in an open space and at its
farther side stood low, stone houses built against the rock. In front
of these houses, the moonlight shining full upon them, were gathered
several hundred men and women arranged in a semicircle and in alternate
companies, who appeared to be engaged in the celebration of some rite.

It was wild enough. In front of them, and in the exact centre of the
semi-circle, stood a gigantic, red-bearded man, who was naked except
for a skin girdle about his loins. He was swinging himself backwards
and forwards, his hands resting upon his hips, and as he swung, shouting
something like "_Ho, haha, ho!_" When he bent towards the audience it
bent towards him, and every time he straightened himself it echoed his
final shout of "_Ho!_" in a volume of sound that made the precipices
ring. Nor was this all, for perched upon his hairy head, with arched
back and waving tail, stood a great white cat.

Anything stranger, and indeed more fantastic than the general effect of
this scene, lit by the bright moonlight and set in that wild arena, it
was never my lot to witness. The red-haired, half-naked men and women,
the gigantic priest, the mystical white cat, that, gripping his
scalp with its claws, waved its tail and seemed to take a part in the
performance; the unholy chant and its volleying chorus, all helped to
make it extraordinarily impressive. This struck us the more, perhaps,
because at the time we could not in the least guess its significance,
though we imagined that it must be preliminary to some sacrifice or
offering. It was like the fragment of a nightmare preserved by the
awakened senses in all its mad, meaningless reality.

Now round the open space where these savages were celebrating their
worship, or whatever it might be, ran a rough stone wall about six feet
in height, in which wall was a gateway. Towards this we advanced quite
unseen, for upon our side of the wall grew many stunted pines. Through
these pines our guide led us, till in the thickest of them, some
few yards from the open gateway and a little to the right of it, she
motioned to us to stop.

Then she went to a low place in the wall and stood there as though she
were considering the scene beyond. It seemed to us, indeed, that she
saw what she had not expected and was thereby perplexed or angered.
Presently she appeared to make up her mind, for again she motioned to
us to remain where we were, enjoining silence upon us by placing her
swathe