To his surprise he hit upon the remnants of a roadway--that is, a line through the wood where there were no well-grown trees, where the ground bore traces of humanity in the shape of a wrinkled and mildewed pair of Chinese boots, a wooden sandal, even the decayed remains of a palki, or litter.
At last he reached the edge of the pit, and the sight that met his eyes held him spellbound.
The labor of many hands had torn a chasm, a quarry, out of the side of the hill.

Roughly circular in shape, it had a diameter of perhaps a hundred feet, and at its deepest part, towards the cliff, it ran to a depth of forty feet.

On the lower side, where the sailor stood, it descended rapidly for some fifteen feet.
Grasses, shrubs, plants of every variety, grew in profusion down the steep slopes, wherever seeds could find precarious nurture, until a point was reached about ten or eleven feet from the bottom.

There all vegetation ceased as if forbidden to cross a magic circle.
Below this belt the place was a charnel-house.

The bones of men and animals mingled in weird confusion.