the midday sun
Its brilliance dazzled me , and it was only by shading my eyes with my palm that I could discern what the object was that bore it . Then , directly beneath the bright glare I gradually made out a gigantic face , glaring down upon me , a face carved with such wondrous art that , monstrous as it was , it appeared to live , and to be endowed with such awful malevolence that for a moment I shrank back in dismay . It was the face of a woman , but the body that it crowned was that of a snake , and was coiled round an ivory pillar rising from the platform . Marvelously fashioned of bronze , the face , with bared serpent fangs , bent down as though to strike : and set in a strangely fashioned diadem above the brows was a gigantic diamond , as large as a man 's head , and of such blinding luster that it was impossible to look closely at it as well try to gaze full at the midday sun . It was an idol , undoubtedly ; a Moloch waiting for a sacrifice ; and as my fascinated eyes at length left the face of terror , and passed down the coiled body and ivory pillar , I saw that the sacrifice was already there . For at the base lay a dead man , and his blood was scarcely dry upon the altar . He was fast bound with hide thongs to stanchions cut in the rock a man almost as white as myself , with long , straight black hair , and clothed in clean white flowing robes .