the way they had come; both ends faded into obscurity after a few
hundred yards. Right down the centre of this corridor ran a chasm
with perpendicular sides; its width varied from thirty to a hundred
feet, but its bottom could not be seen. On both sides of the chasm,
facing one another, were platforms of rock, twenty feet or so in
width; they too proceeded in both directions out of sight. Maskull
and Corpang emerged onto one of these platforms. The shelf opposite
was a few feet higher than that on which they stood. The platforms
were backed by a double line of lofty and unclimbable cliffs, whose
tops were invisible.

The stream, which had accompanied them through the gap, went straight
forward, but, instead of descending the wall of the chasm as a
waterfall, it crossed from side to side like a liquid bridge. It
then disappeared through a cleft in the cliffs on the opposite side.

To Maskull's mind, however, even more wonderful than this unnatural
phenomenon was the absence of shadows, which was more noticeable here
than on the open plain. It made the place look like a hall of
phantoms.

Corpang, without delay, led the way along the shelf to the left.
When they had walked about a mile, the gulf widened to two hundred
feet. Three large rocks loomed up on the ledge opposite; they
resembled three upright giants, standing motionless side by side on
the extreme edge of the chasm. Corpang and Maskull drew nearer, and
then Maskull saw that they were statues. Each was about thirty feet
high, and the workmanship was of the rudest. They represented naked
men, but the limbs and trunks had been barely chipped into shape--
the faces alone had had care bestowed on them, and even these faces