The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-02

well-grown trees. where the GROUND
bore traces of humanity in the shape o.
a Wrlnkled and widowed pair of Chi
nese boots, wooden sandal. even tn,
decayed remains of a palki, or litter.
At last he reached the edge of the pit
and the sight that met his eyes held
him spellbound.
The labor of many hands had tori
a chasmj a quarry, out of the side OF
the hill. Roughly circular in shape il
had diameter of perhaps a hundred
1eet, and at its deepest part, towards
the cliff, 1t ran to depth of forty feet
On the lower side, where the sailor
stood, 1T descended rapidly for some fiji
teen. feet
Grasses, shrubs, plants of every va
rlety grew in profusiOn down the steep
slopes, wherever seeds could find pre-
carious nurture. until a point was
reached about ten or eleven feet from
the bottom. There all vegetation ceased
as II forbidden to cross a magic circle.
Below this belt the place was a char
hel-house. The bones of men and ami
mals mingled in weird confusion Most
were mere skeletons. A few bodies
nine the sailor cOunted-yet preserved
some resemblance of humanity. These
latter were scattered among the older
relics. They wore the clothes of Dyaks.
Characteristic hats and weapons de-
noted their nationality. The others, the
first harvest of this modern Golgotha,
might have been Chinese coolies. When
the sailors fascinated vision could reg
lister details he distinguished yokes.
baskets, Odd-lOoking spades and picks
streWed amidst the bones. The ami
mals were all of one type. small lanky,
INT
spled Withered hOOf. They were pigs.
over all lay a thick coating of fine
sand, deposited from the eddying winds
that could never reach the silent depths
The place was gruesome, horribly de-
pressing. jerks broke out into clam
my perspiratiOn. He seemed to be
looking at the secrets of the grave
At last his superior intelligence as
serted itself His brain became clearer.
recovered its power of analysis He be-
gan to criticise, reflect, and this is the
theory he evolved
Some one, long ago, had discovered
valuable minerals in the volcanic rock.
Mining operations were in full blast
when the extinct volcano took IT'S
revenge upon the human ants gnaW-
ing at its Yitals and smothered
them by a deadly outpouring of
cdIDOIllc acld gas, the bOttled-up
poison of the ages. A horde of pigs.
wild over the island-placed
there, no doubt, by. Chinese fishers
had met the same fate whilst intent on
dreadful orgy.
Then there came a European. who
knew how the anhydrate gas. being
heavier than the surrounding air. set
lied like water in that terrible hollow.
He, too, had striven to wrest the treas
IRE from the stone by driving a tunnel |
INTO the cliff. He had partly succeed |
ed and had gone away, perhaps to oh
ain help, after crudely registering his
on the lid of a tin canister. !
This, again. probably fell into the
lands of another man, who. curious |
'ut unconvinced, caused himself to he |
'et ashore on this desolate spot. with
few inadequate stores. Possibly ne /
lad arranged to be taken off within a |
iXed time
But sampan, laden with Dyak nj
ates, came first, and the intrepid ex-
'lorer's bones rested near the well
whist his head had gone to decorate
he nut of some fierce village chief. The
1urderers, after burying their own
ead-for the white man fought hard |
'ltness the empty cartridges
ne Island. Some of them, ignorantIv
lqulsitiVe, descended into the hollow.
hey remained there. The others. su-