That night we encamped upon a hilltop past which rushed a river in the vale below and were troubled with heat and insects that hummed and bit, for to these as yet I was not accustomed, and ate of the food that we had brought with us, dried flesh and corn.

Next morning with the light we started on again, up and down mountains and through more forests, following the course of the river and the shores of a lake.  So it went on until on the third evening from high land we saw the sea beneath us, a different sea from that which we had left, for it seemed that we had been crossing an isthmus, not so wide but that if any had the skill, a canal might be cut across it joining those two great seas.

Now it was that our real travels began, for here, after staring at the stars and brooding apart for a long while, Kari turned southwards.  With this I had nothing to do who did not greatly care which way he turned.  Nor did he speak to me of the matter, except to say that his god and such memory as remained to him through his time of madness told him that the land of his people lay towards the south, though very far away.

So southwards we went, following paths through the forests with the ocean on our right hand.  After a week of this wearisome marching we came to another tribe of natives of whose talk those with us could understand enough to tell them our story.  Indeed the rumour that a white god had appeared in the land out of the sea had already reached them, and therefore they were prepared to worship me.  Here our people left us, saying that they dared not go further from their own country.

The scene of the departure was strange, since every one of them came and rubbed his forehead in the dust before me and then went away, walking backwards and bowing.  Still their going did not make a great difference to us, since the new tribe was much as the old one, though if anything, rather less clothed and more dirty.  Also it accepted me as a god without question and gave us all the food we needed.  Moreover, when we left their land men were provided to carry the litters and the loads.

Thus, then, passing from tribe to tribe, we travelled on southward, ever southwards, finding always that the rumour of the coming of “the god” had gone before us.  So gentle were all these people, that not once did we meet with any who tried to harm us or to steal our goods, or who refused us the best of what they had.  Our adventures, it is true, were many.  Thus, twice we came to tribes that were at war with other tribes, though on my appearance they laid down their arms, at any rate, for a time, and bore our litters forward.

Again, sometimes we met tribes who were cannibals and then we suffered much from want of meat, since we dared not touch their food unless it were grain.  In the town of the first of these cannibal people, being moved with fury, I killed a man whom I found about to murder a child and eat her, sweeping off his head with my sword.  For this deed I expected that they would murder us, but they did not.  They only shrugged their shoulders and saying that a god can do as he pleases, took away the slain man and ate him.