poll, and certain fanciful designs, in the same material, had even been extended
into the neighborhood of the eyes and mouth, lending to the keen expression of
the former, a look of twinkling cunning, and to the dogmatism of the latter not
a little of the grimness of necromancy. He had been despoiled of his upper
garments, and in their stead, his body was sufficiently protected from the cold,
by a fantastickally painted robe of dressed deer skin. As if in mockery of his
pursuit, sundry toads, frogs, lizards, butterflies, etc. all duly prepared to
take their places, at some future day, in his own private cabinet were attached
to the solitary lock on his head, to his ears, and to various other conspicuous
parts of his person. If, in addition to the effect produced by these quaint
auxiliaries to this costume, we add the portentous and troubled gleamings of
doubt, which rendered his visage doubly austere and proclaimed the misgivings of
the worthy Obed's mind, as he beheld his personal dignity thus prostrated, and,
what was of far greater moment in his eyes, himself led forth, as he firmly
believed, to be the victim of some heathenish sacrifice, the reader will find no
difficulty in giving credit, to the sensation of awe, that was excited by his
appearance, in a band already more than half prepared to worship him, as a
powerful agent of the Evil Spirit.
    Weucha led Asinus directly into the centre of the circle, and leaving them
together, (for the legs of the Naturalist were attached to the beast in such a
manner that the two animals might be said to be incorporated and to form a new
order,) he withdrew to his proper place, gazing at the conjuror as he retired
with a wonder and admiration that were natural to the grovelling dulness of his
mind.
    The astonishment seemed mutual, between the spectators and the subject of
this strange exhibition. If the Tetons contemplated the mysterious attributes of
the Medecine, with awe and fear, the Doctor gazed on every side of him, with a
mixture of quite as many extraordinary emotions, in which the latter sensation,
however, formed no inconsiderable ingredient. Every where his eyes, which just
at that moment, possessed a secret magnifying quality, seemed to rest on several
dark, savage, and obdurate countenances at once, from none of which could he
extract a solitary gleam of sympathy or commiseration. At length his wandering
gaze fell on the grave and decent features of the trapper, who with Hector at
his feet, stood in the edge of the circle, leaning