It was about fifty feet in length by thirty broad and consisted only of a roof supported upon carved pillars of wood, the spaces between the pillars being filled with grass mats or blinds.

Most of these blinds were pulled down, but four exactly opposite the gate were open.

Inside the shed forty or fifty men, who wore white robes and peculiar caps and who were engaged in chanting a dreadful, melancholy song, were gathered on three sides of a huge fire that burned in a pit in the ground.

On the fourth side, that facing the gate, a man stood alone with his arms outstretched and his back towards us.
Of a sudden he heard our footsteps and turned round, springing to the left, so that the light might fall on us.

Now we saw by the glow of the great fire, that over it was an iron grid not unlike a small bedstead, and that on this grid lay some fearful object.