And now the question of habitation, and of human habitation, seemed to be solved.

Looking through my field-glass, I saw, following the windings of the river, what must surely be a road; serving also, perhaps, as an embankment, since it was raised many feet above the level of the stream.

It seemed, too, that the plain was cultivated.

Everywhere appeared extensive patches, each of a single colour, in every tint between deep red and yellowish green, and so distinctly rectangular in form as irresistibly to suggest the idea of artificial, if not human, arrangement.

But there were other features of the scene that dispelled all doubt upon this point.