ready for action. Eomicboo ‘Ss (E(0) m