ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
other. A proof of this lay in the fact that they had arrived 
with such force that the base had split at the point of 
contact. As there was no hill above or near those rocks, 
there was little doubt that they had been flung there by 
volcanic action. 
We were in a region of extraordinary interest and 
surprises. In the plain which extended before us, stood 
two conical hills in the far northwest, and three other hills, 
dome-like, each isolated, but in a most perfect alignment 
with the others, towards the east. Close to us were giant 
domes of rock, the surface of which formed marvellous 
geometrical designs of such regularity that had they been 
on a smaller scale, one might have suspected them of being 
the work of human beings; but they were not, as we shall 
see presently. 
244 
