t he was in some
enchanted domain.

The priest soon returned accompanied by a young girl, who bore in her
arms a quantity of roots and strips of long bark, and placing them on
the ground at my feet commenced applying them, first the leaves, then
the bark, to my limbs. Soon I was swathed and bandaged like a mummy;
which operation being performed, I was taken in their arms and carried
inside the temple.

Descending a ladder we entered a darkened chamber, the walls of which
were hung with robes and curious devices; passing through this room I
was conducted to an inner apartment which was partitioned off by a
curtain of buffalo robes. In the corner of this room was a couch on
which I was placed. After giving the girl some brief directions, the
priest left us, the girl following him, after having brought me an
earthen vessel filled with a dark liquid, which I understood by her
gestures I was to drink. Such was the magical effect of the leaves in
which my burned limbs were bound, that I no longer felt any pain, and
taking a deep draught of the liquid, I was soon asleep.

I must have slept many hours, for on awakening I found that it had grown
quite dark, the only light being supplied by a small bluish flame that
was dimly burning on a tripod in the center of the room. My attention
was attracted by the peculiar furniture--if such it might be called--of
this strange place. The walls are hung with hideous shapes and skins of
wild beasts; in which ever way I turn, I am attracted by odd shapes,
such as the fierce visage of the grizzly bear, the white buffalo and
panther; while interspersed among the horns of the cimmaron, elk and
bison, are grim idols carved from the red claystone of the desert. All
these, I feel sure, are the symbols of a horrid and mystic religion. The
fumes of the charcoal begin to affect me, my head grows hot; the pulse
beats quicker; I fancy I hear strange noises; I think there are animals
moving on the stone pavement; the fitful flame discloses a shining
object, whose sinuous and gliding movements betrays the presence of the
dreaded _crotalus_; it approaches my bed; its bead-like eyes glittering
with a baleful light. My terror and excitement have now become
agonizing; the veins stand out upon my forehead like whip cords; I am
bathed in a cold perspiration. Making a mighty endeavor, I free my feet
from the thongs that bind them, and springing from the bed, rush wildly
towards the center of the room. Once t