day rather than the remains of a people of whom we
know not even the name."

"What you have seen, exceeds in finish our discoveries," said Howe.

"Yes: we found there stranger things still," continued the curate.
"Ranged around three sides of the room, at regular intervals, were
knobs like the one on the door by which we entered, and on pressing one
with considerable force it slowly opened, and within we discovered a
small, low niche in which lay a corpse as perfect as if just deposited
there. It was that of a young woman with symmetrical form, dimpled
cheeks and flowing hair, decorated in rich habiliments of gorgeous
dyes, her waist encircled by a zone of diamonds, and her arms with
bracelets of precious stones. Wonder stricken at what we saw we gazed
in silence upon her, and while we gazed the body slowly crumbled away
and in half an hour it had dissolved in air leaving but a handful of
dust and the glittering gems that had decked her a bride of death, to
mark the spot where she lay. Turning another knob another door opened
like the previous ones, and in a niche before us lay a warrior in the
prime of manhood. He was very tall and muscular, a perfect Hercules in
proportions, with a broad, massive forehead and prominent features. He
was attired in a sort of uniform of curious workmanship. This
apparition vanished quicker than the other, owing probably, to the room
being better filled with fresh air. We had, without doubt, lighted on a
mausoleum of the lost people; and wishing to preserve the rest of the
niches for scientific investigation, we did not open any more. With
reverence we left the bodies of the builders of these ruins to their
repose.

"Proceeding onward we came, in two more days, to a high table land, on
which was a place known as Gran Quivira. It is now in ruins, but bears
the appearance of once having been a large populous city, regularly
laid out in streets at right angles. The city is about three miles
long, running from north-east, to north-west, and nearly a mile in
breadth. It is built of stone hewn and accurately fitted together. Some
of the houses are still standing, though the greater part of them are
thrown down. Entering one of these which exhibited signs of original
magnificence amidst the crumbling ruins around it, we found ourselves
in a capacious hall, the walls of which were covered with paintings of
which a faint tinge of distinct coloring was visible, but as the
figures had been cut i