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The
sculptures
in
the
building
we
entered
were
of
relatively
late
date
--
perhaps
two
million
years
ago
--
as
checked
up
by
geological
,
biological
,
and
astronomical
features
--
and
embodied
an
art
which
would
be
called
decadent
in
comparison
with
that
of
specimens
we
found
in
older
buildings
after
crossing
bridges
under
the
glacial
sheet
.
One
edifice
hewn
from
the
solid
rock
seemed
to
go
back
forty
or
possibly
even
fifty
million
years
--
to
the
lower
Eocene
or
upper
Cretaceous
--
and
contained
bas-reliefs
of
an
artistry
surpassing
anything
else
,
with
one
tremendous
exception
,
that
we
encountered
.
That
was
,
we
have
since
agreed
,
the
oldest
domestic
structure
we
traversed
.
Were
it
not
for
the
support
of
those
flashlights
soon
to
be
made
public
,
I
would
refrain
from
telling
what
I
found
and
inferred
,
lest
I
be
confined
as
a
madman
.
Of
course
,
the
infinitely
early
parts
of
the
patchwork
tale
--
representing
the
preterrestrial
life
of
the
star-headed
beings
on
other
planets
,
in
other
galaxies
,
and
in
other
universes
--
can
readily
be
interpreted
as
the
fantastic
mythology
of
those
beings
themselves
;
yet
such
parts
sometimes
involved
designs
and
diagrams
so
uncannily
close
to
the
latest
findings
of
mathematics
and
astrophysics
that
I
scarcely
know
what
to
think
.
Let
others
judge
when
they
see
the
photographs
I
shall
publish
.
Naturally
,
no
one
set
of
carvings
which
we
encountered
told
more
than
a
fraction
of
any
connected
story
,
nor
did
we
even
begin
to
come
upon
the
various
stages
of
that
story
in
their
proper
order
.
Some
of
the
vast
rooms
were
independent
units
so
far
as
their
designs
were
concerned
,
whilst
in
other
cases
a
continuous
chronicle
would
be
carried
through
a
series
of
rooms
and
corridors
.
The
best
of
the
maps
and
diagrams
were
on
the
walls
of
a
frightful
abyss
below
even
the
ancient
ground
level
--
a
cavern
perhaps
two
hundred
feet
square
and
sixty
feet
high
,
which
had
almost
undoubtedly
been
an
educational
center
of
some
sort
.
There
were
many
provoking
repetitions
of
the
same
material
in
different
rooms
and
buildings
,
since
certain
chapters
of
experience
,
and
certain
summaries
or
phases
of
racial
history
,
had
evidently
been
favorites
with
different
decorators
or
dwellers
.
Sometimes
,
though
,
variant
versions
of
the
same
theme
proved
useful
in
settling
debatable
points
and
filling
up
gaps
.
I
still
wonder
that
we
deduced
so
much
in
the
short
time
at
our
disposal
.
Of
course
,
we
even
now
have
only
the
barest
outline
--
and
much
of
that
was
obtained
later
on
from
a
study
of
the
photographs
and
sketches
we
made
.
It
may
be
the
effect
of
this
later
study
--
the
revived
memories
and
vague
impressions
acting
in
conjunction
with
his
general
sensitiveness
and
with
that
final
supposed
horror-glimpse
whose
essence
he
will
not
reveal
even
to
me
--
which
has
been
the
immediate
source
of
Danforth
's
present
breakdown
.
But
it
had
to
be
;
for
we
could
not
issue
our
warning
intelligently
without
the
fullest
possible
information
,
and
the
issuance
of
that
warning
is
a
prime
necessity
.
Certain
lingering
influences
in
that
unknown
antarctic
world
of
disordered
time
and
alien
natural
law
make
it
imperative
that
further
exploration
be
discouraged
.
The
full
story
,
so
far
as
deciphered
,
will
eventually
appear
in
an
official
bulletin
of
Miskatonic
University
.
Here
I
shall
sketch
only
the
salient
highlights
in
a
formless
,
rambling
way
.
Myth
or
otherwise
,
the
sculptures
told
of
the
coming
of
those
star-headed
things
to
the
nascent
,
lifeless
earth
out
of
cosmic
space
--
their
coming
,
and
the
coming
of
many
other
alien
entities
such
as
at
certain
times
embark
upon
spatial
pioneering
.
They
seemed
able
to
traverse
the
interstellar
ether
on
their
vast
membranous
wings
--
thus
oddly
confirming
some
curious
hill
folklore
long
ago
told
me
by
an
antiquarian
colleague
.
They
had
lived
under
the
sea
a
good
deal
,
building
fantastic
cities
and
fighting
terrific
battles
with
nameless
adversaries
by
means
of
intricate
devices
employing
unknown
principles
of
energy
.
Evidently
their
scientific
and
mechanical
knowledge
far
surpassed
man
's
today
,
though
they
made
use
of
its
more
widespread
and
elaborate
forms
only
when
obliged
to
.
Some
of
the
sculptures
suggested
that
they
had
passed
through
a
stage
of
mechanized
life
on
other
planets
,
but
had
receded
upon
finding
its
effects
emotionally
unsatisfying
.
Their
preternatural
toughness
of
organization
and
simplicity
of
natural
wants
made
them
peculiarly
able
to
live
on
a
high
plane
without
the
more
specialized
fruits
of
artificial
manufacture
,
and
even
without
garments
,
except
for
occasional
protection
against
the
elements
.
It
was
under
the
sea
,
at
first
for
food
and
later
for
other
purposes
,
that
they
first
created
earth
life
--
using
available
substances
according
to
long-known
methods
.
The
more
elaborate
experiments
came
after
the
annihilation
of
various
cosmic
enemies
.
They
had
done
the
same
thing
on
other
planets
,
having
manufactured
not
only
necessary
foods
,
but
certain
multicellular
protoplasmic
masses
capable
of
molding
their
tissues
into
all
sorts
of
temporary
organs
under
hypnotic
influence
and
thereby
forming
ideal
slaves
to
perform
the
heavy
work
of
the
community
.
These
viscous
masses
were
without
doubt
what
Abdul
Alhazred
whispered
about
as
the
"
Shoggoths
"
in
his
frightful
Necronomicon
,
though
even
that
mad
Arab
had
not
hinted
that
any
existed
on
earth
except
in
the
dreams
of
those
who
had
chewed
a
certain
alkaloidal
herb
.
When
the
star-headed
Old
Ones
on
this
planet
had
synthesized
their
simple
food
forms
and
bred
a
good
supply
of
Shoggoths
,
they
allowed
other
cell
groups
to
develop
into
other
forms
of
animal
and
vegetable
life
for
sundry
purposes
,
extirpating
any
whose
presence
became
troublesome
.
With
the
aid
of
the
Shoggoths
,
whose
expansions
could
be
made
to
lift
prodigious
weights
,
the
small
,
low
cities
under
the
sea
grew
to
vast
and
imposing
labyrinths
of
stone
not
unlike
those
which
later
rose
on
land
.
Indeed
,
the
highly
adaptable
Old
Ones
had
lived
much
on
land
in
other
parts
of
the
universe
,
and
probably
retained
many
traditions
of
land
construction
.
As
we
studied
the
architecture
of
all
these
sculptured
palaeogean
cities
,
including
that
whose
aeon-dead
corridors
we
were
even
then
traversing
,
we
were
impressed
by
a
curious
coincidence
which
we
have
not
yet
tried
to
explain
,
even
to
ourselves
.
The
tops
of
the
buildings
,
which
in
the
actual
city
around
us
had
,
of
course
,
been
weathered
into
shapeless
ruins
ages
ago
,
were
clearly
displayed
in
the
bas-reliefs
,
and
showed
vast
clusters
of
needle-like
spires
,
delicate
finials
on
certain
cone
and
pyramid
apexes
,
and
tiers
of
thin
,
horizontal
scalloped
disks
capping
cylindrical
shafts
.
This
was
exactly
what
we
had
seen
in
that
monstrous
and
portentous
mirage
,
cast
by
a
dead
city
whence
such
skyline
features
had
been
absent
for
thousands
and
tens
of
thousands
of
years
,
which
loomed
on
our
ignorant
eyes
across
the
unfathomed
mountains
of
madness
as
we
first
approached
poor
Lake
's
ill-fated
camp
.
Of
the
life
of
the
Old
Ones
,
both
under
the
sea
and
after
part
of
them
migrated
to
land
,
volumes
could
be
written
.
Those
in
shallow
water
had
continued
the
fullest
use
of
the
eyes
at
the
ends
of
their
five
main
head
tentacles
,
and
had
practiced
the
arts
of
sculpture
and
of
writing
in
quite
the
usual
way
--
the
writing
accomplished
with
a
stylus
on
waterproof
waxen
surfaces
.
Those
lower
down
in
the
ocean
depths
,
though
they
used
a
curious
phosphorescent
organism
to
furnish
light
,
pieced
out
their
vision
with
obscure
special
senses
operating
through
the
prismatic
cilia
on
their
heads
--
senses
which
rendered
all
the
Old
Ones
partly
independent
of
light
in
emergencies
.
Their
forms
of
sculpture
and
writing
had
changed
curiously
during
the
descent
,
embodying
certain
apparently
chemical
coating
processes
--
probably
to
secure
phosphorescence
--
which
the
bas-reliefs
could
not
make
clear
to
us
.
The
beings
moved
in
the
sea
partly
by
swimming
--
using
the
lateral
crinoid
arms
--
and
partly
by
wriggling
with
the
lower
tier
of
tentacles
containing
the
pseudofeet
.
Occasionally
they
accomplished
long
swoops
with
the
auxiliary
use
of
two
or
more
sets
of
their
fanlike
folding
wings
.
On
land
they
locally
used
the
pseudofeet
,
but
now
and
then
flew
to
great
heights
or
over
long
distances
with
their
wings
.
The
many
slender
tentacles
into
which
the
crinoid
arms
branched
were
infinitely
delicate
,
flexible
,
strong
,
and
accurate
in
muscular-nervous
coordination
--
ensuring
the
utmost
skill
and
dexterity
in
all
artistic
and
other
manual
operations
.
