The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-11-01
THE wSTRANGLER VINE
Wierd Central American Story
of a Hidden Silver Mine.

came there, do you? Well, you would
guess a mighty long time before you
would come near it, SO I'll spare you the
trouble and tell you the story"
He held up his brown right hand as
he spoke. Across the back of it were
two livid lines. One of these 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,
threadlike line.
The second line was a deeper red,
wider than the other, and from it other
flamentlike lines branched, covering the
wrist with q network of scarlet tendrils.
The main line could be seen to wind
n around the wrist and then was lost
up the speakers sleeve.
"Well," he resumed, "you remember
the excitement that followed the discov-
cries of silver in Yucatan in 1877. The
Indians had been bringing 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 In Indian 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 race it was that
built the cities, the ruins of which cover
80 many miles in that country, used to
get the silver for their temples. At all
events, the merchant came back with
two burros laden with almost pure sill
yer. He said that there was silver
enough in sight at the mine to load a
feet of steamers. He told in a general
way where the treasure mountain was,
and started out with a pack train for
more. One of his mules strayed back
nearly a month later, but that was all
that was ever heard of him.
81 was one of the swarm of prospectors
that started out to find the old mine. It
had taken the merchant two weeks to
make his first trip, 8 we could calculate
about what distance he had travelled.
/ had for a companion a Baiize Indian
hunter, who knew something Of the in
terror country. We travelled ten 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 COW
cred with jungles so thick that for days
together we simply had to hew our way
through it. At last we reached q val
ley, the other side Of which was bounded
by separate chain of mountains. These,
from where we stood, seemed perfectly
u~nassailable, but my companion said he
had been on top of them.
"'From the summit he said, you can
see the Chihuandassi.'
81 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 Chihuan-
dassiy I asked.
emo man has ver gone there and re-
turned to tell it. he answered.
"We crossed the valley, passing
through the ruins of a great city built of
almost transparent quartz, and finally
struck the trail he spoke of, and two
days later stood on the top. On the
other side was q narrow gulch, and be-
yond it a sheer wall many hundreds of
feet high. Still the top of this was low
er than we were, and we could look
down upon the Table of Dead Men. The
mesa on the other side of the gulch
seemed perfectly level, and as far as we
could judge was surrounded on all sides
by just such a precipice as we saw. The
country is all sandstone, and the swift
little rivers have nearly all worn deep
channels for themselves. In many local
tiles you can walk a hundred 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 Chi
huandassi was covered with some low
vegetation and there were a few trees in
the distance.
"'That is the flower that travels, said
my companion.
HE noticed my look of amused in
credulity, and resumed rather angrily.
"'You don't believe it? / have seen
it move. Look therer
II looked, the table was agitated, and
looked like the waves of the sea. The
whole green surface seemed to approach
the edge nearest us. My hair rose for a
moment, then I burst out laughing. 1T
is only the wind tossing the snakeweed,
/ said.
"'But there is no wind here
"He spoke truly. The air where we
stood was perfectly still. Yet, I ex-
planned, it might be a breeze engendered
by the nature of the country, that did
not extend to our side.
"'No, no. he insisted. The Indians
who have lived here for years know
better. These flowers are devils. No
n who goes over back from
there
1.-TWO Indians who loved one woman
went up on the Chihuandassi to battle.
Human eyes never again saw them alive.
We are .old that they fell victims to the
flower that creeps.
Il had q first class pair of glasses with
me and 1 directed them to the plateau.
Half covered with the vines and creep
ers / could see something white. There
were two spots that might be skulls, and
I thought l could trace the outlines OF
two human forms. They might have
been rocks, and were doubtless what
originated the Indian legend.
"An idea suddenly occurred to ms
that this story of certain death to who