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TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN
91

with bowlders of uniform size and weighing, perhaps, fifty pounds each. Two slaves easily carried such a bowlder when it was slung in a rope hammock and as thousands of slaves were em­ployed the work progressed with rapidity. The circular base, with a diameter of one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, having been outlined, another, smaller circle was laid about ten feet in­side the first, four openings being left in each circle to mark the location of the four entrances to the completed building and corresponding to the four principal cardinal points of the compass. The walls of the entrances were then outlined upon the ground with similar large bowlders, these be­ing a little more carefully selected for uniformity, after which the four enclosures thus formed were packed closely with bowlders. The corridors and chambers of the first floor were then outlined and the spaces between filled with bowlders, each be­ing placed with the utmost care and nicety in relation to those touching it and those that should rest upon it when the second course was laid, for these were to support a tremendous weight when the edifice was completed. The corridors were generally three feet wide, the equivalent of twelve feet by our standards, while the chambers varied in dimensions according to the uses to which they were to be put. In the exact center of the build­ing a circular opening was left that measured ten feet in diameter and this was carried upward as