ailants
would suffice to reduce us to starvation, or destroy us in detail.
Our security was that of a prison, and our freedom was limited to
its walls. Happily, however, for the present hour, this reflection
seemed to trouble no one. Objects of wonder and veneration grew
numerous to our gaze. Gigantic statues of ancient warriors, with
round shields, arched helmets, and square breast-plates, curiously
latticed and adorned, stood sculptured in high relief, with grave
faces and massive limbs, and in the regular order of columns around
the walls of this grand mausoleum. Many of them stood arrayed in
the crimson of the setting sun, which then flamed through the tall
fissure into the cavern; and the deep gloom into which long rows of
others utterly retired from our view, presented a scene at once of
mingled mystery and splendor. It was evidently a place of great and
recent resort, both for men and horses, for plentiful supplies of
fresh fodder for the latter were heaped in stone recesses; while
the ashes of numerous fires, mingled with discarded moccasins and
broken pipes and pottery, attested a domiciliary occupation by the
former. Farther into the interior, were found seats and
sleeping-couches of fine cane work; and in a spacious recess, near
the entrance, a large collection of the bones, both of the ox and
the deer, with hides, also, of both, but newly flayed and suspended
on pegs by the horns. These last evidences of good living had more
effect upon our hungry Indians than all the rest, and within an
hour after dark, while we were seeking our first sleep, four fine
deer were brought in by about a dozen of our party, whom we
supposed to have been faithfully guarding our citadel. It is
unnecessary to say that we gladly arose to the rich repast that
ensued, for we had eaten nothing but our scant allowance of
tortillas for many days, and were in the lassitude of famine."

Tempting as such extracts are, we must avoid them, and hasten through a
summary of subsequent events. There is one singular incident, however,
mentioned in the passage immediately following the above, possessing too
important a connexion with the final catastrophe to be pretermitted at
this place. Mr. Hammond, the Canadian engineer, fearing that the
peculiarity of his appearance, as a man of fair and ruddy complexio