PRINTS OF A RED HAND. 



177 



used for the support of the arch while the building 

 was in progress. 



For the rest, I refer to the plan, mentioning only 

 one circumstance. In working out the plan on the 

 spot, it was found that the back wall, throughout 

 its whole length of two hundred and seventy feet, 

 was nine feet thick, which was nearly equal to the 

 width of the front apartment. Such thickness was 

 not necessary for the support of the building, and, 

 supposing it might contain some hidden passages, 

 we determined to make a breach through the wall, 

 and to do this in the centre apartment. 



1 must confess that I felt some repugnance to this 

 work of demolition, but one stone had already been 

 picked out by an Indian to serve for mashing maize 

 upon ; and as this was likely to be done at any time 

 when another might be wanted, I got over my scru- 

 ples. 



Over the cavity left in the mortar by the removal 

 of the stone were two conspicuous marks, which 

 afterward stared us in the face in all the ruined build- 

 ings of the country. They were the prints of a 

 red hand with the thumb and fingers extended, not 

 drawn or painted, but stamped by the living hand, 

 the pressure of the palm upon the stone. He who 

 made it had stood before it alive as we did, and 

 pressed his hand, moistened with red paint, hard 

 against the stone. The seams and creases of the 

 palm were clear and distinct in the impression. 

 There was something lifelike about it that waked 



