Yermah the Dorado: The story of a lost race

by Frona Eunice Wait

Yermah wore a white chamois tunic, rich with gold embroideries, his head being covered with a helmet of the same metal. His mantle was a gorgeous feather mosaic of bronze green. In addition to a sword, he carried a circular shield of bronze, in the center of which was a dragon and in the outer edge were seven rings. The four seasons were also shown. The scenes represented plowing, seed-time, harvest, and winter surrounded by a meander symbolizing the ocean.

Kerœcia was enveloped in a mantle of ermine, lined with the soft gray breast of sea-gulls. On her head was a rainbow band of silk fastened in front by a jeweled aigrette. Both Kerœcia and Yermah wore the full decoration and insignia of their rank. The out-riders and attendants were mounted and equipped as befitted their station. Even Oghi, chained to the back of the chariot, seemed to enjoy the pageant.

The main entrance to Iaqua was on the south side, where the massive double-doors of the vestibule led to a terrace which was approached by broad, low steps. There were eight of these flights, and it required three more steps to reach the threshold which was of pink-veined marble. On each side of the rows of steps were slightly raised flat pedestals surmounted by groups of statuary of well-known Atlantian heroes. These burnished figures were made of that peculiar bronze amalgam, known only to the ancients, which never lost its original brilliancy, and being exceptionally hard was also of fine color.

There was a colonnade of massive marble pillars supporting a frieze and entablature. Above this was a flat roof surrounded by a parapet breast-high. The outside walls were of marble veneer unpolished and laid like rubble over the thick adobe bricks.

Once inside the vestibule, a scene of splendor greeted the eye. On the right, or eastern side of the entrance, was the rising sun-god driving his four horses out of the sea, the group being of flawless marble and of heroic size. The sunburst around the head of the figure, the trappings of the horses, and the trimmings of the chariot were of virgin gold.

On the left, or western side, the moon-goddess was represented as driving her horses into the sea. She was seated on the back of one and guiding the other six. This group was cut in black marble and profusely ornamented with silver.

The square vestibule was finished in hard woods, richly carved and polished. Rare and choice skins were stretched upon the inlaid floor, and there was a rose-jar of fine pottery at each side of the door. Richly carved chairs outlined the walls, while perfumed lamps hung above the mantel, beneath which glowed a bed of live coals. Placed over the blaze, on a thin glass rod, was a small ball of spongy platinum. The lamp was lighted and allowed to burn until the ball became a lurid red, after which the flame was extinguished, leaving the ball incandescent for a long time, gently heating the perfumed oil and sending a delicious fragrance throughout the room.

The vestibule opened into an interior court where a fountain played and birds of gay plumage kept up an incessant noise. Pet animals roamed at will. Seats were provided in the shady nooks and cushions for the tessellated floors. There was a colonnade in the inner court, similar in style to the outer one. The balcony overhead was of carved onyx surmounted by a veritable garden of rare plants in handsome pots, trellised and interlaced across the open space. A pyramidal fountain in an octagonal basin, placed in the center, was supported by eight huge bronze lions.

On the north, adjoining Yermah’s private apartments, were the reception rooms and banquet-halls. It was into the former that Kerœcia and her women were conducted while the men were made comfortable in the Hall of Ambassadors, to the west.

Here was a wainscoting of odoriferous cedar, carved as intricately as a sandal-wood fan, above which hung richly dyed tapestries of historical import, strips of silk embroidery and feather-work of indescribable beauty.