A MYSTERY OF THE PACIFIC.

Clutha Leader, Volume IX, Issue 482, 5 January 1883, Page 7

A MYSTERY OF THE PACIFIC.

(From Ghambersfs Journal.)

Far away in the South Pacific Ocean,, stretching from the coast of Asia for thousands of miles to the east, there extends a vast series of archipelagoes and island groups, partly, without doubt, the remains of a former continent now merged beneath? the waves. Here is the far-famed Coral Sea, with its countless islets and calm lagoons ; and here are numberless volcanic islands, rich in luxuriant vegetation,, where Nature seems to have been especially prodigal of her gifts, but which are ever the sport of the terrible subterranean forces that act with such fearful . potency throughout all this region. Till comparatively recent times, little was known for certain with respect to the islands of the Pacific. Mendana and other pioneers of exploration had, it is true, shed some light on the subject 3 but the tales of early travellers were mixed up with many wild improbabilities and exagcerat oqi?. Dim stories floated about of the savage nature of the South Sea Islanders, and of the exploits of Dampier or of the Spanish buccaneers. Tales, too, of the fabulous wealth to be derived from trading in the Pacific, found ready listeners everywhere ; and the public credulity on the subject was too clearly shown in the history of the South Sea Bubble.

Of late years, through the discoveries of gallant explorers, we have learned more of the true facts of the case, and many old illusions have been dispelled. But, as has been so often said, truth is stranger than fiction ; and the facts to which we are about to draw attention will yield in their wonderful nature to none of the strange and fantastic tales with which sea-captains were formerly wont to astonish the credulous at home.

In the far East, forming, as it were, the outpost of the South Sea groups, is a solitary volcanic island called Easter Island. It is 1300 miles east of Pitcairn, the next island in the series, and, with the exception of Salary Gomez, a small rock without inhabitants or vegetation, there is no land between it and South America, which lies more than two thousand miles to the east. Easter Island is only eleven miles long by four broad ; yet in this small space is crowded perhaps the most wonderful and mysterious collection of remains of a pre-historic people to be found on the earth. At the south-west end are nearly a hundred houses, built of stone, with walls five feet in thickness. The inside of the walls is lined with upright slabs of stone, painted in black, white, and red, with figures of animals and birds, and with other designs. The houses are roofed in with overlapping slabs of stone. In some of the houses, numbers of univalve shells have been found. Near these wonderful ruins, the rocks are carved into fantastic shapes or faces, most of the sculptures being now almost overgrown with bush and underwood. The present inhabitants know nothing whatever of these houses, which, existing" as they do in such large numbers, seem to point inevitably to a former race of natives of far higher civilisation. We can understand that a former race may have erected the houses and carved the sculptures mentioned above, wonderful as they are compared with the huts of the existing natives. What follows is, however, more difficult of explanation. On nearly every promontory are erected huge stone platforms, facing the sea, and presenting a front sometimes nearly three hundred feet long and from twenty to thirty feet high. The stones composing these platforms are often six feet long, and are fitted together without cement. The top of the platform is generally about thirty feet broad ; and the structures being built on sloping ground, the wall facing the interior of the islands is only about a yard high. Another terrace, a hundi'ed feet broad, is levelled landwards, and ends also in a wall of stone. On these immense platforms are great pedestals of stone, on which once stood gigantic statues, which, however, are now all thrown down and partially mutilated, with the exception of those on the platform near the crater of Otouli, which are still erect. Some of these images were thirty-seven feet high ; but the average height was about sixteen or seventeen feet, other statues being much smaller. The heads of these sculptured images are flat, and were formerly capped by crowns of red tufa, a stone that is found only at a crater called Terano Hau, near which have been found a number of crowns ready for removal to the statues. The faces are square, and are said to be of a disdainful expression, the lips thin, and the eye-sockets remarkably deep, perhaps to admit of the insertion of eyeballs formed of obsidian, which is also found on the island.

Captain Cook, who during his second voyage visited Easter Island, remarks that the shade of one of these statues was sufficient to shelter all his partyv— nearly thirty persons. He believed them to be burying-places for certain tribes or families. But whatever may have been the original intention of the- sculptors, the present natives can have had nothing to do with the. execution of these wonderful monuments; They possess, however, small wooden cairyed figures,, but totally different in. features from thestone- images.. We- are- forced to- the

conclusion that the houses, platforms, and statues are all relics of a remote age. The natives have a tradition that they formerly migrated to their present abode from one of the islandsof the Low Archipelago ; but this, throws little light on the subject. How, in any age, could a people furnished only with a. stone chisel — for the Polynesians are- still in the Stone epoch — have carved, such statues by hundreds and built such enermous platforms 1 And the difficulty is immensely increased by the, small size and complete isolation of the island.. At present,. Easter Island remains the greatest mystery of the- Pacific — one. of the great mysteries of the- world..

The ruins of Ponape", howeveiy are scarcely more easily explained than those' we have been describing.. ,£O--nap£ is one of the Caroline' Islands, and is about fourteen miles long bytwelve in width. On the bank of a creek in the Metalanien harbourstands a massive wall three hundred, feet in length, and about thirty-five-feet high. It is built of basalt, thestones being in some- casesv twenty-five-feet long. On passing through a gateway in this wall, a court, inclosed by walls thirty feet high, is reached. This-, court is now almost hidden in parts byluxuriant vegetation ; but on investigation, a terrace eight feet high and twelve broad is found to run round the ■ inside of the inclosing wall. Low walls , running north and south divide the court into three different parts, in the centre of each of which is a closed, chamber fourteen feet, square, an&> roofed over with basaltic columns.

The labour of building these structures must have been enormous, for there are no basaltic rocks within ten. miles, with an intervening country thickly wooded and; precipitous. Such an exploit is evidently entirely out of the power of the 1 present savage inhabitants. The theory that the buildings were the work of Spanish buccaneers is also untenable, ISTb adequate explanation has yet been offered ; but, as in the case of Easter - Island, we seem driven to the hypothesis of an ancient civilisation extending over some parts at least of the Pacific. Admitting this, we might suppose that Easter Island was chosen, possibly expressly on accoxmt of its. isolation, as the sanctuary of the religion of some confederacy or group of' tribes, who might by their joint labours have produced the mighty structures which now baffle the arclueologist. On the same supposition, thebuildings at Ponape might be considered to have been the temple of thegods, of some powerful nation. But all this is mere conjecture. If thereever was a civilisation, which way did. it spread ? Was it from the West or • from the East? And in either case,, how can we account for its spontaneous growth in such an isolated region and under conditions so unfavourable 1 These are questions which we cannot hope to answer; probably they will, always remain unanswered. The past history of the South Seas is veiled in deep obscurity. Could we but gain an, insight into the remote past of this quarter of the globe, perhaps a picture would be revealed, by the side of which the tales of Montezuma and the Incas of Peru would sink into insignificance.