Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-08-28
THE STRANGLER VINE.

"You want to know how those
marks came there, do you? Well
you would guess mighty long ii me
before you would co me nenrit, SO I'll
spare you the trouble and tell you
the story"
He held up his brown right hand
us. he spoke says the San Francisco
Examiner. Across the back otit were
two livid lines. one of thes, lines
passed inside his hand and wound
around his little finger. This finger
was twisted and broken and bent
backward. Right up to the finger
nail extended the fiery thread-like
line.
The second line was a deeper red,
wider than the other, and from it
other filament-like lines branched,
covering the wrist with a net " ork
Of scarlet tendrills. The main line
could be seen to wind once around
the wrist and was then lost up the
speakers sleeve.
SWELL he resumed, "you rem en-
Der the excitement that followed the
discoveries OF silver in Yucatan in
1877. The Indians had been bring
ing down small quantities OF horn
silver for some time and selling it at
Merida. Finally one of the half-breed
merchants of that town got an In
dian drunk and induced him to tell
where they obtained the silver. They
say it was one Of the mines from
which the AZtecs, or whatever rnceit
was that built the cities the ruins OF
which cover so many miles in that
country, used to get the silver Tor
their temples. At allevents the mer-
chant came back with two burros
laden with almost pure silver. He
said that there was silver enough in
sight at the mine to load Il fleet OF
steamers. He told in Il general way
where the treasure mountain was and
started out with pack train tor
more. One OF his mules strayed back
nearly u month later, but that was
all that was ever heard of him.
81 was one OF the swarm OF pros
pectors that started out to find the
old mine. 1t had taken the merchant
two weeks to make his first trip, so
we could calculate about what dis
tance he had travelled. l had for a
companion a Balize Indian hunter.
who knew something of the interior
country. We Travelled 10 days
through the widest country that
any one ever heard OF. Mountains
whose snowy tops were thousands of
feet above the clouds and whose sides
were covered with jungles SO thick
/ that for days together we simply
had to hew our way through it. At
last we reached a valley, the other
side of which was bounded by n sep.
arate chain of mountains, These,
from where we stood, seemed per-
fectly unassnilable, but my COM
pnnion said he had been OH top of
them.
"FrOm the summit he said, you
can see the Chihuandassi.'
II had heard of the Chihuandassi.
The name means Table of Dead Men,
and the Indians say it is covered
with plants that have the power of
motion.
"Have you ever been on the Chihu-
andassi?" l asked.
No man has ever gone there and
returned to tell of it, he answered.
1--WE crossed the valley, passing
through the ruins ola great city
built of almost transparent quartz,
and finally struck the rail he spoke
OF and two days later stool on the
top. On the other side was a mar
row gulch and beyond it a sheer
wall many hundreds of feet high.
Still the top of this was lower than
We were and We could look down up
on the Table OF Dead Men. The
mesa on the other side of the gulch
SEE med perfectly level, and as far as
we could judge was surrounded ON all
sides by just such n precipice as we
saw. The country is ell sandstone,
and the swift little rivers have nearly
all worn deep channels for themselves
In many localities you can walk 100
miles, be able to throw a stone into
the river, and yet you may die of
thirst, so high and erect are those
fearful walls. The Chihuandassi, and
there vera a few trees in the distaace.
"'That is the flower that travels
said my companion.