tonishment as
they comprehended the vastness of the hidden treasures before them--a
treasure sufficient to enrich kingdoms. It might, for aught they knew,
cover miles in extent around of the same thickness; certainly what was
visible was unparalleled for purity and extent by any that had ever
been discovered. Heaps of quartz rock, in which particles of gold
glittered, strewed the bottom of the cavern as if they had been blocked
out and cast aside in digging the purer metal. Among these were found a
number of chisels made of a metal which, by reason of its being so
corroded, they could not make out. Mallets of stone were also found,
looking as if but lately used. These instruments had cheated time of
its prey, and lay there in their pristine distinctness a link binding
the past with the future. They also found an instrument which was
something like our pick-axe, and had evidently been used in dislodging
the treasure from its bed.

"The relics of the lost people whom the Great Spirit destroyed in his
anger!" said the chief.

"Rather say, the treasure-house where the natives obtained their
treasure before our people came to this continent, and for which
misguided Europeans put thousands to death for not revealing the
locality where the golden deposit lay!" said Howe.

While carelessly tumbling over the masses of rock that lay scattered
over the floor, they came to a circular helmet of copper, similar to
the one they had previously found; and by its side a javelin resembling
that found sticking in the petrified body in the cavern through which
they escaped from the cannibals. Stimulated by these discoveries they
began to search with earnestness and were soon rewarded by the
discovery of a quantity of bones, some of them still quite perfect,
sufficiently so for them to ascertain that they were those of a man,
and that he had been of extraordinary size. Pushing their exertions
farther on they came across a massive urn of pure gold bearing the
appearance of having been cut out of a solid lump. The brim was
elaborately wrought, as were also the handles and the three feet on
which it rested, leaving a space running through the middle perfectly
plain with the exception of several beautifully carved hieroglyphics
that were placed with great regularity and precision around the centre.
The trapper took the urn in his hands, and after clearing it from dust
and mould held it close to the torches and examined the hieroglyphics
long