The sun blazed down upon
the whole scene. Just below was a sort of landing-place, where lay a
number of long, low boats, shaded with mats curved like the hood of a
waggon; a little farther out was a big quaint ship, with a high stern
and yellow sails. Beyond the river rose great hills, thickly clothed
with vegetation. In front of me, along the roadside, stood a number of
mud-walled huts, thatched with some sort of reeds; beyond these, on the
left, was the entrance of a larger house, surrounded with high walls,
the tops of trees, with a strange red foliage, appearing over the
enclosure, and the tiled roofs of buildings. Farther still were the
walls of a great town, huge earthworks crowned with plastered
fortifications, and a gate, with a curious roof to it, running out at
each end into horns carved of wood. At some distance, out of a grove to
the right, rose a round tapering tower of mouldering brickwork. The rest
of the nearer country seemed laid out in low plantations of some
green-leaved shrub, with rice-fields interspersed in the more level
ground.
There were only a few people in sight. Some men with arms and legs
bare, and big hats made of reeds, were carrying up goods from the
landing-place, and a number of children, pale and small-eyed, dirty and
half-naked, were playing about by the roadside.
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