VI

poor Lake and his party had seen their complete outlines⁠—

It is, of course, impossible for me to relate in proper order the stages by which we picked up what we know of that monstrous chapter of prehuman life. After the first shock of the certain revelation, we had to pause a while to recuperate, and it was fully three o’clock before we got started on our actual tour of systematic research.

The sculptures in the building we entered were of relatively late date⁠—perhaps two million years ago⁠—as checked up by geological, biological, and astronomical features⁠—and embodied an art which would be called decadent in comparison with that of specimens we found in older buildings, after crossing bridges under the glacial sheet.

One edifice hewn from the solid rock seemed to go back forty or possibly even fifty million years⁠—to the lower Eocene or upper Cretaceous⁠—and contained bas-reliefs of an artistry surpassing anything else, with one tremendous exception, that we encountered. That was, we have since agreed, the oldest domestic structure we traversed.