was an awesome place, yet oddly beautiful, so soft and
green below, with those massive walls completely shutting out all the
rest of the world, and shadowing the little valley with impregnable
grandeur.

I had but a moment in which to view the impressive scene. Scarcely had
the head of our column entered this natural prison when it was greeted
with wild shouts of triumph, immediately succeeded by shrieks of
distress, while there streamed forward to meet us a tumultuous band of
savages, a large proportion of whom were women and children. The
children were absolutely nude and peculiarly white of skin, while the
former wore rude skirts of coarsely woven cloth fastened about the
waist, their long hair in many instances trailing upon the ground,
yielding them a wildness of aspect beyond description; yet withal they
were not uncomely of features. These newcomers thronged about us with
scowling faces, and, when sternly forced back by the lowered weapons of
the guard, either joined the procession, or else trooped alongside,
yelling and jeering.

Pressed forward, although by now so utterly spent I could barely
stagger rapidly enough to escape those pitiless thrusts, I mechanically
noted enough of our surroundings to understand that we traversed ground
which had been cultivated; that low fences, here and there encountered,
divided the land into small sections, even as in more civilized regions
farmers protect their fields. What their crops may have been I could
not determine, the season of harvest being already past, yet I
distinguished what I supposed must be evidences of garden culture,
observing also a considerable ditch, certainly four feet in width,
filled with clear running water, which seemed to encircle the entire
basin, the deeper green of vegetation marking its course close up
against the farther rock wall.

The view directly in advance was at first obscured by the leaping
figures of the exultant savages leading the way, whooping with
excitement, and wildly brandishing their war-clubs. These at length
fell back along either side, our guards hurrying us across the ditch,
spanned by the great trunk of a tree, and thus on into the village.
This town resembled no other encampment of savages on which my eyes had
ever looked. I saw a wide open space, a blackened stake set in the
middle of it, the ground bare of vegetation, and tramped hard as if by
countless feet. Beyond, circling this plaza upon two sides, were
se