veral rows of houses, all facing the same direction. It reminded me
of pictures I had seen of Hebrew camps in my father's great Bible, only
the houses were built of sun-dried clay, such as peons use in the far
Southwest on the Brazos, square in shape, of but a single story, having
dome-shaped roofs, heavily thatched with cane. They were windowless,
with one narrow opening for a door, protected by a heavy matting of
grass. Behind these, perhaps a hundred yards or more, and within a
short distance of the steep cliffs bounding the upper extremity of the
valley, there arose from the surface of the plain two immense rounded
mounds of earth, each fully a hundred paces wide at its base, sloping
sharply upward. Considerable vacant space lay between the two, while
on the apex of each stood buildings of sun-baked clay, resembling in
form those below, yet much larger, and, because of their elevation,
appearing spacious and imposing. Above one were posed three rudely
carven figures bearing a slight resemblance to giant eagles, their
wings outspread as if for flight. The other was surmounted by a
hideous, grotesque figure, blackened as by fire, with distorted face
daubed a glaring yellow, and long hair glittering from red pigment.
Here the grass curtain had been drawn aside, while before the entrance,
their faces striped with disfiguring black lines, their dull vestments
trailing to the ground and gaudily trimmed with fanciful trappings,
their coarse hair so trained as to stand almost erect, were two aged
men, who, with wild gesticulations, and solemn chanting, were
apparently paying adoration to the setting sun, the last beams
streaming over them through a rift in the western wall.

Directly past these priests we were driven like cattle, finding
ourselves plunged into a vast square gloomy apartment, having an
earthen floor, but utterly devoid of either furnishings or ornament.
There was another mat-draped opening at the farther side, and in the
centre a huge log smouldered, resting upon what bore the appearance of
a rudely chipped altar of rock. About this were ranged numerous
fancifully painted statues of wood, grotesque and hideous, while a
third figure, attired as were the aged priests without, lay prone upon
the earth moaning as if in agony. The walls were hung thickly with
undressed skins of wild animals, and at the back stood a slightly
upraised platform of logs, cut in halves by a narrow passageway leading
toward the