MYSTERIES OF MALAYSIA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1404, 26 January 1899, Page 17

MYSTERIES OF MALAYSIA.

WHAT MR CHRISTIAN SAW IN THE CAROLINES. Sir Clements Markham presided, on Dec. 12, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, when Mr W. F. Christian (who was recently at Wellington), rend an interesting paper on “ Exploration in the Caroline Islands.” THE HAUNTED RUINS OF NANMATAL. The Lecturer said that in 1895, meeting in Sydney Mr Louis Becke, that Ulysses of Pacific Waters, he determined to take his advice and visit Spanish Mioronesia, in order to explore some remarkable ruins Reported to be upon the islands of Ponape and Lele, in the Eastern Carolines. He reached Ponape on New Year’s day, 1896. After giving an interesting account of the inhabitants and their customs, the lecturer described his visits to Metalanim, on the east coast, and the result of his explorations among the famous ruins of Nan-Matal. He said that the area occupied by the islets of Nan-Matal is about nine square miles. For the most part they are deserted, and altogether there are not over 20 people living on jthe three or four inhabited ones. Some of them are planted with cocoa-nut and bread-fruit, and are visited occasionally by fishing parties. The King’s Island of Tomun and the shores of Metalanim harbour are fairly thickly Sopulated, but the folks as a rule give fan-Matal a pretty wide birth. They say the place is haunted, and on certain of he islets, such as Pan-Katara and PeiKap, nothing will induce them to set foot. ANCIENT CYCLOPEAN MASONRY. All the enormous quantity of basalt which the ancient builders used must have been brought in canoes or rafted down the coast, a distance of twenty to thirty miles. These pillars and blocks were carried down to the sea from the dales below the precipices of U and the great perpendicular scarp of Chokach, where the columnar basalt formation is very strikingly marked. Here were grand natural quarries, whence the builders might select all the shafts and pillars required, lying around ready shaped to their hand. The first of these islets visited from Uclfentau was Nan-Tauach, the most remarkable of all the Metalanim ruins. The water-front is faced with a solid terrace of massive stonework, about oft wide, standing over 6ft above the shallow waterway. Above is a striking example of immensely solid Cyclopean masonry. A great wall, between 20ft and 30ft high, and about ten feet in thickness, formed of basaltic prisms laid alternately lengthwise and crosswise, 'encloses an oblong space, which can be entered only by the great gateway in the '.middle of the west face, and by a . small portal in the north-west corner. The right side of the gateway is overshadowed and all but hidden from view by the dense leafage of a huge Ikoik tree. In olden times the walls must have been considerably greater in height, but much of the masonry has now fallen into lamentable ruin. A series of huge rude steps leads into a spacious courtyard, strewn with fragments of fallen pillars. This encircles a second terraced enclosure topped .by a remarkable projecting frieze or cornice of stonework. The outer enclosures were IBsft by 115 ft, the wall varying in height from 20ft to nearly 40ft; the inner, which forms a second conforming parallelogram, measuring 85ft by/75ft. Height of the .wall, 15ft to 18ft; average thickness, Bft. GRAVE OF CHAU-TE-LEUR—3TORT OF A GREAT INVASION. Another rude flight of steps leads up to the great central vault or treasure Chamber, said to be-- the grave of an ancient monarch, Who {bore the dynastic title of Chau-te-Leur. ’ It was difficult tc 'gain much .information about the old traditions at first. The natives certainly know something about the history of these ruins, but /do not care to talk o) them to strangers. This reticence he had patiently to overcome little by little and consequently bit by bit a tolerably exjflicit little chapter of history was bunt up. It appeared that in olden day? Ponape was much more populous thar at present. All the tribes in the day? of the builders were' united under s powerful line of kings. The last of thif dynasty met his death facing a great in vasion of barbarians from Pati-Air, thr barren lands of tho south, probably soirw portion of New Guinea, the New Hebrides, or some neighbouring portion of Melanesian area. They arrived in a great fleet of canoes under the command of ? fierce and terrible warrior, Icho-Kalakal. The savage invaders poured in upon the peaceful settlers, and blotted out the ancient civilisation, after a great battle in which numbers were slain on both sides. Part of the walls were thrown down,and the defenders were either slair in battle or offered up in solemn sacrifice to the war-gods of their conquerers. King Chau-te-Leur himself in his flight perished in the waters of the Chapalap river*, at the head of Metalanim harbour The Ani changed him into a blue rive fish, which the folk of Metalanim to thit day will not eat. THE UNDERGROUND BURIAL VAULT. The underground chamber or vauli which bears King Chau-te-Leur*s name lies right in the centre of the inner precinct/ facing the great gateway. It is about Bft in depth, roofed in with sh enormous slabs of basalt. The flooring was paved by some heavy basalt blocks which they had great trouble in lifting away. Below this was a layer of soft vegetable mould, thickly matted with a tough root-growth that made excavation

somewhat troublesome. The side nearest 1 the entrance threatened Boon to fall into ruins, and they had to pursue digging operations very Cautiously in this corner for fear of being crushed by the Collapsing of these mighty masses of masonry. There are three other tombs or vaults besides the large central one, situated ! on the south-west, east, and north-west sides respectively. They are smaller in 1 size, and gave up rather scanty results to ■ their excavations. The one on the east side is very narrow, and some 12ft in j depth. Paul, the King of the Metalanim j tribe, sometimes used them as dungeons to confine those who offended him —a I punishment greatly dreaded by the natives, in their childlike horror of. the dark and of tho viewless spirit forms with which their fancy peoples these lonesome places. ! “THE EYES OF THE SPIRITS,” “The eyes of the spirits are watching everything you do,” said Keroun, one of the lecturer’s workmen, as ho tendered his resignation. “ I know they are angry ; they will not injure you, because you are a white man, but they will punish us. I am very much afraid : 1 cannot sleep at night, and I would like to go home.” Standing on the south- : west angle, where the wall is nearly 40ffc in'height, one looked down upon a green abyss of nodding woodland, with never a glimppe of the network of canals rippling below. The north-east angle is occupied by an enormous banyan tree, towering fully 50ft above the masonry in which it stands fire-rooted, thrusting its branches of thread-like root-fibre into every crevice. These, as they swell, exercise a constant and gradually increasing force, wrenching the blocks out of place. When a high wind blows the structure is racked through and through in every joint and keystone. Sooner or later, if nothing is done to remove the tree, this side of the wall will settle down into ruins. A tangle of weeds, grasses, and meepers thickly carpets the precinct. Beyond tho two small cross-walls on the inner side of the great outer wall of the southwest side is a remarkable slab, inclining to a crescent shape, balanced on two solid shafts projecting out of the masonry. This, when tapped, gives a clear ringing sound, and was probably used for an alarum or for a sort of bell in sacred ceremonies. The north-west angle gives a happy impression of the style of architecture, the two walls at their junction running up high and bluff like the bows of a Japanese junk. Beneath, the terrace fronting the waterway is overgrown by a belt of young cocoa-palms of recent growth. A MICRONESIAN VENICE. News of the excavations, and of the havoc being made in the jungle in clearing operations, finally reached the ears of King Paul, who at once put a stop to the work. Most unfortunately, his superstitious terrors were confirmed by a very severe epidemic of influenza that broke out in the tribe shortly after their departure, and carried off many of the Metalanim people. The result of the excavations in the central vault was distinctly encouraging, and it was a great pity more time could not have been spent at it. Thoroughly to explore and clear the labyrinth of this Micronesian Venice and to make thorough excavations would take several months’ hard work. It was very difficult to get the natives to work here, owing to their dread of the vengeance of the ancestral spirits and heroes hovering around these holy places, ready to let loose some terrible judgement upon the head of rash intruders. Another great drawback to exploration likely to continue during the reign of King Paul is a deep-seated hostility to the white man felt by many of the Metalanim tribesmen.

The! lecture was fo’lowod by a discussion opened by Admiral Bridge, and the proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to Mr Christian.