Finally the upstairs-and-downstairs passage seemed
coming to an end, for daylight again appeared ahead of
the two girls and Ozma replaced her wand in the bosom
of her gown. The last ten steps brought them to the
surface, where they found themselves surrounded by
such a throng of queer people that for a time they
halted, speechless, and stared into the faces that
confronted them.

Dorothy knew at once why these mountain people were
called Flatheads. Their heads were really flat on top,
as if they had been cut off just above the eyes and
ears. Also the heads were bald, with no hair on top at
all, and the ears were big and stuck straight out, and
the noses were small and stubby, while the mouths of
the Flatheads were well shaped and not unusual. Their
eyes were perhaps their best feature, being large and
bright and a deep violet in color.

The costumes of the Flatheads were all made of metals
dug from their mountain. Small gold, silver, tin and
iron discs, about the size of pennies, and very thin,
were cleverly wired together and made to form knee
trousers and jackets for the men and skirts and waists
for the women. The colored metals were skillfully mixed
to form stripes and checks of various sorts, so that
the costumes were quite gorgeous and reminded Dorothy
of pictures she had seen of Knights of old clothed
armor.