The evening shadows grew apace; but before darkness came on, Kerœcia prepared the pipes, which were to be lighted as an offering to fire.
Igniting the first one, a fragile porcelain bowl with an amber mouthpiece, she first drew three puffs out of the pipe, and then emptied the ashes on a platter of beaten silver. Dexterously replenishing the tobacco and substituting an ivory mouthpiece, she passed it to Yermah. He followed her example, and replacing the ivory with tortoise-shell, handed the pipe to Akaza.
The priestesses and the remainder of the company did likewise, always substituting one stick for another until all had smoked and each had a souvenir which was believed to bring good luck. The ashes were placed in the urn with the rose ashes collected from the ark—and the great Monbas festival was over.
Kerœcia was not a Monbas. Her people were known to the Atlantians as Ians; to the Persians, they were Scythians; to the Medes, they were known as Suani; to the early Europeans, they were Visigoths, alternately feared and admired; while by later generations, they were called Circassians.
Theirs was the Vinland of the Norsemen and their empire extended over a large part of ancient Persia. They were old in civilization, before Nineveh and Babylon. Theirs was the land of Phrasus, where the Argonauts sailed after the siege of Troy. At that time, they had outlying colonies along the Siberian and extreme northwestern coast of America. The Aleutian group of islands was then an unbroken chain, with a climate as mild as any portion of the temperate zone.
Kerœcia, a pure-blooded Aryan, was the crown princess of the reigning house of Ian, and it was after her abduction that the famous fortification named by the Greeks, “Gates of Caucasus,” was built in the Darien Pass of the Caucasus Mountains leading out from Tiflis.
From the beginning of history, patriotism and beauty have been accredited these people. Mithridates and Schamyl are the heroes of later times. There is a tragic pathos in the self-immolation this remnant of half a million souls voluntarily underwent when they were conquered by Russia. After this event, they emigrated in a body and became Turkish exiles.
“Speak freely, as thou wouldst to a father,” said Akaza to Kerœcia, privately, the next morning, while the whole company were on their way to Bridal Veil Falls. “If our offer to arbitrate between thy people and Eko Tanga is displeasing to thee, consider all things unsaid.”
“It is a question my followers must decide for themselves. They need have no fear. I will never leave them. They stole me away when a child but I love them as my own.”
“Rumor has it that thy visit was compulsory—that the Monbas brought thee here intending to fortify the place and then refuse to receive Eko Tanga.”