Only a few escaped, and they were driven into these hills; yet 't is said they saved a considerable amount of treasure which had come to them from their fathers, together with some of the mummified bodies of their kings.

It is forty years since they discovered this dell, and only the older men have any memory of the discovery." "What do they call themselves ?" "'Nalmas' was the word the Queen used, but they are that same people whom we knew about in New Orleans as 'Natchez'; their old country was called Tlapalan." I sat silent, pondering upon his words, but before I thought out further questioning, a warrior, bearing food, entered the hut.

Setting this down upon the ground before us, he drew back into the gathering night shadows without uttering a word.

That which I had just heard caused me to gaze upon the fellow--a tall, stalwart savage--with newly awakened interest, and I could not help observing again how widely the type differed from those Indian tribes with whom my wandering border life had rendered me familiar.

Not only was this man of fairer, clearer complexion, but his cheek-bones were not in the least prominent, his nose was wide at the base and somewhat flattened, while his forehead sloped sharply backward in such peculiar form as to warrant the opinion that the deformity arose from a compression of the frontal bone in infancy.