oof for baskets, articles of clothing, weapons, and implements of
various kinds; and a second cone, excavated in the ground with the vertex
downward, served as a storehouse for grain. The door was so low, that an
ordinary person must bend double to pass through it.

However, it was in the winter months only, when the rains were profuse,
that the owner of this respectable mansion condescended to creep into it.
In summer she had a drawing-room, as it may be called, of nature's own
creation, in which she lived, and in one quarter of which she had her
lair. Close above the hut was a high plot of level turf, surrounded by old
oaks, and fringed beneath with thick underwood. In the centre of this
green rose a yew-tree of primeval character. Indeed, the whole forest
spoke of the very beginnings of the world, as if it had been the immediate
creation of that Voice which bade the earth clothe itself with green life.
But the place no longer spoke exclusively of its Maker. Upon the trees
hung the emblems and objects of idolatry, and the turf was traced with
magical characters. Littered about were human bones, horns of wild
animals, wax figures, spermaceti taken from vaults, large nails, to which
portions of flesh adhered, as if they had had to do with malefactors,
metal plates engraved with strange characters, bottled blood, hair of
young persons, and old rags. The reader must not suppose any incantation
is about to follow, or that the place we are describing will have a
prominent place in what remains of our tale; but even if it be the scene
of only one conversation, and one event, there is no harm in describing
it, as it appeared on that occasion.

The old crone, who was seated in this bower of delight, had an expression
of countenance in keeping, not with the place, but with the furniture with
which it was adorned; that furniture told her trade. Whether the root of
superstition might be traced deeper still, and the woman and her traps
were really and directly connected with the powers beneath the earth, it
is impossible to determine; it is certain she had the will, it is certain
that that will was from their inspiration; nay, it is certain that she
thought she really possessed the communications which she desired; it is
certain, too, she so far deceived herself as to fancy that what she
learned by mere natural means came to her from a diabolical source. She
kept up an active correspondence with Sicca. She was consulted by numbers;