The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-11-11

I'D know also that, OF to the left
- one faced the sea, separated from
me b. four or I'VE miles Of precipt-
tous coast line, doomed a headland
from which a flag waved by day would
be observable-if ever q vessel came
across the shoulder of the world TO
reach the point and return would be-
q days journey, for the path I must
take led rel a trail more suited to
a mountain goat than a man who had
until lately been civilized. ,
I must go cautiously, making myself
as inconspicuous as possible.
One morning I set out CARVING
tightly wrapped, one of the pieces Of
sail cloth which had come out Of the
mates chest. My resolution to set
my flag flying had filed me with a
sort of specious exaltation.
The venomous beauty of the place
was beyond description, and in q mea-
sure I yielded to it's lure and walked
almost buoyantly. The sea, to it's sky
line, was blue with a depth Of sap
phire. The tangle Of the jungle was
aflash with vivid and sparkling color.
Small, harmless snakes slid brightly
aside, az many hued as shreds Of
rainbow.
I almost convinced myself that men
native to such IN environment, must
wear upon their natures it's softeninK
influence. They were, perhaps, unde.
veloped folk, who lived indolently and
injured no one.
I had climbed and crawled for sew.
eral hours, and was beginning to SUIT
fer keenly from WEAKNESS and stone
bruises on my poorly protected feet,
when I INT to a sort of path rum
ming upward. This led me to a more
commanding emfnence than I had BE-
fore reached, and gave me a view in
land over an endless blanket of green,
unbroken forest. Ahead Of me was
a still greater height, and, after =
short rest, I made my way to the
point from which I could look across
it's crest.
Then I halted dead in my tracks
and stood lingering my revolver. A!
cold sweat came out on my forehead,
and my knees trembled, threatening
to fail me.
The high ground fell steeply away
into a basin whose slopes were rough
ly broken into rising tiers. These
tiers commanded a sort of amphithe-
alter two hundred yards in diameter,
through which ran a small thread Of
water cascading from the interior ele-
walton. A quarter of a mile away be-
gan the background Of timber ano
tangle.
The bottom Of the basin had been
worn smooth by much treading. A
boulder some four feet tall and prob
abaly of an equal thickness rose, pull
pitlike, at the center. Its top was
followed out into a bowl and its sides
were inscribed with crude hieroglyph-
les. Near it were a half dozen up
right poles surmounted by what
seemed to be coconuts.
In a dozen places, under rude stone
ovens. were the ashes of dead fires.
Grisly, scattering piles of human
bones-but nowhere a skull-told me
that I had stumbled Oh a kai-kai tenn.
plea place of cannibal o%bservances
and feasting.
I crept tremblingly down into tie
abominable pit and made my way to-
ward the stone alter prepared for any
%atrocious sight. But the climax of dis
covery came when I had crawled
halfway and the "coconuts" on the
poles resolved themselves into with
cred, human heads--sun-dried, fange6
and yellow.
These mummied skulls were tr0-
plies of old battles. but lying At the
top Of the rock was another which
must have surmounted it's LIVING
shoulders only a few days ago. The
frizzled hair was tied into dozens Of
kinky knots. The facial angle was
low and slanting, and the coarse lips
were hideously twisted in a snarl of
AC0Sn uCAoACO. vi IAAc oCd4QS Wx44Vu
a war club had crushed, sat a very
beautiful head dress of feathers bril-.
liantly dyed in green and crimson and
orange.
The victim had worn to his obse-
Ques such a decoration as might have
crowned a princess Of the Incas. He
had been a warrior Of rank, and now.
as beftted his station, his head lay
drying on a mast Of yellow and Drown
wood pulp.
A sitting nausea assaulted the pit
of my stomach. My r~etreating steps
reeled drunkenly, and when, near thu
rim Of the basin, I turned for q final
gaze of horror, I no longer had the
place to myself.
Two human figures stood at the
farther end Of the amphitheater ST.
lently regarding me. Both were thin.
pigmy-built creatures with long arms
and long foreheads. Their faces. gro
tesquely disfgured with bone and
shell ornaments spiked through noses