The Last American | Page 8

heat we halted upon a little hill to
rest ourselves. While reclining beneath the trees I noticed unusual
carvings upon a huge block against which Lev-el-Hedyd was
supporting his back. They were unlike any we had seen, and yet they
were not unfamiliar. As I lay there gazing idly at them it flashed upon
me they were Egyptian. We at once fell to examining the block, and
found to our amazement an obelisk of Egyptian granite, covered with
Egyptian hieroglyphics of an antiquity exceeding by thousands of years
the most ancient monuments of the country!
Verily, we were puzzled!
"When did the Egyptians invade Mehrika?" quoth Bhoz-ja-khaz, with a
solemn look, as if trying to recall a date.
"No Egyptian ever heard of Mehrika," said Nofuhl. "This obelisk was
finished twenty centuries before the first Mehrikan was weaned. In all
probability it was brought here as a curiosity, just as we take to Persia
the bronze head of George-wash-yn-tun."
We spent much time over the monument, and I think Nofuhl was
disappointed that he could not bring it away with him. Also while in
this park we came to a high tower, standing by itself, and climbed to
the top, where we enjoyed a wide-spreading view.
The extent of the city is astounding.
Miles away in the river lay the Zlotuhb, a white speck on the water. All
about us in every direction as far as sight can reach were ruins, and
ruins, and ruins. Never was a more melancholy sight. The blue sky, the
bright sunshine, the sweet-scented air with the gay flowers and singing
birds only made it sadder. They seemed a mockery.
We have encamped for the night, and I can write no more. Countless
flying insects gather about us with a hateful buzz, and bite us beyond
endurance. They are a pest thrice accursed.
I tell Nofuhl his fine theory concerning the extinction of the Yahnkis is
a good tale for those who have never been here.
No man without a leather skin could survive a second night.

18th May

Poor Ja-khaz is worse than sick.

He had an encounter last night with a strange animal, and his defeat
was ignoble. The animal, a pretty thing, much like a kitten, was
hovering near when Ja-khaz, with rare courage and agility, threw
himself upon it.
And then what happened none of us can state with precision. We know
we held our noses and fled. And Ja-khaz! No words can fit him. He
carries with him an odor to devastate a province. We had to leave him
ashore and send him fresh raiment.
This is, verily, a land of surprises. Our hands and faces still smart from
the biting insects, and the perfume of the odorous kitten promises to be
ever with us.
Nofuhl is happy. We have discovered hundreds of metal blocks, the
poorest of which he asserts would be the gem of a museum. They were
found by Fattan-laiz-eh in the basement of a high building, all laid
carefully away upon iron shelves. The flood of light they throw upon
the manners and customs of this ludicrous people renders them of
priceless value to historians.
I harbor a suspicion that it causes Nofuhl some pleasure to sit upon the
cool deck of the Ziotuhb and watch Bhoz-ja-khaz walking to and fro
upon the ruins of a distant wharf.

19th May

The air is cooler. Grip-til-lah thinks a storm is brewing.
Even Nofuhl is puzzled over the wooden image we brought aboard
yesterday. It is well preserved, with the barbaric coloring still fresh
upon it. They found it standing upright in a little shop.
How these idols were worshipped, and why they are found in little
shops and never in the great temples is a mystery. It has a diadem of
feathers on the head, and as we sat smoking upon the deck this evening
I remarked to Nofuhl that it might be the portrait of some Mehrikan
noble. Whereupon he said they had no nobles. "But the Mehrikans of
gentle blood," I asked, "had they no titles?"
"Neither titles nor gentle blood," he answered. "And as they were all of
much the same origin, and came to this country simply to thrive more
fatly than at home, there was nothing except difference in wealth on
which to establish a superior order. Being deep respecters of money

this was a satisfying distinction. It soon resulted that those families who
possessed riches for a generation or two became the substitute for an
aristocracy. This upper class was given to sports and pastimes,
spending their wealth freely, being prodigiously fond of display. Their
intellectual development was feeble, and they wielded but little
influence save in social matters. They followed closely the fashions of
foreign aristocracies. Great attentions