In H. G. Wells’s story, the territory inhabited by blind people is located deep within a cleft in the high Ecuadorian Andes. The guide Nuñez stumbles upon them when he falls during an avalanche that buries a mountain-climbing expedition. While the valley’s people had lost their sight due to disease, they understand the cause as morally based in sinful behavior. For that reason, building a shrine at which they could pray for salvation and redemption was deemed crucial to curing the condition. By the time Nuñez arrives, fifteen generations have passed, during which the idea of sin has firmly replaced any notion of illness as the root cause. The valley’s people are no longer able to entertain any alternate explanation of their situation, and they resist any assertions to the contrary.
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