A MYSTERY OF THE PACIFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6667, 31 March 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MYSTERY OF THE PACIFIC.

Far away in the South I'acili j O-.-cau, stretching from the coast of Asia fur thousands of miles to the e»st, there extend? a vast tenes of archipelagoes ami island groups, partly, without doubt, the remains ol a f.-riuci e tiueut now merged beneath the waves. Hure is the far-famed Coral cj.a, with its e unties.-, islets and calm lagoons ; and arc xium berless volcanic islands, rich in luxariaut vegetation, where nature oeeir.s t.. liavu b en ! specially prodigal of he- gift.'", but which »r. ever the sport of the te rible übt rr«ne.u' forces thai r.ct with such f-..rnu potency throughout all this region. Till cuuip.u:i tively recent times littlu was known fcr certain with respect to isluuds of tiie Pacific, Meiidinaandot .tr | i n- es of exploration had, it is true, shed m.u.o light - n

the subject , but the tales of • aily iruveliers were nvxed up with many old lmproba i.itieanil exaggerations. Dim stoiies ilo.t'd about of the si.vage natures of tb tiuinh .Sea Islanders, and of the exploit- of D unpier or of the Spanish buccaaeoia. too, 01 the fabulous wealth to be derived fro;u trading in the Pacific found ready listeners evi ry where ; and the public credu lty on the subject v.- s too clearly shown in the his ory of the .South Sea Babble. Of late yeara, through the discoveries of the gallant explorers, wo lave learned more of the true ficta of tbe ctsc, and many old illusions have beta dispelled Hut, a3 ha 3 been to ofteu fc.'ii 1, truth is stranger than fiction ; and the facts to which we are about to draw atun'ioM will y.eld in their wonderful nature to none of tho »;ran_o and fantastic tales with which sea c.ptauia were formerly wont to astonish the ere 'U ous at home. In the far E.st, farming, an it were, the outpost of the South groui s, is a solitary volcanic island, called K&ster Inland. It is 1300 miles east of Pitcairn, the next island in the series, and with the exception of Salas-y-ftomez, a am .11 reck without inhabitants or vegetation, ther*; ia no land between it and South America, which lies more than "JOOO mr.es to the east. Easter Island is only 11 miles by 4 br.'ad. yet in this small space is crowded, perhaps, the mo*t wonderful and mysterious collection of remains of a pre-histeric pe >| le to be found on the earth. At the seuth wet end are nearly nearly a hund'.- : houses, built of atone, with walls 5 feet i'i thickness. The inside of the walls is lin--i with upright slabi of ston-, painted in black, white, and r-d, with fig res of animals and birds, and with other design*. 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 of faces, most ft | the sculptures being now almost overgrown j j with bush and underwood. The present i::- I habitants knov/ nothing whatever of these j houses, which, existing as they do in such ' large numbers, seem to pnint inevitably to j a former race of natives of far higher cmli- I sation. We can understand that a former | race may have ere'.-i- d the houses and carv- : d j the sculptures mentioned above, wonderful ! as they are with the hut* of the i existing natives. is, h-.wever, ! more difficult explanation. On nearly j e' ery promctory are treated huge stone j platforms, facing th-: s-n, an l presiding a front sorretimes Dearly £.00 feet 'or.*, and Irom 20 to ."0 feet high. The ro-fs cmposiug these platft-nns are often 6 feut long, and are fitted *"og- vie.' without cement. The top o? the platform is generally about SO feet broad, and the slructar-a being built c:i sloping ground the wall facing the interior of the island is only abopfc a yard high. Anj other terrace, 100 'eet broad, is levelled landj wa.'d, and end-i also in a wall of stono. On I these immense p'atforms are greit pedestal I of stoue, on which once stood gigantic statues, which, however, are uow all thrown down and partially mutilated, with tiie exception of tl-'jse on the pla':iorm near the crater of Otouli, which are still erect. Some of those images were :>7 feet hyh : but the average height was alvmt 16 or 17 feet, other statues being much smaller. Tie of thrse sculptured images are flat, mid were formerly capped by cro»vnsof red tnfr*, a stone that is found on'y al a crater called Terano Hau, near which have boon found a number of crowns ready for removal to tii»* statues. The faces are square, and are said to be of a disdainful ex pre.s.-d'Hi, the thin, and the eye sockets remarkably deep, perhaps to admit of th*? insertion of eyeballs formed of obsidian, v/hich is also found on tho island. Captain Cook, ho (hiring his second voyage visited Easter Island, remarks that the shade of one of these statues wa3 siillicient to shelter all hid parky— ihirfy persons. He believed them to be buryieg places for certaiu tribes or families But whatever may have beea the original intention of the sculptors, the preseat natives cau have

h id nothing to do / woudertul ra-a-jra-nta. The*""™ ° n ° f th( *« ever, amailwoodon .arvedijKure^fT' how ' C ' l uiiierem. ?^i art 3 llom t £ totally ?] \\« are forcad to the ccnci u .;,' H houses, pl.tforms - lU j aiatuwT" "" -r ' of a .eu/ot- The native, 3 rel,us *i dnioa that they fc-,„ Pr ' t . ■ " ave a tra-P»-sc t .. bode Lul notr their « Um- Archi olaao. but S& | .1 upon till! subject. How iu ,„ x . Kwl * I; s!ht : , Pt-u : .:e fniiuslud only v .-ith a f.^ ge c c * a ''} 3 ,i. i At prcoct, iia»t e ; island r V a °n; r ar " l - : i eat tay&tcry o; the u-rciUMt tu.s'eH", ,» ,u \ - ( ' k ot iw-. a ', u ' li r, those w c have 1,4 " I •''"-•<• 1 ""ape a out? of tie Carol -.- . .a;.<Lj, an<. u ab'jut U miles 1,,:-,. j y .' " : widtn. Oa the bank of a creek if, an.en H:.r- our a amU a wal. " ti»e * ;!5 . !t;;; . h ««>• itw.i; ; 0.1 it, tuee^.j:; c s I ctng in bom- ca-e« °> '=• 0 -' P thr. ugh a catewayTu B lY' a ™ r( . ly -all, ;;o U . h, i a rea.-neti. I tus court U now almc^ hiddee m p . ri9 by vegetation; mt oil luymuation a ter. A C • S fe- t hijh and 1- cr-ja.lis t u:,d t0 ruu r0 .. U(l the i n aiJc el M , C!ld ? ! "g wall Low wall>; running 1 ii rt *. >«uuth <3jvice the court into three •«& parts m the centre of each of which is a IS clue '1 chamber 14 t' cc t ro. i«jcl over S| Mtli lj.isaltlc Calamus. The labour of build- S i iiii 'h- a* >trucuiied must hare i.ten enor- j§ ( >r there are no basal ic ■within » '"i"-*"- with an intc-* cniiijr '"juntry g thickly woo ed ami precipi.ious. Sich an H exploit is evidently eutireli oat < f the p-jwer g 01 the pr i3 «Qt .savi,e luhabitautr. The S theoiy that the buii.iiuga were the Wurk of S bu;eanetrß ia also ur.tenable. No §1| e.-; r lanr.ti n has yet been ' iTcreil ; ffi >at, as ia the cue of u .a>ter Island, we skis W driven to the hypothesii of a;i anc t-nt civili- ® Z'tKiu ex euiiiug ovc some part.s a', least of fl tile Adihitti li' th ■<, we iiiiijht fM pse that hat.t«-r d was pois-iily js express y on account of it-, isola'.ic.n. a, the §S s uiotuary ■ i t \e rel g oil o: some confeieraty H or jjroup of tribes, u.bo by tlitir jo ; at 9 labours liavw prod ioi.d :he mic;htj' .s:nuture.i 3 which ro \ baffle the arclia?o!oi;i»t. On th« S same --uppoaition, the buildings at I'onane ny*;tit be cona.deicd to have been th-, t- i:inle of t.e gods of .-on;o p-iwurful nation. But ail jB this is mere conjecture. If there ever was 11 such a civd.za ioa which way did it spread? |H V? -' om c^e West or from tha Kast» fa Ai d in either case, i ow tan we account for f§ its s|.outaneous growth in such an isolated H region and under conditions so uiifs.vourabi« ? 1 he.se a e questions which wo cannot hope to (If ani-w r ; proba'-Iy tiiey wi;l alwa3*s rema'n $£» unanswered. 'I he pabt history of the South B Seas j* veiled in deep Could we but iiain an into tlie remote of this quanjer of tlic t;Jo!>-. j erha;>s a picluro fe would be revealed by the side of which the g tal-s of Montezuma and the Ineas of Peru lIP wuuid sink in*o i sign ticauce.