STRANGE STONES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 79, 5 April 1910, Page 3

STRANGE STONES.

MR. WRAGGE'S INVESTIGATIONS. CUPS ANITcROSSES. [BT MLEGBAPH— PRF.BS ASSOCIATION.) AUCKLAND, This Day. The claim made by Mr. Clement L. Wragge that he has discovered the remains of »n ancient city or temple in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands is, he t-tatefi, supported' by further evidence which he ha* collected in a result of closer investigation. What he has discovered are in his opinion not volcanic bombs, but huge blocks standing out of the ground at all angles up to 10ft high. Some of the stones *tand upright, some cant over at an angle of about 45 degrees, and others point nearly horizontally from the elope of the hills, being similar in appearance to huge cannon on a man-o'-war. What is difficult to account for by natural formation is w hat Mr. Wragge describes to be a monumental arch with the appearance of the top of a doorway, the spring of the arch being sin or 6in deep and lft 3in thick, and sft long by abouu lft lOin across. On the top of one block he found three distinct cups 9in apart and alongside another three. They are each from 2in to 3in in diameter, and from Jin to l^in in depth. On an adjacent atone- was another cup 2in to 2Jin in diameter, and about lin deep, and 6in away was a right angled cross, the main portion 6m long and the arm 3in each way, with one eido blurred. Irregular crosses, similar to those made by tho natives when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi, were found on other stone*. On another stone was a small triangle 2.7 in on one side and 3in on the other, with irregular ridges branching off it in one direction. It was hard to account for all this, he remarked, by natural agencies. Mr. Wragge *ays that though the rocks arc of plutonic, igneous, or volcanic formation they appear t-o have been manipulated by the hand of man ; and his opinion if that what he has discovered has been caused by early man far anterior to tho advent of the Maori. A gully nt the bottom of the slope on which he tound the immense stones contains rocks buried in a chaotic mass on every angle a* though some tremendous • upheaval had taken place. One huge pillar, lying nearly horizontal, is circular in formation, and has a grrtb measuring 12ft 9in. The portion showing out of the ground is 9ft Bin long and 3ft llin in diameter. At the ba?e there is a cave beneath filled with benes and broken coffins, probably a recent burial place used by tho Maoris. The epot is hidden by thick manuka bush, and Mr. Wragge thinks the Government •hould take it over.